Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, and more make up our list of perfect true crime docuseries.
As a massive true crime fan, I am one of the first to rush to watch a hot new docuseries when it comes out. Like many others, I'm deeply fascinated by the minds of killers and the psychology behind crimes, and I easily get caught up in hearing real-life stories that spark emotions surrounding the cases, from anger to frustration and sadness.
Many true crime docuseries are educational, too, since they help you learn about the state of the world and how to keep yourself safe from harm. That said, most of the best true crime docuseries are not for the faint of heart. They will leave you shook, even horrified. They're a wake-up call, shedding light on horrible people who have done horrible things, and giving a platform to those who were hurt by them.
The best docuseries document moments, and some have even changed lives. Of all the ones I have watched, there are a few that stand out as being downright perfect, albeit in different ways. 1 'Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer' As someone who is fascinated by serial killers and has watched some really troubling true crime docuseries, it's saying a lot that Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer is one of the most horrifying and disturbing ones I have ever seen.
The focus isn't so much on the crime, but on the stealthy work of one Las Vegas data analyst and a growing team of others she meets online. When Deanna Thompson comes across an underground viral video, she sets out to discover who was behind it. Why? She finds that the heinous acts he posted on camera, too deplorable to even mention, suggested his actions would escalate.
She and the others she reached out to for help were right. But getting authorities to take them seriously, finding proof, and discovering who this young man was and where he was located would take an army of online tech nerds and, sadly, the death of an innocent man.
Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer chronicles this behind-the-scenes story of the eventual capture of Luka Magnotta, a Canadian wannabe actor who was eventually convicted for the murder of young student Jun Lin. It's no surprise that the series ranked among Netflix's most-watched of the genre in the year of release, and it interestingly told a side of the story many did not know about. Just three episodes long, the show feels like an eternity.
You'll end up holding your family members — and your pets — tightly after picking your jaw up from the floor. 2 'The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez' If there's a true crime docuseries to rival Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer as the most emotionally wrenching I have ever watched, it's The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. This six-part docuseries tells of the events surrounding the abuse and eventual murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy who displayed consistent signs of abuse leading up to his death.
But no one in his orbit acted on the suspicions, or those who did found it led nowhere. A scathing commentary on the social system and unforgivable failures to protect this innocent child, Gabriel's case was a rare one when social workers were prosecuted along with the mother and her boyfriend, who were eventually convicted for his murder.
Seeing his sweet face in photos, hearing testimony from teachers, and learning what happened to Gabriel during the short few years of his life is difficult. Your heart will break, and you'll be furious at how badly the system failed him. This docuseries invokes so much emotion throughout. 3 'Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich' Experiencing a resurgence due to current events, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich tells the story of the late convicted offender and that of the survivors.
The focus isn't primarily on the man, but on the people he hurt, along with those who were involved in investigations, including former staff members and the former police chief who was integral to the first criminal case. The docuseries, told in four parts, is as much about the abuse of wealth and power as it is about the events that purportedly played out.
From elaborate schemes to how Jeffrey Epstein acquired his wealth in the first place, co-conspirators and how they came to be in his orbit, and the strategies used for both his defense and prosecution, there's nothing new offered in the series that we didn't already know, but the presentation and arrangement of the information paint a vivid picture in a way that’s an easily digestible summary. COLLIDER.
Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo 🍸James Bond 🏺Indiana Jones 🔧John McClane 🎭Ethan Hunt FIND YOUR PARTNER → QUESTION 1 / 10THE MISSION 01 You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you. ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 10TRAVEL STYLE 02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission. AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel.
The destination matters, not the method. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 10UNDER FIRE 03 You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 10DOWNTIME 04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are. AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 10COMMUNICATION 05 How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability. APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 10THE VILLAIN 06 Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership. AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them.
Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 10LOYALTY 07 Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters. ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 10TOOLKIT 08 What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had. ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 9 / 10THE COST 09 Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 10 / 10THE LAST STAND 10 It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most honest one. AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending.
Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been. REVEAL MY PARTNER → Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is… Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
YOUR PARTNER Rambo Your partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home.
What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know. YOUR PARTNER James Bond Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true.
James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious.
But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
YOUR PARTNER Indiana Jones Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside.
He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about.
Assuming you survive them. YOUR PARTNER John McClane Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks.
John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts.
Yippee-ki-yay. YOUR PARTNER Ethan Hunt Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist.
He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 4 'Making a Murderer' While the second season didn't garner the same reception as the first, Making a Murderer is still one of the best true crime docuseries. It had viewers entranced with the story about a supposedly wrongfully convicted man who was released only to be charged for a different murder and sent right back to jail, along with his young nephew.
Was Steven Avery really innocent, and was there a conspiracy by the local police department to take him down and save face? Many believe the latter, and evidence in this docuseries sets out to support that. What's also explored is the confession of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who many believe was coerced and taken advantage of due to his developmental issues and assumed lack of understanding of what was really happening. Both men remain incarcerated.
As the stories are laid out in this series, however, you'll wonder if justice was truly served or not. While it's one-sided in favor of the accused, the complex nature of all the moving parts will leave you running your own at-home investigation, too. 5 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst' The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst is a great retelling of the stories of real estate heir and convicted murderer Robert Durst from the man himself.
The timing of its release couldn't have been more perfect since Durst was arrested for the murder of his friend Susan Berman just one day before the show's finale aired. That led to the second part covering the trial, with new interviews and prison calls. The access to Durst was unheard of, the result of Durst's love of the director's work, and the editing was downright brilliant.
It beautifully juxtaposes his opulent life and his versions of what happened with the suspicions around their deaths. What had everyone talking about the series, however, is the moment at the end when Durst leaves the interview to go to the bathroom and begins talking to himself, unaware that his microphone is still on.
"What the hell did I do? " he asks. "Killed them all, of course. " The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst is one of the most fascinating looks into the mind of a convicted killer. 6 'The Keepers' Shocking you to your core, The Keepers is about the brutal murder of nun Catherine Cesnik and two former students who, decades later, continued to investigate the unsolved case.
It's not just about Catherine's murder, however, but about who they think did it and how deep the cover-up runs. Catherine, it's believed, was planning to expose a priest at the school who was sexually abusing students, then suddenly, she wound up dead. The surviving students believe the story: they were there. They know what they saw and heard from others, as well as experienced themselves.
The Keepers, one of the best docuseries on Netflix, might initially sound like your garden-variety cold case investigation, but it's much more. It dives into possible collusion between the church and law enforcement, and explores a shocking revelation about the priest in question and his past.
Told through seven riveting episodes, The Keepers is the type of docuseries that will have you deeply invested in the case by the end, wanting to learn where things go and if justice is ever served. 7 'Trust Me: The False Prophet' A recent docuseries, Trust Me: The False Prophet takes you into the world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an extremist branch of the Mormon church that many believe is a cult that promotes polygamy, the oppression of women, and child abuse. Through four episodes, we follow self-proclaimed prophet Samuel Bateman, who agrees to be filmed, thinking it’s a documentary about his wonderful life.
In reality, Dr. Christine Marie and her husband, Tolga Katas, are secretly building a case against him, hoping to find justice for these girls and women. What's so wonderful about Trust Me: The False Prophet is that it isn't just a docuseries showing injustices that are going on — it highlights a woman who set out to do something about it.
It centers around Christine and her steadfast dedication to ensuring that what happened to her when she was in the church doesn't happen to other girls. Seeing Christine befriend these women while trying to secretly save them, knowing they'd feel betrayed by her, will give you chills. 8 'Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed' If you grew up in the era of '90s boy bands, you probably know of Menudo, the Latin boy band with members who change every few years as the young boys age out.
Menudo most famously counted Ricky Martin among its members. You also know the story of the Menendez Brothers, two young men who, claiming years of abuse by their wealthy music executive father, brutally murder him and their mother one night. What do these two things have to do with one another? Apparently, a lot.
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The docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed explores the purported connection, framed by the claims of one former Menudo member, Roy Rossellò. He bravely alleges he was abused by Menudo manager Edgardo Diaz, but also claims that Jose Menendez, who played a corporate role in the band's rise to fame, abused him as well, suggesting there could be truth to Lyle and Erik Menendez's testimony.
Rossellò talks of intense cover-ups, brave people who tried to come forward for them in the past but were silenced, his own healing journey, and finally speaking out. The series is a slow burn, with every episode covering a different angle until it all comes together in the end.
But you'll be glued to the screen and crying for these boys as you watch a man come forward after decades of trauma to speak his truth. 9 'Escaping Twin Flames' I don't think there's a docuseries that made me as angry as Escaping Twin Flames. There's no murder involved, but the true crime docuseries follows Jeff and Shaleia Divine, who run a suspected cult called Twin Flames Universe.
They draw in people desperate for love, claiming that everyone has a"twin flame" and that they will help them find this person who was"meant for them," then manipulate them into alleged coercive control and abuse. The situation becomes so drastic that when enrollment skews too heavily towards women, some former members and family members of current ones claim that members were encouraged that they were gay, some even going so far as to get gender reassignment surgery.
The most frustrating thing about Escaping Twin Flames is that the organization continues. Despite so many people speaking out against what's going on, families fighting for people they lost to the supposed cult, Jeff and Shaleia are still doing their thing.
The series is just three episodes long, but director Cecilia Peck, best known for the docuseries Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult, dives deep into the shocking nature of the pair's story through emotional testimonies from former members who have since left. Worth watching once you're done is Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe, another true crime piece of the same topic that streams on Prime Video and offers a different perspective with different interviews. 10 'WACO: American Apocalypse' You probably already know about the WACO siege, when Texas law enforcement surrounded a compound that belonged to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, and a lengthy standoff took place, ending in tragedy.
WACO: American Apocalypse retells the story and the events leading up to the siege, including the background of the leader, David Koresh, and the mindset of those involved in the 51-day standoff. Even if you already know the story, WACO: American Apocalypse takes you deep inside with archival footage and interviews from key individuals telling things from their perspective.
From the media coverage to the hostage negotiations, what was going on inside the house, and David's last moments, the docuseries is visually stunning and emotionally raw. Like Waco: American Apocalypse TV-MA Documentary Crime History Release Date 2023 - 2023-00-00 Network Netflix Directors Tiller Russell Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
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