OTTplay Logo
settings icon
profile icon

Best true-crime documentaries that you need to watch right now

True and terrifying stories of human depravity have always piqued the interests of viewers. Keeping this into account, Netflix has released a string of true-crime documentary series that explores the dark side of human nature. 

Best true-crime documentaries that you need to watch right now

List hai toh hit hai

Last Updated: 11.56 AM, Jun 17, 2022

True and terrifying stories of human depravity have always piqued the interests of viewers. Keeping this into account, Netflix has released a string of true-crime documentary series that explores the dark side of human nature. So, in today’s episode of List hai toh hit hai, let's take a look at some of the best true-crime documentaries that you need to watch right now.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (Netflix)

The four-part docuseries Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey directed by Rachel Dretzin is centred on Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed Prophet and president of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or FLDS. As the president, he imposed restrictions on his followers, especially women, and conducted marriages of underage girls to older men. An investigation into the organisation revealed that he married and sexually abused two minor girls, aged 12 and 15, in the name of salvation. The director relies on interviews of survivors and archival footage to showcase Warren Jeffs’ horrifying acts.

image_item

The Keepers (Netflix)

The decades-old unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik forms the basis of Ryan White’s seven-part documentary The Keepers. Cesnik was a nun and teacher at the all-girls Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore when she was found murdered, two months after her disappearance, in 1970. The narrative puts focus on why she was killed as her former students recount the sexual abuse at the hands of the school’s chaplain Father Joseph Maskell. Through interviews and re-enactments, the docuseries uncovers systemic sexual abuse, institutional corruption, the denial of justice, and the plight of the women who speak against the Church. Reportedly, White titled the docuseries as The Keepers after one of the survivors used the term to refer to the women who hid the secrets and kept the truth away from the world.

American Murder: The Family Next Door (Netflix)

American Murder: The Family Next Door reconstructs the gruesome Watts family murders of 2018 wherein Christopher Watts killed his pregnant wife Shanann Cathryn and two daughters, Bella and Celeste. Director Jenny Popplewell relies extensively on archival footage, Facebook posts, and text messages to highlight the sharp contrast between Shanann’s online depiction of a seemingly happy and beautiful family, and the bitter reality of a decaying relationship. The docuseries also puts the spotlight on the police investigation into the case and how Watts confessed to the murders.

Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story (Netflix)

The two-part documentary series Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story is centred on Britain’s much-loved and celebrated television personality, the late Jimmy Savile, who allegedly sexually assaulted 400 people, including children and senior citizens. The series chronicles his rise to stardom, his close association with the top brass of the British establishment, including the Royal family, how he created a philanthropic public image, and what made him a British icon. With the help of interviews, director Rowan Deacon brings to light Savile’s dark and sinister side, which was hidden from the public for decades, and reveals how he misused his power to sexually abuse the patients at the Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital and Stoke Mandeville.

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (Netflix)

Theodore Robert Bundy aka Ted Bundy is undeniably one of the most documented serial killers in American history. He raped and murdered over 30 women during the 70s for which he was sentenced to death. In Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, director Joe Berlinger uses the audio recordings between journalist Stephen G Michaud and Bundy, interviews and archival footage to delve deep into the serial killer’s life, the crimes he committed, his arrests and escapes.

Sons of Sam (Netflix)

The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness is a four-part docuseries that sheds light on the investigations of late journalist Maury Terry into the Son of Sam case wherein David Berkowitz pleaded guilty to eight shootings from July 1976 to July 1977. Director Joshua Zeman puts the focus on the research and evidence gathered by Terry who believed that it wasn’t Berkowitz alone who committed the crimes but a larger group was involved.

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (Netflix)

One Family. Three Generations. Eleven Deaths. Leena Yadav’s three-part docuseries House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths takes a deep dive into what went wrong within a seemingly normal joint family that led to the deaths of 11 of its members. It also brings to the surface issues such as denial of mental illnesses, the dominance of one family member over others, and gender disparity.

Well thats the OTTplay List hai toh hit hai for today, until the next episode its your host Nikhil signing out.

Aaj kya dekhoge OTTplay se poocho

Written By Arya Harikumar

Last Updated: 11.56 AM, Jun 17, 2022