12 true-crime shows to lose sleep over if you loved The Serpent
It’s crime time entertainment
Something’s wrong with my mom. She asked me to order food two days in a row — pizza, pasta, whatever I wanted. And on the weekend, she was binge-watching something at 8AM — her morning call hour with nani. On further investigation, it turned out The Serpent had drugged her. Not some Rumba of rattlesnakes, but the new true-crime show on Netflix, chronicling the devious life of serial killer Charles Sobhraj (played by Tahar Rahim). Before the opening credits rolled in, mom had already rattled off major spoilers — he poisoned hippies, murdered some, and smuggled gems across the world.
The menacing subject combines pop culture nostalgia with slick modern production — and the result is tantalising. The only two times this has happened in the recent past is when Netflix dropped Wild, Wild Country and Sony Liv gave us Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story last year.
The series only cements our belief that there’s always room for yet another true-crime show. Last year, my colleague investigated what being obsessed with true crime says about you — you’re not a sociopath; you just love a good mystery, especially, when rooted in reality.
The genius of any true-crime show lies in the form of additional existing literature it gives us to indulge in. When a fictional show ends, you’re left with reviews, interviews and in rare cases, fan fiction. But at the end of any true-crime show, you’re reduced to a pro-stalker, a virtual vigilante filtering through endless search results about the case, from newspaper articles to YouTube videos, and more.
“Serial killers tantalise people much like traffic accidents, train wrecks, or natural disasters. The public’s fascination with true-crime shows can be seen as a manifestation of its fixation on violence and calamity. The actions of a serial killer may be horrible to behold but much of the public simply cannot look away due to the spectacle,” says Scott Bonn, professor of criminology at Drew University and author of Why We Love Serial Killers.
Since it’s scientifically established that we cannot look away from them, we decided to look for them more intently in the vast streaming-verse. Unexplained disappearances, financial frauds, spiritual cults gone wrong and some high-profile murder cases, our round up of true-crime shows looks beyond the usual suspects to uncover lesser-known documentaries that will leave you squirming on your couch.
11 true-crime shows to stream for an adrenaline rush
1/12  Photo credit: IMDBLorena, 2019 On June 23 in 1993, Virginia-based Lorena Bobbitt was raped by her husband, John Bobbitt. That night, after John fell asleep, she cut off his penis using a knife. Then she drove off with the severed phallus and threw it on the roadside, before dialling 911. What followed was a frantic search for the organ, as well as a month-long media frenzy where tabloid, front pages as well as prime-time TV covered it with equal vigour, throwing light on domestic abuse, but also layering it with distasteful humour. This four-part series peels off the layers of the frivolous jokes to understand what exactly went down that night and in the years that followed, through the eyes of Mrs Bobbitt, the attorneys and others involved in the case. Watch on Prime Video 2/12  Murder Mountain, 2018 People gone missing for decades, sex trafficking, unsolved murders and generations of families who want to take law into their own hands. Humboldt County in California, where 60% of the marijuana in the US is produced, has earned a nefarious reputation over the last 30 years. The rising number of disappearances in the “wild, lawless” weed farms inspired director Joshua Zeman to scrutinise all the players involved in this dangerous game of life — farmers, drug dealers, cops and survivors who have escaped the Murder Mountain phenomena. Head to this lap of nature to see the darkness that resides within. Watch on Netflix 3/12  Photo credit: NetflixThree Identical Strangers, 2018 Tim Wardle’s documentary introduces us to Robert “Bobby” Shafran on his first day of college in New York City in the ’80s, where everybody recognises him. The identical twin brother he didn’t know existed —Eddy Galland — studies there too. When their reunion receives newspaper coverage, David Kellman, a third identical sibling is discovered. From Time magazine to Oprah, they go viral everywhere. But their lives take a notorious turn, when a medical conspiracy surfaces, and one of them kills himself. Newsflash: A state-funded Jewish adoption agency, Louise Wise Services, and psychologist Peter Neubauer, separated a bunch of twins and triplets between the 1950s and 1970s to conduct a nature vs nurture experiment without alerting the parents. Plot twist: The details of this study remain locked in the library of Yale University. This heartbreaking documentary is gripping and painful in equal parts. Watch on Netflix 4/12  Photo credit: IMDBI’ll Be Gone In The Dark, 2020 Over 50 rapes and 13 murders were committed by a California man between the ’70s and the ’80s. The unnamed assailant was dubbed as East Area Rapist, Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer. Author Michelle McNamara got obsessed with the case in the 2000s when DNA evidence confirmed that the murders were committed by the same man. McNamara decided to bring justice to the victims, along with her husband, crime writer Billy Jensen. They reopened the investigation with the help of the law. Last year, Joseph James DeAngelo pleaded guilty, albeit 40 years since the crimes. Her case findings culminated in a novel by the same name, and director Liz Garbus has adapted it for celluloid in one of the most spine-chilling true-crime shows of our times. Watch on Disney+ Hotstar 5/12  Photo credit: NetflixThe Alcasser Murders, 2019 Language: Spanish In November 1993, three teenage girls from a Spanish village called Alcasser headed out to go to a nightclub in the neighbouring town. And they disappeared even before reaching the pub. Media frenzy and a state-wide search followed for months. But it wasn’t until two months later that a villager in a town 150 miles away discovered the three bodies in a ditch, while hiking. He dug up the bodies in different stages of decomposition, and in a way, tampered the evidence and destroyed the crime scene forever. Director Elias Leon pieces together the information available in public domain and talks to the parents and friends of the girls to bring out the proceedings of the disturbing case that shook Spain momentarily. Watch on Netflix 6/12  This Is A Robbery, 2021 Stolen Vermeers and Rembrandts. Thirty-one years since the infamous art heist, empty frames embellish the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston to mark the paintings that were purloined. Where did the works of art go? Who stole them? It all remains a mystery till date. Director Colin Barnicle’s four-part documentary takes us back to March 18, 1990, paints the details of the robbery, interviews the night guards, detectives, art dealers, revisits conspiracy theories and gives us a detailed picture of what could have happened. Since a $10 million reward is still waiting for anyone who can recover the lost pieces, it might be every amateur sleuth’s shot at hitting an unlikely jackpot. Watch on Netflix
7/12  Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, 2019 The internet is a scary place, and Montreal-based Luka Magnotta knows it too well. His timeline of disturbing events include home videos of himself killing kittens, followed by Magnotta filming the murder of Lin Jun, a 33-year-old Chinese student. If this wasn’t traumatic enough, he made it worse by sending severed parts of Jun’s body to Canada’s liberal and conservative parties’ headquarters and a couple of elementary schools. Director Mark Lewis’s documentary shows us how a bunch of Facebook watchdogs – Las Vegas-based Deanna Thompson and John Green – tracked Magnotta down and helped the authorities convict him. The investigative work will make you uncomfortable, but also restore your faith in internet, which may not be the most negative space, after all. Watch on Netflix 8/12  Under Suspicion: Uncovering the Wesphael Case, 2021 Language: French In 2013, Belgian politician Bernard Wesphael was acquitted of murdering his wife, Veronique Pirotton. She was found dead in a hotel room, and he was present at the scene during the time of death. Wesphael maintained it was a suicide. Seven years later, creators Pascal Vrebos and Georges Huercano have set out to answer just what exactly happened in that hotel room in this five-part series. We comb through a solid repository of evidence: handwritten letters, text messages, CCTV footage, forensic reports, pillow fibres found on Pirotton’s face and numerous eye-witnesses (mostly hotel staff). Though it’s an open-ended finale, this is as tantalising a high-profile true-crime drama can get. Watch on Netflix 9/12  Photo credit: IMDBScam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, 2020 Language: Hindi In director Hansal Mehta’s retelling of the ’90s infamous financial fraud most of our previous generation is familiar with, protagonist Harshad Mehta (Pratik Gandhi) is a nobody living in the Mumbai suburbs, who dreams of a better life, and eventually gets obsessed with wealth. Harshad’s rise in the Bombay Stock Market in the ’90s, throws us down the rabbit hole of institutionalised corruption. Other players in this scam story include the Times of India journalist Sucheta Dalal (Shreya Dhanwanthary), lawyer Ram Jethmalani (Mithilesh Chaturvedi), the Central Bureau of Investigation and a case of Rs 500 crore gone missing. This is yet another that bridges the generation gap and makes for a gripping family watch. Watch on Sony Liv 10/12  Photo credit: NetflixAbducted in Plain Sight, 2017 In the early 1970s in Idaho, Jan Broberg, a preteen was convinced that she was half-alien. She was also raped and abducted by Robert Berchtold, a family friend. Twice. Berchtold picked Jan up from her piano lesson and never brought her home. When the FBI got involved and Berchtold was arrested for kidnapping charges, the Brobergs withdrew the charges. The parental denial and the extremely outlandish events that plagued the Broberg household will make you question religion, human psychology and have you never speak to your neighbours ever again. PS: Following the release, Jan Broberg tweeted, “Manipulation and grooming are not understood by so many. It happened to my whole family, this man was a master and my parents saved my life.” We swear it’s all a true story. Watch on Netflix 11/12  Photo credit: IMDBA Wilderness of Error, 2021 Some true-crime shows focus on the unsolved, and feed out intrigue. A few others are erroneously solved, demanding justice, albeit delayed. Director Marc Smerling’s A Wilderness of Error is an example of the latter. The infamous case of Jeffrey MacDonald, a surgeon and army officer comes to light yet again. In North Carolina in 1970, he was charged with the murder of his wife and two daughters – it was a bloody nightmare. MacDonald pointed fingers at a group of hippies who were also involved in the Manson murders. While the surgeon was convicted, the case has been revisited multiple times to spotlight the mismanagement of the judiciary. With reenactments of crucial moments of the scene and the subsequent trial, a close second look at the pile of evidence and newer interviews desperately try to make a case for MacDonald. Will a five-part documentary series be enough or just another moot point? Watch on Disney+ Hotstar 12/12  Wild Wild Country, 2018 We can’t recommend Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Maa Anand Sheela enough. We mean the docu-series that uncovers the chaos that ensued after the spiritual leader and his PA took over a sleepy town in Oregon. Although they started with the idea of alternate healing and spirituality camps for all, their neighbours were far from impressed and called it a sex cult. Sheela was also convicted for poisoning hundreds of locals with salmonella-contaminated food. As the crimes became more severe, and the leader was embroiled in sexual assault cases, the idea of utopia translated to one of the biggest immigration frauds in the USA. We bet you’ve already watched this, but a re-run never harmed anyone, considering a documentary on Sheela is all set to drop later this month. Watch on Netflix |