6 true crime documentaries on Netflix that disturbed our minds

If you’ve been enjoying Netflix’s newest addition to their true-crime thriller, “DAHMER: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” featuring American offender and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, then you might already be on the look-out for your next true crime series to add to your list.

True crime documentaries have been popular not only because of the thrill and horror they bring, but because we sometimes find it impossible that such human beings are capable of so much evil. With that in mind, it fascinates us to get inside the minds of the so-called “serial killer” and how justice (if any) was carried out among their victims.

Here’s the top 6 list of true crime shows readily available on Netflix:

#1 Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

For those who are following the path of knowing more about infamous serial killers particularly in America, Ted Bundy is perhaps the most popular name that most true crime enthusiasts have heard.

Ted Bundy is known to be a charming and sociable man who was charged for the rape and murder of young women, notoriously even that of a 12-year-old girl. While he confessed to a kill count of 28, it was estimated that he perhaps killed even a hundred more victims when he ran free. What makes Bundy an intriguing story that people kept on returning to over again is the fact that unlike most serial killers whom people perceive to be aloof and secretive, Bundy was out socializing with people who later became his victims.

Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes consists of 4 episodes each of about 60 to 70 minutes long and is composed of a series of interviews done on friends, family, surviving victims, and authorities who worked on the case. There is also archival footage of Ted Bundy himself and what went on during the times he was free and towards the processing of his case.

#2 Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer

Here’s something that’s truly unique and modern for a true crime case: most of the action happens through the internet. That’s right, this case revolves around a mysterious man who one day posted a video of himself on social media that depicts him abusing two kittens, which eventually ended up in the animals’ horrible death.

What follows is a Facebook group consisting of amateur detectives who pieced together information and possible whereabouts of this cat killer who kept on repeating his morbid acts and posting them on the internet continuously. It is up to the ‘netizens’ to stop this mysterious killer before he starts to try his killing spree at higher stakes.

It does sound all like a plot for a modern detective fiction, but it’s actually a true crime documentary on how online sleuths came together in order to track down a hooded figure who were murdering kittens and could possibly turn towards humans as his victims.

This is actually intriguing because it shows how the power of people coming together on the internet for a common cause (to track down a potential psychopath) before the authorities could identify the man—that is, if the authorities would take the case seriously at all.

#3 House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

Perhaps one of the darkest and most intriguing true crime docuseries available on Netflix in under just three episodes is this case from India—the death of the Burari family caused by mass suicide.

In this short series, viewers are brought to Delhi, India in the year 2018 when a family who was supposed to perform a ‘ritual’ meant ending up in mass suicide. The documentary follows the family’s history on how the idea of the ritual came into fruition. It also delves a bit into Indian culture and the strong familial ties along with their personal beliefs that had brought even their children to undergo such hardship before joining in the said ritual.

It really does give an eerie vibe to the whole case because the Burari family has been going through their daily routine via strict ‘instructions’ from a long-dead patriarch. The investigation into the case includes the revelations written in various notebooks where this daily routine that the remaining family members should strictly adhere to up to the appointed day of the ritual.

#4 Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer

Crime enthusiasts have probably heard of the nickname “Night Stalker” among the list of infamous serial killers beside the likes of Bundy and Dahmer—that’s right, this four-episode docuseries highlights Richard Ramirez a.k.a. the Night Stalker.

In the year 1985, a killer lurks the streets of LA, and this Netflix documentary focuses on a couple of detectives’ chase for this relentlessly evil man as he cunningly navigates from place to place, eluding capture from the law while continuously leaving a rising body count wherever he goes.

Fans of true crime will recognize Richard Ramirez for his cold and callous attitude even after he has been caught, the way he associates his actions with the devil, even notoriously drawing the pentagram symbol on his murder scenes and on his palm. Monstrously inhumane, Ramirez knows no bounds as he rapes and murders women as old as 79 and as young as 9.

# 5 The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez

A truly heartbreaking docuseries that brings out a clear, bold message on the treatment of children, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez takes a close inspection on an eight-year-old boy’s abuse and eventual murder and how this was a case that has been largely ignored till it was too late.

Consisting of six episodes, the investigation revolves around the case of young Gabriel Fernandez in the hands of his own mother and her boyfriend. Throughout the whole series, viewers are taken into the kind of circumstances the boy underwent and how the people he interacted with (other than his parents) were clearly noticing that something was wrong with his situation yet every call to the authorities were not given immediate attention.

While this occurred in California, one cannot ignore the message it brings up regarding the reality surrounding child abuse and how, until now, it’s still an aspect not given enough priority in some countries. It’s a series that sends a call to become more aware not only of one’s own children, but towards all young ones who are possibly going through various forms of abuse within their setting—most especially if it’s coming from the family that are supposed to protect them.

# 6 Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel

From the creators of the ‘Ted Bundy Tapes’ (see #1 on this list) comes another murder case that sparked attention even before it has been introduced as a Netflix series. This case highlights on the mysterious disappearance of 21-years-old Elisa Lam in the notorious Cecil Hotel found in Los Angeles back in the year 2013.

For one thing, the Cecil Hotel is a cesspool of rumors: that it is haunted, that it is cursed because of its long history of murders, rape, suicide, overdose, and other such taboo acts. Another part of the thrill is the elevator footage that apparently caught the victim in focus’s strange actions while taking the lift. This four-part series attempts to unearth the sudden disappearance of one Elisa Lam amidst the various theories of the so-called internet sleuths and horror enthusiasts intermingling with the actual efforts of the authorities to investigate the case.

Just like The Trial of Gabriel Fernandez, this one also provides a social commentary regarding the findings of the law with Lam’s case. It’s a message that clearly rings most especially to young people and how it only takes for someone to listen for death to be prevented.

Throwing in a bonus: if you aren’t disturbed enough with “Dahmer” (or the rest of these titles on the list), Netflix is set to release yet another “Conversations with A Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes” soon. Which ones have you watched? Which ones do you plan on watching? Let us know your personal favorite true crime show on the comment section.