Few things in life excite me as much as the sight of a new true crime documentary on Netflix does. Almost always a part of my Netflix recommendations, a deep dive into a gruesome crime committed some 40 odd years ago is somehow more interesting to me than going out on a Saturday night. 

The wild popularity of documentary series and movies about serial killers and unsolved cases isn’t completely incomprehensible though. People are attracted to the dark and unsettling, questions and answers lost to the test of time. Gruesome galore is what the viewers want and that is what they will get.

Macabre tales about the worst of humanity have been told and retold but a documentary-style analysis of the biggest questions – why and sometimes, who – give the viewers a chance to see for themselves perhaps where we go wrong as a society. 

I’ve rounded up a list of the best true crime documentaries on Netflix that are a must-add to your list. 

Crime Scene: Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crime Scene – Netflix (@crimescenenetflix)

This four-part series follows the tragic disappearance and subsequent hunt for Elisa Lam, a guest at the infamous Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles.

With an existing reputation for being a rough and dangerous place, the hotel’s negative image solidified after unsettling footage from Lam’s incredibly strange final moments in the hotel elevator was revealed in the aftermath of the incident. It told people that something may have been simmering under the surface of Lam’s composed exterior. 

The Keepers

Two former students reinvestigate the murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, who was killed in Baltimore in 1969. 

The case never saw justice being delivered to the victim, but the former students discovered that there are more than one victim, and in more than one way. Former students, survivors of sexual abuse at the high school where Cesnik was a teacher, make some horrifying revelations about the priest. 

What did Cesnik know? And where did it lead her? 

The Night Stalker

Richard Ramirez, widely known as the Night Stalker, was an American serial killer at large in the 1980s. The documentary examines how the timeline of traumatic events that made up his childhood impacted and magnified his violent tendencies.

A deep dive into his psyche, if you will. The initial episodes of the series follow the footsteps of the investigation as it took place back then and then examine the psychological reasoning of why Ramirez may have done what he did. 

Don’t F*** with Cats

The search for a murderer – but it’s entirely online. A Facebook group with a love for animals launch a manhunt to find a spiraling killer brutally murdering cats on video. They’re pulled into the underbelly of the Internet, descending into the insane world of a scary man who might snap any moment. 

It’s a race against time. Will they be able to stop him? 

The documentary is a fine example of how if you care enough, you can find a needle in the biggest of the haystacks. 

House of Secrets

A disturbing case of mass suicide where 11 members of the same family hung themselves in their home in Burarai, Delhi. That’s the surface level description. Beneath this lie secrets that will blow your mind.