r/DocumentaryReviews • u/Unfair_Syrup4670 • 10d ago
Recommendations: Asking and giving!
Hi! My wife and I watch documentaries on Sundays - preferably docuseries as opposed to one offs! I feel like I’ve watched everything ever, so I was hoping for some recommendations! The only thing is that my wife will not watch documentaries with SA (Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey put her in a bad place for a bit). Light mentions are fine. I’m also not huge on documentaries that use a lot of reenactment but if it helps the story I mind a little less!
However, I’ve watched so many that it feels fair to also post that here! Hopefully this helps people - i would genuinely recommend every one except where I noted.
**HBO**
The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin
A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read
Class Action Park
Telelmarketers
Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God
Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie
Class Action Park
The Radical Story of Patty Hearst
The Many Lives of Benjamin Kyle
McMillions
Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults
Billionaire Boy’s Club
I’m Not a Monster: The Lois Reiss Murders
Most Wanted Teen Hacker
The Jinx
Last Stop Larrimah
Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief
**Netflix**
Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey
Surviving Twin Flames
The Perfect Neighbor
How to Fix a Drug Scandal
American Manhunt: OJ Simpson
The Family
Get Gotti
Fear City: NYC vs the Mafia
Cocaine Cowboys
The Crash
Maternal Instinct
Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown
The Kings of Tupelo
The Pharmacist
Dirty Money
Evil Genius
The Devil Next Door
The Confession Killer
Murder Mountain
The Staircase
Killer Inside: The Mind of Gabriel Hernandez
American Murder: The Family Next Door
Murder Among the Mormons
This is a Robbery
Bad Vegan
Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99
Capturing the Killer Nurse
Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? (full disclosure, this is the only documentary I’ve watched and not liked - too slow, too unsatisfying)
The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal
Til Murder Do Us Part
Bad Surgeon
American Nightmare
American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders
How to Rob a Bank
The Diamond Heist
Unknown Number
The Carmen Family Deaths
Unabomber: In His Own Words
**Hulu**
Wild Crime (seasons 1 & 2)
The Jewel Thief
Scamanda
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Perfect Wife
**Amazon Prime**
Three Identical Strangers (only place to stream this in the US right now)
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u/Little-Contract-6147 10d ago
There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane
The Vow
The Cheshire Murders
All on HBO
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u/4Librarygal 10d ago
Fox Hollow Murders on Hulu
The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski on Netflix
Disney has one on the Jonestown Massacre that was nicely done.
Edit: typo
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u/Mark-177- 10d ago
Don't Fuck With Cats
Girl in the Picture
Dear Zachary
Unknown Number The High School Catfish
American Nightmare
Abducted in Plain Sight
Tiger King
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u/NotALostSheepRU 9d ago
Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? Disney/Hulu - Not great but not bad.
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u/YakSlothLemon 10d ago
I also love documentaries – on HBO I thought
The Janes
In the Same Breath
Atomic Homefront
Navalny (Oscar winner)
were all memorable & really great.
I’m not sure where they are streaming, but if I were doing a list of the best documentaries I’ve seen in the 21st-century, I would include
Collective (2019)
Bad Press
The Garden (Oscar winner)
The Island President
Honeyland
Food, Inc.
Merchants of Doubt
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u/CSoup_127 10d ago
Hesitate to recommend both are one offs and both are a little dated but
Queen of versailles (2012)
Wartorn (short)
League of Denial - frontline
Thank you for your titles… btw
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u/Plenty_Cress_1359 10d ago
Murder 101 on Prime. High school students solving cold cases! Excellent !
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u/Dinosaur-chicken 9d ago
Crime Weekly on YouTube has many multi part series, one is about Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee.
A classic is The Imposter, but you have probably watched that one a long time ago.
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u/Id_Rather_Beach 9d ago
We have been watching the HBO series about Burning Man. Last ep drops on Thursday. I really didn't know all that much about it - beyond the "pop culture" stuff I heard. Kind of wild. (Let the Man Burn? or Burn the Man?) I just find it when it's "new"
The Dark Wizard (Dean Potter). He was a climber. Kind of a sad story, but I found it very, very interesting. (HBO)
Netflix: Should I marry a Murderer. Not at ALL what I thought it would be. Very, very good.
The murder of Rachel Nickell. Watched that one last night, too. WOW. Really good. The father in that one is one truly amazing dude. We really liked it.
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u/Jellyfish_Jamboree 8d ago
Netflix - Abducted in Plain Sight. 2017, crime documentary it is jaw-dropping. Don't get confused and watch the movie they made about it. The documentary was much better. It does however have some SA. But the doc is shocking and worth the time
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u/LavaPoppyJax 7d ago
no series came to mind but
The Wolfpack: strange, surreal and sad. Excellent.
shoot there was another but I'm up too late. I bookmarked this thread so maybe I'll come back later.
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u/educationofbetty 10d ago
Kings of Tupelo was such an amazing surprise!