Editor’s Note: Do you love true crime dramas and documentaries? As it turns out, so does Freeline Media critic Mike Fried! In his latest review, Mike gives us a guide to some of his favorite crime documentaries — and has Mike got it better than a lot of the victims in these films! Read on!
By MIKE FRIED
TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARIES
I love true crime documentaries – I cannot get enough of them, really. I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because I have a relatively normal life where nothing ever happens and it’s a matter of schadenfreude to see how bad other people have it. I just do not know. And it doesn’t really matter to me what the crime is.
And whether I am watching the INDIAN PREDATOR series or GRINGO: THE LIFE OF JOHN MCAFEE, I am always amazed at the stupidity of people. Take Gringo for example. Here’s a rich guy who was a pathetic psychopath. He is accused of murder and goes on the lam to avoid prosecution. He hires gang members in Belize to be his bodyguards/enforcers/hit men and he openly bribes the local governments. The quote that stood out for me was the local journalist in Belize who said he wanted to be “like Colonel Kurtz.” And the other line, which dovetails with the above is “he is like Belize’s Donald Trump” He was Nuts, with a capital N.
Then there is the YOGURT SHOP MURDERS. Sometimes a little procrastination pays off. I had been meaning to watch this limited series for a while but when I saw a new episode had landed on HBO Max and the killer had been identified just placed this first and foremost on my watchlist. This is a riveting 5 1/2 hour documentary and unlike most of this genre I do not think it was overlong. It really hit all of the right notes. And credit not only goes to Margaret Brennan who directed this but also to Claire Huie who started a documentary on these murders and abandoned it and much of the archive footage is from Huie’s efforts and she was rightfully given a producer credit because this miniseries would not have had the heft that it did without her contributions. Even the touchy-feely stuff at the end of episode four didn’t bother me because, at that point, the case had remained unsolved. And kudos to Dan Jackson, the cold case guy, and John Jones and his ugly green-striped shirt because they were really the two cops who knew what the hell they were doing, one at the end of the case and one at the beginning. This one is definitely a WATCH.
Then there is THE DEVIL NEXT DOOR. Released in 2019, this is absolutely one of the most riveting documentaries about WW2 and concentration camps. In 1977, an unassuming man in Cleveland named John Demjanjuk was accused of being the evil guard Ivan the Terrible of the Treblinka death camp, responsible for running the gas chambers. Stripped of his US Citizenship – because since the crimes did not happen on US soil – and extradited to Israel for trial in 1986, it marked the beginning of a 26 year legal odyssey. And you thought Odysseus spent a long time figuring out his fate. I had intended to watch one episode of this five episode series per night but a funny thing happened on the way to the next episode: the last few minutes of each episode relayed some information as a teaser for the next episode that made me not want to wait so I knocked it off in one sitting. And the film is neatly constructed. Using prime archival footage from local American news outlets as well as Israeli and other worldwide journalists, the film is told in a streamlined linear fashion.
The miniseries is populated by all sorts of characters. There’s riveting testimony from the survivors in the Israeli trial and Demjanjuk’s defense lawyers, one American and one Israeli, are extensively interviewed. The real spotlight is on Israeli defense attorney Yoram Sheftel who is an “I don’t give a fuck” type of lawyer who did not care that he would be excoriated by his fellow Israelis for defending an accused Nazi. And he continued to defend Demjanjuk after acid was thrown in his face causing partial blindness. But like he says – he would do it all over again. This really works best if you only have a vague recollection of the trial, like I did. I remember it but a lot of it happened while my wife was pregnant with our second kid and, well, we had other things on our minds. I remember the trial but if you’re u asked me to swear in the outcome I could not. And with just the general knowledge, this documentary has more twists and turns than an episode of Law and Order. And the filmmakers exploit this for our benefit. And by doing it this way it ends up in the most incredible of places. I love WW2 related stories and if you do you will love this one. One of the best documentaries about holding those Nazis accountable for their WW2 crimes. WATCH IT 5/5
I would contrast these excellent one with a long list of middling but watchable fare which is where the true crime documentary often sits.
Like THE MURDER OF RACHEL NICKELL about a mother who is killed in broad daylight on London’s Wimbledon Common which stands for the proposition that “If only the police had done things differently” is a phrase that should not be in our language. Or Netflix’s A TOXIC LOVE STORY which recently dropped about a woman who is arrested for terrorizing her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. While it was not a great one, I still have total applause for this one. When a true crime documentary throws the plot twist halfway through the film, you know there is something else weird going on. And holy shit there was. I remember the first part of the story but had never heard the coda so, uh, wow. Well done kudos to director Alexandra Lacey for her construction of this story. Beware of adults without kids who love to go to Disneyland. Then there is Netflix’s THE HUNT FOR VEERAPPAN about a notorious criminal in India in the 70s through the early 00’s. This was a really interesting documentary but at 3 hours 20 minutes there was too much nitty gritty and while facts are good but if there are too many of them it can weigh down the entire production under its voluminousness. Still, it was interesting, but I can only think how much better this could have been with a top-notch editor making some good editorial decisions.
Contrast that with YIYA MURANO: DEATH AT TEA TIME about a real character of a woman who poisoned her friends to cover up scams in 1970s Argentina and became a dark figure in popular culture. Freed in the 1990s, she reappeared as a pop icon. This documentary was kind of flaccid because it really was centered on the grudges of the son against the mother and, in doing so, it is a rather flaccid attempt at true crime. Similarly, there is CRIME STORIES: INDIA DETECTIVES which is just an okay docuseries (4 episodes) however, where it excels is the showcase from a cultural perspective as to how India’s and specifically Bangalore’s police handles cases and treat suspects and witnesses and this makes it definitely worth the watch, especially if you like true crime shows. There is also 30 for 30: June 17th, 1994 which details that particular day in sports with the final round of professional golf played by Arnold Palmer, the NY Knicks in the NBA Championships, the commencement of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, The NY Rangers’ Stanley Cup Parade down Broadway, Ken Griffey tying Babe Ruth’s record of most home runs (30) by June 30th all of which were overshadowed by OJ Simpson’s slow motion highway escape from the police. “Howard Cosell used to say ‘the juice is loose’, but he didn’t mean anything like this”.
On the downside, there are documentaries like THE CRASH about a teen who drove her car too fast and was in an accident that killed two of her friends and she was charged with murder. This could have been a dynamite documentary – But it wasn’t. My opinion- she was guilty as hell and the mom’s statement to the judge at sentencing- what the fuck was that?!? What really got me was the fact that as damning as the videos that Mackenzie posted looked at trial the filmmaker chose to use stupid videos of people saying “free Mackenzie” as if they were probative. This is one of those true crime documentaries where it seemed like there was a bunch of Idiots in front of and behind the camera. Another dumb one is SHOULD I MARRY A MURDERER? And this one is as dumb as it sounds. Pathologist Caroline Muirhead’s fiancé, Scottish farmer Alexander ‘Sandy’ McKellar, confessed to her that he and his twin brother Robert had killed cyclist Tony Parsons in a 2017 hit-and-run. This is another 75 minute Netflix true crime documentary that is twice as long as it needs to be. As mental as it sounds, this seems so made up – that’s how outrageous this is. Why isn’t she an accessory after the fact? I know I am showing my age (Ok, Boomer) but someone who videos themselves doing everything doesn’t seem right. Even she said “I’m not sane”, The one bonus I will give it is that the crazier it got, the more realistic it became. You can also skip UNTOLD: THE SHOOTING AT HAWTHORNE HILL which takes a look at the shocking act of violence and subsequent trial that transpired between a retired Olympic equestrian and the dressage student he took on at his farm in New Jersey. This is a documentary about rich people with first world problems – why give these people air? As Dave Simms (Gon Johnson) said in Tin Cup “You know, you’re all fucking nuts”.
Another Netflix documentary that I could not stand was THE INVESTIGATION OF LUCY LETBY – and it’s not for the reasons that most people hated it. I don’t live in the UK; I hardly watch the news so I never heard anything about Lucy Letby or the murder investigation- So I am coming to this from a point of zero knowledge- tabula rasa. A lot of the negative reviews related to the use of AI to anonymize the victims which, to me, is not really a fair critique as it’s better than a blurred head all the time. To be honest, if the filmmakers were not upfront about the AI anonymization, half of the critics wouldn’t even have known about it. People turned off their brains once they saw that there was digital alteration. It is a legitimate critique to say it was distracting but was it enough to knee jerk this into one-star territory? Hmmm. It certainly did not make the documentary unwatchable- it was just two people who were anonymized. To me, these complainants are just review bombers.
But to complain about the desire to anonymize two people (one the grieving mother when UK law prevents the child’s identity from being revealed and the other a woman who believes in the woman’s innocence and obviously didn’t want blowback from the public) is ridiculous. The second critique- which has more merit – is that this was standard Netflix “docslop” – I didn’t make up that word and don’t take credit for it but so much of Netflix documentaries fall into this category. So I watched this as I would any other true crime documentary and also as the new grandfather of twins that were both in a NICU for two months and three months, respectively. I found this to be an average documentary- not great, not horrible. Not quite “Netflix Docslop” but not so far away either. It is structured quite well from the police investigation and trial to the counterpoint from the criminal defense barrister providing his point of view as to how there was a miscarriage of justice. If I were to get outraged over anything in this documentary, it’s not the AI usage, it’s the fucking use of clips of morons on social media espousing their opinions on Letby’s guilt or innocence. It’s the low hanging fruit that damages the documentary more than the AI. And worst of all, this really isn’t a documentary as much as it is a propaganda piece made to influence public opinion as well as the minds of the court of appeal. My opinion- Letby was as guilty as her NHS overlords. It was lazy and biased. That’s the biggest problem with it. Not AI anonymization.
And then there is CRIME SCENE: THE TIMES SQUARE KILLER which was produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. My problem with this show is that it is 150 minutes long and about half of it deals with the killings and the other half dealt with Times Square being a shithole in the 1970s and the sex industry as a part of it and while it certainly was a part of the killing story it could have been dealt with in 10 minutes. And the discussion of the AIDS epidemic and the new Times Square was unnecessary. It’s either a show about a serial killer or it’s a show about how bad Times Square was. Since I tuned in for the first angle, the second half was uninteresting especially since I grew up in gritty NYC so I knew all of this stuff – and often went to Times Square because of just how shitty it was. It felt like a bait and switch.
I did enjoy COLD CASE: THE TYLENOL MURDERS. I mean everyone who has struggled to open a package of pills has the perpetrator of this attack to thank. I remember being fascinated and scared at this story, remember my parents throwing all Tylenol products out, remember reading Newsday about all of this and, yet, this was far from boring or repetitive but, rather, highly informative especially after 40 years. And episode 2 is a big holy shit episode – never ever heard of this James Lewis guy. It sort of falls apart in the third and final episode where it is supposition heavy and I’m not saying they are wrong but, hey, facts not opinions please. A lot of FBI myopia. “When you have a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail.” It is still a really good documentary. But I think the guy that the FBI did not investigate it did it.
One of the best true crime documentaries of recent vintage is MURDER IN MONACO. In 1999, one of the world’s richest men dies in his penthouse. This documentary unpacks the mysterious murder of billionaire banker, Edmond Safra. It goes in directions that you would never expect as well as being populated by absolute characters. Tarantino could not have thought up this motley crew of characters and that is where it excels. Rather than tell you anything further about this, I am telling you to WATCH IT and hold your chin so it doesn’t hit the floor.
While I have so many more to tell you about – and I will, I will stop with MY FATHER, THE BTK KILLER which is an interesting documentary about Dennis Rader, The BTK Killer from the perspective of his daughter. Where it works: the whole discussion of the murders and the investigation with perspectives from different cops and journalists that investigated the story- absolutely invigorating because to be honest, BTK is one of my least researched serial killers. Where it doesn’t work: the daughter. It almost seems as if she is trying to espouse sour grapes (ooh, Stephen King based his story A Good Marriage on my dad – the heck with him) while undoubtedly trying to profit off his crimes, having written about him. And, quite frankly, her nonsense that “my mother can divorce him but he will always be my dad” was a bit whiny. 5/5 for the BTK investigation section but 1/5 for the daughter’s perspective. So, an overall 3/5.
I had briefly referenced the INDIAN PREDATOR series at the beginning of the piece. These are a series of four fascinating crime stories in India and they all deserve a watch. What makes them remarkable is that the English language track that Netflix uses provides a dub voiced by Indian actors who sound like Indians and not the usual Johnny Whitebreads that we are forced to listen to and whose dub can destroy a film. Definitely enjoy them, especially MURDER IN A COURTROOM.
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@gmail.com
