If You Liked ‘Making a Murderer’ You’ll Love These Netflix Shows
Real-life crime tales are clearly a major cottage industry (no, more like a metropolis industry) on TV, streaming, and through podcasts. Netflix was smart to jump into the genre a number of years ago, especially with their popular Making a Murderer. While the developments of the Steven Avery case are still up in the air, it might be a while until audiences see a new season covering all the updates.
In the meantime, you might want to check out similar shows on Netflix. With a deeper dive into true crime, you can probably find something else just as intriguing.
Take a look at our short list of some of the best ones you’ve maybe avoided.
‘Wild Wild Country’
A few of you may consider this more of a social analysis than true crime show. It’s still about crime when you consider what the Rajneesh cult did to local residents of an Oregon community in the mid 1980s. Those who lived through this era (including yours truly) will remember how Rajneeshpuram basically took over the community of Antelope, OR and went to great lengths to ensure they had political control.
When they couldn’t get what they wanted, they masterminded a mass food poisoning of government officials by decree of the Bhagwan, bringing on criminal charges. In context, they’re considered the first real terrorist organization residing within the U.S., or at least based on what we know.
Despite being a 35-year-old story, many people outside of Oregon didn’t know the details. Wild Wild Country reveals it all as one of the most bizarre criminal events in American history.
Longtime Oregon residents validate the details as being perfectly accurate in how we remember them.
‘Partners in Crime’
Not all crazy crime stories are in the United States. You’ll find just as many strange true crime tales overseas in big cities. One of the best shows of this ilk explores crimes in Hong Kong.
Partners in Crime is a series following Dr. Carl Leung, a dental and facial reconstruction forensic analyst, who takes on complex missing person cases in Hong Kong that were never solved. The show focuses on one of the most grim crime tasks: Trying to identify a badly decomposed body found years after going missing.
While this 2011 series wasn’t made directly for Netflix, you can stream the entire series now. It’s a worth a look at the universal methods involved in identifying missing people. Plus, you get an inside reminder of how crime is just as horrific in places far away from America.
‘The Keepers’
Many older murder cases are just as chilling and bizarre as Making a Murderer. Some of these cases also come from the least expected sources. In The Keepers, we see a murder case directly out of a Catholic all-girls high school in Baltimore, Maryland. The crime involved a nun named Cathy Cesnik who was mysteriously murdered on the grounds after rumors came out she was going to expose abuse at the school.
We’ve mentioned this true crime show before as one of the best around. It still is, and you’ll find it even more disturbing than Making a Murderer. On a larger scale, it’s also very haunting considering the increasing revelations coming out about sexual abuse from high-ranking clergy through Catholic organizations.
It’s possible the coverups elsewhere went a little too far.
‘American Vandal’
Maybe some would consider it bad taste to parody a true-crime documentary like Making a Murderer. If you can argue such a case, it didn’t stop Netflix from greenlighting this satire series based on the style of MaM.
American Vandal only had two seasons on Netflix before being canceled last year. We’re doubtful it’ll be back based on the controversial nature of parodying things like this. Regardless, the satiric story doesn’t involve murder and just the case of a high school student drawing phallic images on cars. The two seasons produced are still available to stream and were only made a couple of years ago.
Give it a look if you want to laugh after watching countless grim crime stories. Just don’t become numb to the reality of how horrible the real stories are.
