5 Of The Most Shocking Documentaries On Netflix
If there’s one thing Netflix can do well, it’s making and buying documentaries that cover mind-blowing stories in a way that will keep you on the edge of your seat. They’re created in a way that makes them palatable and entertaining to most of us, spreading awareness of stories that need to be heard by the world. These five Netflix documentaries cover cases that are far more bizarre, shocking, and even terrifying than most fiction.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (2020)
Released at the peak of lockdown, the docuseries blew up on Netflix as the most watched series for weeks. Its timing was impeccable, since a binge-worthy story filled with as many twists and turns as Tiger King is exactly what people needed during the boredom of lockdown. The story follows the rivalry between Joe Exotic, a redneck as egoistic as he is flamboyant, who owns a big cat zoo in Oklahoma, and an owner of a big cat sanctuary, Carole Baskin. The docuseries takes you on a wild ride as you witness these bizarre characters and their (mostly Joe’s) involvements in deceit, a run for presidency, a murder-for-hire situation, polyamorous relationships, explosions, and a cat themed wedding.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (2020) on Wikipedia
The Tinder Swindler (2022)
The Tinder Swindler became Netflix’s most watched documentary film as people quickly became enthralled in the story of the deceptive scams of a con man. The story follows a group of Simon Leviev’s victims as they attempt to hunt him down to retrieve the 10 million dollars he stole from them. Leviev created a tinder profile filled with pictures of his lavish, millionaire lifestyle that tricked women into wanting to pursue him. He went as far as to create fake social media profiles, displaying the same fake lifestyle as the one on tinder. After establishing connections with the people that swiped right, he’d send staged photographs of his bloodied self and ask for money. What makes The Tinder Swindler so shocking is that it shows how easy it is for someone to manipulate people over social media. In an age where dating apps are such a prevalent means to meet people, the documentary leaves an alarmed impression. The documentary succeeds in the way that it shows compassion for the victims during a time when much of the public blamed them for what happened to them, labelling them as gold-diggers
The Tinder Swindler (2022) on Wikipedia
Icarus (2017)
What started as director Bryan Fogel’s investigation into the unfair practice of doping in an amateur cycling event, ended with a shocking revelation chronicled in the documentary. After meeting the head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rochenkov, the two hatch a plan to give Fogel an illegal performance enhancing drug in a way that can pass drug tests given to athletes. The documentary starts to feel like the climactic moment in a thriller when Rochenkov discovers that Russia has a state-sponsored Olympic doping programme. After this piece of information gets leaked in the media, Fogel fears for Rochendov’s safety and flies him to Los Angeles. The film is sure to keep you gaping as you’re taken on an investigation into a small event that leads to a far deeper, international scandal.
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
The story starts off with a strange and bizarre coincidence of triplets reuniting after being separated by birth, but starts to gradually unravel the many twists at the heart of this incident. When Bobby Shafran started college at 19, he was greeted with many familiar hello’s, and was even called Eddy by someone. He found out that he had an identical twin after one of the students noticed the uncanny resemblance between him and his friend, Eddy Galland. As the twins reunited and bonded, they discovered they were actually triplets after the third, David Kellman, noticed them in a newspaper and got in contact. What seemed like a miracle made the triplets celebrities as they appeared all over headlines and in talk shows. As the parents began to question why the Louise Wise adoption agency had separated them at birth, a scandal of cruel deceit was uncovered. The boys were separated at birth as part of a nature vs nurture experiment conducted by doctor Peter Neubaur in which he separated twins into blue-collar, middle-class, and wealthy families with the help of the Louise Wise agency. The insanity of the story raises thought-provoking questions about the nature vs nurture argument, as well as sorrow for the victims of such a deceptive experiment that resulted in an unfortunate number suicides.
👉 Watch Three Identical Strangers on Amazon Prime
👉 Buy Three Identical Strangers as DVD on Amazon
Our Father (2022)
After a woman takes an at-home DNA test which discovers she has multiple half-siblings, a shocking and distiurbing scheme is uncovered. After an Indianapolis fertility doctor had been secretly using his sperm to impreganate patients during the 70s and 80s, a slew of other people with questionable DNA test results came forward. What makes this scandal so terrifying is how long the former doctor Donald Cline got away with it, and the sneaky means he chose to victimise the unsuspecting women. As the victims attempt to get justice, the documentary reveals how unequipped the legal system is as Cline only got a 500 dollar fine.
