There’s no denying the fact that true-crime stories are everywhere — be they in podcasts, TV series or movies — and the craze doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The Hollywood Reporter compiled a list of some of the most recent true-crime series and films available to stream.
These hit shows and movies have garnered more than 50 Emmy nominations over the last few years, with 10 of those nods this year going to true-crime series Welcome to Chippendales and Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
A 2022 YouGov poll showed that half of Americans enjoy true-crime content, with one in three saying they consume it at least once a week and one in four admitting that they watch it multiple times per week. The poll also showed that true-crime series and movies tend to make people more empathetic toward victims and safety-conscious, as well as better-versed in how the criminal justice system works.
With interest in true crime seemingly at an all-time high, as viewers seek content that transports them into real-life stories, it’s no surprise there are constantly more docuseries premiering across several streaming platforms. This summer alone, ABC announced four new true-crime shows airing on Hulu, including The Ashley Madison Affair, Betrayal: The Perfect Husband, Mother Undercover and Demons and Saviors.
So, what is it about the true-crime genre that draws people in so much? According to Jean Kim, M.D., audiences may be entranced by the content because they find comfort in the reassuring narrative formula, its reinforcing sense of moral clarity and how it reminds them of their luck at times.
Below, find a list of 30 true-crime TV shows and movies that can be watched on Max, Netflix, Hulu and more.
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‘The Vow’
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO The Vow, streaming on MAX, follows former NXIVM members as they open up about the emotional toll of the events that took place in the so-called self-improvement group, whose leader, Keith Raniere, was convicted of sex trafficking, racketeering and other crimes. The docuseries reveals the emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors as new evidence comes to light.
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‘Unbelievable’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Based on a true story, Netflix’s Unbelievable follows Kaitlyn Dever’s Marie after she comes forward and reveals she was bound, gagged and raped before recanting her story. Two female detectives, played by Merritt Wever and Toni Collette, follow a trail that could lead them to what really happened in the drama series.
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‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’
Image Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FX/Courtesy Everett Collection The Assassination of Gianni Versace is the second installment in the American Crime Story franchise and explores the murder of the famed designer by spree killer Andrew Cunanan. The scripted nine-episode series is based on the book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History.
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‘The Dropout’
Image Credit: Beth Dubber/Hulu Based on the ABC podcast of the same name, Hulu’s scripted series The Dropout details the real-life rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes (played by Amanda Seyfried), the Theranos founder and CEO who developed a health-care technology that put millions of patients at risk.
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‘The Watcher’
Image Credit: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix Netflix’s fictionalized The Watcher follows a married couple, played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, who move into their dream home in the New Jersey suburbs, only to begin receiving terrifying letters from a stalker named “the Watcher.”
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‘A Friend of the Family’
Image Credit: Fernando Decillis/Peacock Peacock’s scripted series A Friend of the Family brings to life the true story of the Broberg family, whose youngest daughter, Jan (McKenna Grace), was kidnapped multiple times by the family’s “friend,” played by Jake Lacy. Lacy’s Robert exploited the Broberg’s vulnerabilities and turned their daughter against them.
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‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal follows the story of a prominent South Carolina family whose legacy begins to unravel after a fatal boating accident and, later, Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul’s murders. The Netflix docuseries brings to light a century of corruption, power and cover-ups in the Southern state.
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‘Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu This Hulu docuseries explores the origins of a cult at Sarah Lawrence College, where students fell under the influence of a friend’s father, Larry Ray. The cult originated in 2010 on the college campus until its recent demise, for which the aftermath is still unfolding.
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‘Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’
Image Credit: Ser Baffo/Netflix Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story dramatizes the story of the notorious serial killer, who was active in the Midwest between 1978 and 1991. The scripted series follows instances where Dahmer was almost apprehended until his ultimate conviction and death.
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‘Unsolved Mysteries’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Unsolved Mysteries originally aired on NBC from 1987-97 before being rebooted at CBS from 1997-99, Lifetime from 2001-02, Spike from 2008-10, and Netflix from 2020 to present day. The true-crime docuseries highlights real cases of baffling disappearances, shocking murders and paranormal encounters.
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‘Mindhunter’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Netflix’s Mindhunter follows the creation of the Behavioral Analysis Unit within the Training Division at the FBI Academy in Quantico and the beginning of criminal profiling. The scripted series centers on Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), with David Fincher and Charlize Theron among the show’s executive producers.
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‘Under the Banner of Heaven’
Image Credit: Michelle Faye/FX Based on Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, the Hulu scripted series follows Andrew Garfield’s Jeb Pyre and Gil Birmingham’s Detective Bill Taba as they investigate a double murder committed in the name of God by Lafferty brothers Ron (Sam Worthington) and Dan (Wyatt Russell).
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‘Candy’
Image Credit: Tina Rowden/Hulu Hulu’s drama series Candy brings to life the true story of Candy Montgomery, a 1980s housewife and mother who did everything right until she began an affair with her neighbor that ended in murder. The Jessica Biel- and Melanie Lynskey-starring series details the time leading up to the affair, the affair itself, the ax-murder and the court trial.
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‘Inventing Anna’
Image Credit: Aaron Epstein/Netflix Julia Garner plays the real-life Anna Delvey on Netflix’s scripted drama series, which draws from the actual case of the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts and money of New York elites.
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‘The Act’
Image Credit: Brownie Harris / Hulu Hulu’s scripted series The Act follows Gypsy Blanchard (Joey King), a girl trying to escape her toxic relationship with her overprotective mother, Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette). When her quest for independence begins, one secret ultimately leads to murder.
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‘The Staircase’
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO Based on a true story, Max’s scripted series The Staircase follows Michael Peterson, a novelist accused of killing his wife after she’s found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. When the investigation begins, the family is thrown into a legal battle, and a French documentary team takes interest.
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‘The Girl From Plainville’
Image Credit: Steve Dietl/Hulu Elle Fanning takes on the role of Michelle Carter in the Hulu scripted series, which tells the true story of Michelle’s “texting-suicide” case. It explores her relationship with Conrad Roy III and the events leading up to his death and her eventual conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
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‘Dopesick’
Image Credit: Antony Platt/Hulu Michael Keaton stars in Danny Strong’s Hulu scripted series, which explores America’s struggle with opioid addiction — from Purdue Pharma to the hallways of the DEA. Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson and Will Poulter also star.
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‘When They See Us’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us follows the lives of the Central Park Five, a group of five young people who were falsely charged with assaulting and raping a jogger in 1989. The Netflix scripted series takes place over the course of 25 years — from when the teens are first questioned to their exoneration in 2002.
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‘Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer’
Image Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images Prime Video’s docuseries Falling for a Killer reframes Ted Bundy’s crimes from a female perspective and uncovers the ways his hatred of women collided with the feminist movement and culture wars of the 1970s, according to the streamer.
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‘Making a Murderer’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Making a Murderer is filmed over the course of 13 years and sees two men — Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey — convicted of a grim crime they may not have committed. The Netflix docuseries’ publicity prompted petitions to have Avery’s case reviewed, but Wisconsin officials insist some evidence is missing from the docuseries.
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‘Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix This Netflix docuseries explores New York’s legendary Five Families — the Gambinos, the Colombos, the Bonannos, the Luccheses and the Genovese — in the 1970s and ’80s as a team of federal agents works to take them down.
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‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Zac Efron and Lily Collins star in Netflix’s scripted drama Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which follows Collins’ Liz as she falls in love with Efron’s Ted Bundy and refuses to believe he is guilty of the kidnappings and crimes against women of which he’s accused. Haley Joel Osment, John Malkovich and Jim Parsons also star.
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‘Welcome to Chippendales’
Image Credit: Erin Simkin/Hulu Hulu’s biographical drama Welcome to Chippendales follows Kumail Nanjiani’s Somen “Steve” Banerjee, an Indian immigrant in search of the American Dream, who goes on to create the male revue show that became a cultural phenomenon — and the murders that followed.
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‘Narcos’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Netflix’s scripted series Narcos isn’t straight fiction, as the storyline takes a lot of what actually happened during the rise of the cocaine trade in Colombia and the actions taken by law enforcement as they battle the war on drugs. The two DEA agents who took down Pablo Escobar — Steve Murphy and Javier Peña, who are portrayed by Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal, respectively — previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the series takes “some artistic licenses, but the timeline is accurate.”
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‘Truth Be Told’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+ Scripted series Truth Be Told is based on Kathleen Barber’s novel Are You Sleeping and follows true-crime podcaster Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer) as she revisits the case that made her famous when new evidence comes to light that suggests her suspect may have been wrongfully convicted. Each season of the AppleTV+ series follows a different cast and also stars Kate Hudson, Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan and the late Ron Cephas Jones.
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‘Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Netflix’s docuseries Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer follows young detective Gil Carrillo and homicide investigator Frank Salerno as they rush to find the nocturnal criminal responsible for a series of seemingly disconnected murders and sexual assaults in 1985 Los Angeles.
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‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO HBO’s four-part docuseries explores the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and the subsequent conviction of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed, a case brought to global attention by the Serial podcast. Twenty years later, Syed’s murder conviction was vacated, and he was released from prison.
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‘The Ripper’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix In West Yorkshire and Manchester, England, between 1975 and 1980, serial killer Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women. This four-part Netflix docuseries follows the investigation surrounding the murders at the hand of Sutcliffe, whose methods resembled Jack the Ripper’s and garnered him the nickname the Yorkshire Ripper.
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‘The Trials of Gabriel Fernández’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix In Netflix’s docuseries The Trials of Gabriel Fernández, filmmaker Brian Knappenberger investigates the death of an 8-year-old California boy who endured abuse by his mother and her boyfriend and raises questions about how the system protects vulnerable children.
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