Top 20 Best Documentary Movies on Netflix You Must Watch

Chau Polly August 28, 2024 | 10:32

The documentary is all-encompassing; it looks at and talks about every aspect of real life, from crimes and history to sports and even making movies. But here is a list of the most-watched and best documentaries on Netflix.

Photo: Collider

1. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel

This book takes an interesting look at the famous Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, focusing on the history and current social issues that have led to the hotel's scary and haunted reputation. This documentary by Joe Berlinger looks into the famous case of Elisa Lam from 2013. She was last seen at the Cecil and was found dead in the hotel's water tank almost a month after she went missing. The documentary follows all possible leads in a way that makes sense and is thorough. It doesn't try to solve the mysteries of the case, but it has led to many conspiracy theories over the years.

2. The Ripper

This film is not about the notorious Jack, but about a different British killer. Peter William Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, terrorized Northern England in the 1970s and 1980s. He stayed out of jail for years because the police were biased against women and people of color at the time.

3. American Murder: The Family Next Door

The Netflix original documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door is a horrifying and angry account of the murders of the Watts family in 2018. It uses social media posts, police recordings, text messages, and home video footage to show what happened again. It looks at what happened when Shanann Watts and her two kids went missing, and the terrible things that happened while her husband was being questioned by police about his possible role in her disappearance. The movie is different from other true crime documentaries because it mostly shows the victims. You can see the lies that people post on social media and the poison that grows in far too many American relationships. – Adam Chitwood.

4. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer

In The Hunt for a Serial Killer, the crimes of the well-known California killer Richard Ramirez in the 1980s are told. This documentary mostly shows the investigation into the murder case from the point of view of the detectives who worked on it. It focuses on the frustrating process that took months before Ramirez was finally caught.

5. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

That name should be enough to sell this movie. Attenborough has been making documentaries about the environment for a long time. His Netflix documentary is a must-see right now, when we really should be paying more attention to our planet. The documentary not only gives a great look into Attenborough's life, but it also shows how much nature has changed since he was born.

6. I Am a Killer: Released

A man who was sentenced to death for murder is freed from prison 30 years after the events in I Am a Killer: Released. After he gets out of jail, his story of what happened changes a lot. This is a quick binge if you like true crime shows.

Photo: Netflix

7. Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer

Very scary and out of this world, Don't mess with cats: The Hunt An Internet Killer is a story that starts when someone posts a video of someone killing a cat online. As internet detectives try to catch the killer, the attention he gets makes him post even more scary videos. It's a weird and dark binge.

8. The Staircase

Practically every true crime podcast has covered the legendary, haunting case of Kathleen Peterson, but if you aren’t a junkie yet and you’re looking to get into true crime, The Staircase is the place to start.

9. Athlete A

Over 500 women have accused Larry Nassar, a former trainer for USA Gymnastics, of assault. In Athlete A, directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk seek justice for those women. The documentary hones in on the story of Maggie Nichols, who came forward about Nassar’s abuse in 2015—as well as the local newspaper reporters who made Nassar’s crimes a national story.

10. Abducted in Plain Sight

When you watch the true crime documentary, you might hear words like "crazy," "bonkers," and "wild." Abducted in Plain Sight, but they would all be thrown out by the scary story in Skye Borgman's movie. The story is about the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was taken by their neighbor Robert "B" Berchtold more than once. The details of those kidnappings are definitely more strange than fiction, but Berchtold's actions are those of a real monster and predator who tore the Broberg family apart just to get to Jan. Even though some parts of the story are shocking, the whole thing is much scarier. – Matt Goldberg

11. Ugly Delicious

As a general rule, you should pay attention to a restaurant, chef, or anything edible if the famous chef David Chang likes it. Visit Chang's favorite chefs and go on trips to out-of-the-way places in Ugly Delicious, where he also teaches you some Food World 101. (Plus one trip to Outback Steakhouse.)

12. Becoming

Michelle Obama turned her life into a bestselling memoir back in 2017, and in 2020 Netflix released a documentary following the former First Lady on her book tour. The film shows glimpses of the tour, as well as moments from Obama’s life detailed in the book, such as her Chicago childhood, campaigning with her husband, and life in the White House.

13. Abstract: The Art of Design

Eight artists and designers, ranging from architectures to footwear designers, show a window into their problem-solving worlds through this docuseries.

14. Crip Camp

Crip Camp takes a look into a summer camp that revolutionized the disability movement. Focusing on a group of teens attending the camp, the deeply affecting documentary explores an era when disability rights were tragically ignored.

15. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

Before creating Zac Efron's portrayal of serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, filmmaker Joe Berlinger interviewed journalist Stephen Michaud about his revealing conversations with Bundy while he was in prison.

16. 13th

Ava DuVernay examines the legacy of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution—which officially ended slavery—and the ensuing Jim Crow era, the mass incarceration of African Americans, and the modern-day prison industrial complex that acts as slavery-as-punishment.

17. They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

The famed director Orson Welles changed cinema forever with his prestigious career, but his final film—The Other Side of the Wind—was unfinished and unseen for decades. Here's the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most infamous movies in film history.

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18. Icarus

Director Bryan Fogel intended to experiment with doping in order to win a cycling competition—only his investigations into the practice opened up a bigger, more sinister scandal in this Oscar-winning doc.

19. Knock Down the House

An award-winning, behind-the-scenes view of the campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin—four women with no political experience or corporate money.

20. I Called Him Morgan

The turbulent marriage of jazz saxophonist Lee Morgan and his wife Helen is the subject of this fiery film. The movie is a sad memory of an artist whose life was cut short by a terrible act of violence. Helen herself talks about it in an interview she gave before she died in 1996.

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