Love true crime? Here are 10 of the latest documentaries to binge
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story
While this doco about Britain's worst serial killers, husband and wife Fred and Rosemary West, features 'recently discovered' police interviews (no mention of how they were 'lost') and interviews with relatives of some of the victims, there's little new information. For viewers not familiar with the horrifying crimes carried out by the Wests against at least 12 women (including, horrifyingly, one of their daughters), the three-part series reveals the whole sordid story, and the footage of Fred West directing police where to dig up the family's Gloucester garden is one of the most chilling true-crime moments on camera. Netflix
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Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam
This bingeable three-parter starts like all docuseries about women being swindled on dating sites, but takes some extraordinary turns. Just when you think the reveal is coming, there's another juicy twist. It follows three women who fall in love with the same handsome man online – who just happens to need money urgently transferred to him. Frequently.
Each of them had video calls with him (who went by different names), and despite not having met him in person, trusted him. The series follows their attempts to uncover the truth and leads to some extraordinary revelations – and the truth about the man whose identity these scammers have stolen. This is a seriously gripping one. Disney+
The Mortician
For most of the first episode, I was a little underwhelmed by this tale of the Lamb Funeral Home scandal in California, which begins with David Sconce, who reluctantly joined his family's business, and set about trying to undercut his rivals in the crematorium game. Freshly out of prison, he's one of the main interviewees, so I knew there was more to come. And man alive, do things escalate quickly. Sconce starts out bulk-burning bodies to save money, but his desire for profit soon sees him and his associates – many of whom were gang members – committing increasingly heinous crimes. I'm talking war-crime level. This one is not for the squeamish. Max
Australian Crime Stories
Let's not forget Australia has its own share of grisly crime. Nine's long-running series, now in its fifth season, examines a different crime in-depth each episode, from historic unsolved murders, such as that of Sydney designer Florence Broadhurst in the 1970s and the disappearance of journalist Juanita Nielsen in 1975 to more recent crimes such as the story of barrister Nicola Gobbo, aka Lawyer X.
The latest season also has a grim treat for hardcore crime fans – the tale of serial killer Derek Percy, who came to the attention of Victorian cops in the mid-1960s when he began stealing female underwear and mutilating dolls with razor blades. Strap in. 9 Now
Surviving Ohio State
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Australian filmmaker Eva Orner had to be talked into working on this tale of sexual abuse at Ohio State University by producer George Clooney, feeling she wasn't right for the job. But Orner's outsider status didn't hinder her investigation into the horrifying story of what went on at the university at the hands of sports medicine doctor Richard Strauss.
The once-respected physician worked in the athletic department for 20 years, from 1978, during which time he abused at least 177 male students.
Strauss was known among the students as 'Jellypaws', and the university received complaints about his behaviour as early as 1979, but nothing was addressed until 1996 – and even then, he kept his job. This is another tough watch. Max
Scamanda
An adaptation of a true-crime podcast (an ever-growing genre), this is the story of America's own Belle Gibson: Christian blogger Amanda Riley, who fabricated a moving tale of battling terminal cancer for financial gain.
If you haven't heard the podcast, prepare to be outraged, as the already comfortable (and white) Riley, beloved in her church community, scams not only her fellow congregation members out of money, but also former friends, with her online 'journey' of dealing with Hodgkin's lymphoma for more than a decade. As well as the crime itself, this series examines the idea of societal bias – would Riley have attracted so much sympathy (and cash), had she been from a different race or socioeconomic background? Disney+
Grenfell: Uncovered
This one is an extremely difficult watch, examining the horrific 2017 fire that broke out at a London tower block, killing at least 72 people, and uncovering the ways in which the disaster could easily have been prevented.
Opening with the first emergency call, it follows a linear narrative of the horrific fire, interspersed with accounts from survivors, bereaved families and emergency workers. Then there are the experts whose commentary on the cladding, which caused the fire to rip through the building, is beyond damning. The corporate greed and malfeasance that led to the completely unavoidable deaths of dozens of people are rage-inducing. Netflix
Trainwreck: Poop Cruise
I want to say I'm including this as a palate cleanser, but given what happens (the clue is in the title), that's perhaps not the best description. When an engine fire disables the electricity on board a cruise from Texas to Mexico, it plunges the ship into darkness – and stops other things plunging down the toilets. The plan is to tow the ship to port, but after it drifts out to sea, passengers are left without running water and toilets for four days. But the biggest horror, according to passenger accounts, is the red bags supplied for 'pooping' in. And that's before a free bar is opened, the toilets start overflowing and things turn into a fecal-themed Lord of The Flies. Netflix
Exposed: Naked Crimes
This true-crime series is peak America – at once titillating, voyeuristic and exploitative. Comprising cobbled-together clips of various crimes being committed by naked perpetrators, it also features firsthand accounts from cops, witnesses and the occasional nude criminal themselves.
The (mercifully) grainy footage is culled from CCTV, home security cameras and police body-worn cameras, and the crimes range from everything to DUI arrests to petty theft. While some of it is amusing, it's hard not to feel for the birthday-suited crims, many of whom are clearly not in their right minds. Unbelievably, this cheaply produced series is in its third season. Max
Lucy Worsley Investigates
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The historical crimes featured in historian Lucy Worsley's latest series are no less brutal than modern ones, but watching dramatic re-enactments of bloodthirsty murders at such a remove is somehow less stressful.
Worsley examines the Jack the Ripper murders, and how the breathless newspaper accounts of the murders became the prototype for all true-crime stories that followed, the motives behind the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, and the case of Queen Mary I, aka 'Bloody Mary', among others. Lovely Lucy and her posh bob ensure this one is more of a cosy true-crime binge, but no less compelling. ABC iview
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
25 years since Chopper, Eric Bana is still one to watch
Eric Bana spent five years preparing to play Kyle Turner, the main character in the hit Netflix crime drama Untamed. The six-part series, set in Yosemite National Park, follows Turner as an investigator for the National Park Service and the role fits Bana like a deerskin glove. A man of few terse words who'd rather be riding his horse through the majestic countryside than talking to people, he has a keen eye for detail and knows this striking, rugged territory like the back of his hand. It also emerges through the six-part first season that he's a grieving father living alone in a cabin full of unpacked boxes since his divorce from Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt). Loading The series was created and written by the father-daughter duo of Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, American Primeval) and Elle Smith. Bana committed to the project in 2019 on the basis of a pilot script and stuck with it as the production was delayed for years by the pandemic, strikes and other obstacles. That's a useful insight into Bana's approach to his career: he knows what he wants to do, and he sticks with the stuff that he thinks has value. Untamed, which has been greenlit for a second season and is being hailed as the new Netflix franchise, has value in a range of ways. In a streaming era crammed with crime thrillers – many of them fairly forgettable – it stands out. Cleverly written, both in terms of the character development and the strategically placed revelations and story hooks, it's also well-cast, with accomplished actors such as DeWitt and Sam Neill working alongside less familiar faces including Lily Santiago, Wilson Bethel and Raoul Max Trujillo. It makes good use of a spectacular setting, which is actually Canada's British Columbia playing America's national treasure. And the directors do impressive work throughout in a series boosted by a couple of stunning set-pieces: the can't-look-away opening sequence involving a cliff-fall and a frightening, intensely claustrophobic journey through a mineshaft. Bana's ability to identify productive opportunities reflects a pattern that's been discernible since his early days as a comedy writer and performer. It's a skill that's served him well as he's crafted a remarkably varied film and TV CV. He wears his fame with ease and still manages to take on challenging and rewarding projects. He's also managed to maintain a work-life balance that suits him, keeping his home base in Melbourne and temporarily relocating for work. The global success of Untamed seems a fitting milestone exactly 25 years after he burst on to screens as the title character in Andrew Dominik's debut film, Chopper, delivering an astonishing, who-knew-he-could-do- that? performance as Mark 'Chopper' Read. This was a man who'd previously made his mark in comedy, notably as sweet-natured, slightly cocky but clueless Poida, a mulleted, Esky-toting bogan on Seven's sketch show Full Frontal. After which came accountant Con Petropoulos, kick-boxing enthusiast and husband of Tracey Kerrigan (Sophie Lee) in Working Dog's beloved comedy feature, The Castle. But with the full-blooded, career-changing role of Chopper, he smashed any preconceptions about the limits of his ability. Prior to it, he'd been voted Cleo's Most Eligible Bachelor (1996), and won a Logie as Most Popular Comedy Personality (1997). By 2004, he was being touted as the next James Bond. In the decades since, he's astutely played the long game in a fickle and turbulent industry. He's done superheroes (Hulk), sci-fi (Star Trek) and sword-and-sandals epics (Troy). He's appeared in war movies (Black Hawk Down), thrillers (Munich, Hanna), romantic and period dramas (The Time Traveller's Wife, The Other Boleyn Girl). He's played leads and supporting parts, heroes and villains (Dirty John) and worked with some of the industry's most respected directors (Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott) and producers (John Wells, Bruna Papandrea). He's returned home for memorable roles (Romulus, My Father; The Dry) and formed a partnership with local powerhouse producer-director Robert Connolly for the adaptations of Jane Harper's best-selling Aaron Falk novels. Like many actors who've recognised the need to take more control over their careers, he's also started his own production company, Pick Up Truck Pictures, for which he directed 2007's documentary, Love the Beast (DocPlay). A film clearly close to his heart, it's about his beloved Ford Falcon XB coupe, his enduring band of mates, his family and his passion for race-car driving – a devotion that seems as steadfast as his commitment to the St Kilda footy club. Oscar-winning filmmaker, claymation maestro Adam Elliot, another local who's maintained a base in Melbourne, cast Bana in both of his features, Mary and Max and Memoir of a Snail. He recalls: 'For Mary and Max, I wanted somebody who sounded masculine, but not toxic – somebody who had depth and sensitivity. I think I'd just re-watched The Castle, and he's so funny in that, really lovely and likable, even though he was quite earnest. I love casting people who are contradictions and in Chopper he played somebody completely gruesome yet funny.' In Mary and Max, Bana voices Mary's neighbour and eventual husband, Damien Papadopoulos. 'He was fantastic to work with, no airs and graces,' Elliot says. 'No demands, no special food. He drove himself to the studio in South Melbourne, did the job, in and out in an hour and a half, and even did some funny outtakes for the documentary about the film. Loading 'Then, out of the blue after it was finished, I got a letter from him saying he'd seen the film, and he was really moved by it and commenting on the music. I haven't had any other actor do that, send a letter to say, 'Thanks for working with me.' He's a gentleman and he's very private. He doesn't like doing lots of interviews and red carpets; he's very selective, and he really has navigated carefully.' After that happy experience, Elliot asked him to play James, the disgraced drunken magistrate in Memoir of a Snail.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
25 years since Chopper, Eric Bana is still one to watch
Eric Bana spent five years preparing to play Kyle Turner, the main character in the hit Netflix crime drama Untamed. The six-part series, set in Yosemite National Park, follows Turner as an investigator for the National Park Service and the role fits Bana like a deerskin glove. A man of few terse words who'd rather be riding his horse through the majestic countryside than talking to people, he has a keen eye for detail and knows this striking, rugged territory like the back of his hand. It also emerges through the six-part first season that he's a grieving father living alone in a cabin full of unpacked boxes since his divorce from Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt). Loading The series was created and written by the father-daughter duo of Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, American Primeval) and Elle Smith. Bana committed to the project in 2019 on the basis of a pilot script and stuck with it as the production was delayed for years by the pandemic, strikes and other obstacles. That's a useful insight into Bana's approach to his career: he knows what he wants to do, and he sticks with the stuff that he thinks has value. Untamed, which has been greenlit for a second season and is being hailed as the new Netflix franchise, has value in a range of ways. In a streaming era crammed with crime thrillers – many of them fairly forgettable – it stands out. Cleverly written, both in terms of the character development and the strategically placed revelations and story hooks, it's also well-cast, with accomplished actors such as DeWitt and Sam Neill working alongside less familiar faces including Lily Santiago, Wilson Bethel and Raoul Max Trujillo. It makes good use of a spectacular setting, which is actually Canada's British Columbia playing America's national treasure. And the directors do impressive work throughout in a series boosted by a couple of stunning set-pieces: the can't-look-away opening sequence involving a cliff-fall and a frightening, intensely claustrophobic journey through a mineshaft. Bana's ability to identify productive opportunities reflects a pattern that's been discernible since his early days as a comedy writer and performer. It's a skill that's served him well as he's crafted a remarkably varied film and TV CV. He wears his fame with ease and still manages to take on challenging and rewarding projects. He's also managed to maintain a work-life balance that suits him, keeping his home base in Melbourne and temporarily relocating for work. The global success of Untamed seems a fitting milestone exactly 25 years after he burst on to screens as the title character in Andrew Dominik's debut film, Chopper, delivering an astonishing, who-knew-he-could-do- that? performance as Mark 'Chopper' Read. This was a man who'd previously made his mark in comedy, notably as sweet-natured, slightly cocky but clueless Poida, a mulleted, Esky-toting bogan on Seven's sketch show Full Frontal. After which came accountant Con Petropoulos, kick-boxing enthusiast and husband of Tracey Kerrigan (Sophie Lee) in Working Dog's beloved comedy feature, The Castle. But with the full-blooded, career-changing role of Chopper, he smashed any preconceptions about the limits of his ability. Prior to it, he'd been voted Cleo's Most Eligible Bachelor (1996), and won a Logie as Most Popular Comedy Personality (1997). By 2004, he was being touted as the next James Bond. In the decades since, he's astutely played the long game in a fickle and turbulent industry. He's done superheroes (Hulk), sci-fi (Star Trek) and sword-and-sandals epics (Troy). He's appeared in war movies (Black Hawk Down), thrillers (Munich, Hanna), romantic and period dramas (The Time Traveller's Wife, The Other Boleyn Girl). He's played leads and supporting parts, heroes and villains (Dirty John) and worked with some of the industry's most respected directors (Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott) and producers (John Wells, Bruna Papandrea). He's returned home for memorable roles (Romulus, My Father; The Dry) and formed a partnership with local powerhouse producer-director Robert Connolly for the adaptations of Jane Harper's best-selling Aaron Falk novels. Like many actors who've recognised the need to take more control over their careers, he's also started his own production company, Pick Up Truck Pictures, for which he directed 2007's documentary, Love the Beast (DocPlay). A film clearly close to his heart, it's about his beloved Ford Falcon XB coupe, his enduring band of mates, his family and his passion for race-car driving – a devotion that seems as steadfast as his commitment to the St Kilda footy club. Oscar-winning filmmaker, claymation maestro Adam Elliot, another local who's maintained a base in Melbourne, cast Bana in both of his features, Mary and Max and Memoir of a Snail. He recalls: 'For Mary and Max, I wanted somebody who sounded masculine, but not toxic – somebody who had depth and sensitivity. I think I'd just re-watched The Castle, and he's so funny in that, really lovely and likable, even though he was quite earnest. I love casting people who are contradictions and in Chopper he played somebody completely gruesome yet funny.' In Mary and Max, Bana voices Mary's neighbour and eventual husband, Damien Papadopoulos. 'He was fantastic to work with, no airs and graces,' Elliot says. 'No demands, no special food. He drove himself to the studio in South Melbourne, did the job, in and out in an hour and a half, and even did some funny outtakes for the documentary about the film. Loading 'Then, out of the blue after it was finished, I got a letter from him saying he'd seen the film, and he was really moved by it and commenting on the music. I haven't had any other actor do that, send a letter to say, 'Thanks for working with me.' He's a gentleman and he's very private. He doesn't like doing lots of interviews and red carpets; he's very selective, and he really has navigated carefully.' After that happy experience, Elliot asked him to play James, the disgraced drunken magistrate in Memoir of a Snail.
Sky News AU
9 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Fans blame ‘woke' Disney as Snow White bombs
Disney's live-action Snow White is being slammed as a box office flop with Gal Gadot pointing to anti-Israel sentiment. Critics insist the real problem was the film's 'woke' makeover alienating fans and forced costly reshoots. 'I hate to say it, I think she's sorely misguided,' Sky News host Freya Leach said. 'I don't think it was so much the anti-Israel sentiment, I think it was the anti-woke sentiment. 'There was so much backlash from the fans in the early stages of creating film that they had to go back and refilm huge chunks of the movie and then edit it together … to try and de-woke the original film because they knew it was going to be completely rejected.'
