The 20 Best True-Crime Documentaries on Max
The true-crime space has exploded in the last decade, and HBO (along with its corporate sibling networks found on Max) has been a major part of that proliferation. Just take a look at Investigation Discovery, home of such grabby titles as Disappeared, Homicide Hunter, and Fear Thy Neighbor. Meanwhile, HBO has been a consistent producer of deeply researched, journalistically minded crime documentaries — think Paradise Lost and The Jinx. So yes, while the genre is often associated with sensational tabloid junk, there are still plenty of standout entries that allow us to understand crime and the law better than we otherwise would. Here are the 20 best true-crime documentaries on Max right now.
Allen v. Farrow
Year: 2021
Length: Four episodes
Directors: Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering
Everyone knows something about the allegations against Woody Allen, but how much do they really know? The great documentary filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering did their homework, unpacking the allegations over four long episodes that were nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. There’s no point in arguing the guilt or innocence of Allen here, but the stories told in this series deserve to be heard before you make up your mind.
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered
Year: 2020
Length: Five episodes
Directors: Sam Pollard, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, Joshua Bennett
From 1979 to 1981, at least 30 Black children and young adults were murdered in Atlanta. The cases were eventually closed when ten of the crimes were pinned on a man named Wayne Williams, but there’s significant evidence that Williams couldn’t have committed all of these violent acts and might be entirely innocent. Family members of the deceased are still demanding justice for cases that could be linked to power players who quite literally got away with murder.
Beware the Slenderman
Year: 2017
Length: 1h 51m
Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
In 2014, a pair of 12-year-old girls stabbed a classmate 19 times, telling authorities that they did so in order to appease a mythical being known as the Slender Man. This HBO film details the horrific crimes while adding layers about mental illness, and how that can be fed by online mythmaking. The specific story is tragic enough, but this one becomes a cautionary tale regarding monitoring the online behavior and mental health of young people.
The Crime of the Century
Year: 2021
Length: Two episodes
Director: Alex Gibney
Is there a bigger national crime than the one that the pharmaceutical industry has perpetrated on the American people over the last quarter century? The great Alex Gibney explains how we got here, focusing on the criminal exploits of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma. Maybe you’ve seen Dopesick? This is the true story that inspired it.
The House of Hammer
Year: 2022
Length: Three episodes
Directors: Elli Hakami, Julian P. Hobbs
It really doesn’t feel like that long ago that Armie Hammer was an Oscar nominee and movie star. Now, he’s a subject in this interesting three-part documentary that details not only his alleged crimes and unusual behavior, but how it all fits into his family tree. At first, this one feels a little sleazy, but it’s remarkably sensitive to the survivors of various Hammer men.
I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter
Year: 2019
Length: Two episodes
Director: Erin Lee Carr
In 2014, Conrad Roy died by suicide, a tragedy that was amplified when the Roy family and authorities discovered that Conrad’s girlfriend, Michelle, had encouraged him to do it. Can a person be held liable for someone else’s decision to die by suicide? Massachusetts thought so, taking Michelle to trial for involuntary manslaughter.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
Year: 2020
Length: Seven episodes
Directors: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff, Myles Kane, Josh Koury
The best true-crime films and miniseries merge procedural details with personal storytelling. Few do that better than this stunning story of Michelle McNamara, a writer who became obsessed with online true-crime culture and eventually uncovered details about the Golden State Killer that helped lead to his unmasking. And then she died at a far-too-young age. Her widower, Patton Oswalt, is remarkably forthcoming about her life in this emotional, riveting docuseries.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst
Year: 2015
Length: Six episodes
Director: Andrew Jarecki
Along with Netflix’s Making a Murderer, this HBO series really helped ignite our current obsession with true crime. Why? A lot has to do with Robert Durst himself, one of the most unforgettable documentary subjects of this era. The real-estate heir and convicted murderer sat with Jarecki after the filmmaker made a movie about him (All Good Things) and basically admitted to all kinds of bad behavior. A second part that runs six episodes premieres on April 21, 2024.
Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty
Year: 2022
Length: Three episodes
Directors: Mor Loushy, Daniel Sivan
The truth is that this southern saga of power, murder, and betrayal that captured the nation’s imagination is so insane that a series about it really just needs to tell the story to be riveting. From the boating accident that daddy tried to cover up to the double homicide that sent Alex Murdaugh to jail, it’s one of the most captivating true-crime stories of the 2020s.
McMillion$
Year: 2020
Length: Six episodes
Directors: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte
True crime doesn’t have to mean murder. The one series or film on this list most likely to make you smile is this unpacking of the McDonald’s Monopoly scam that was run from 1989 to 2001, perpetrated by the head of the agency that was hired to make sure the program was secure. $24 million in fraud later, and with no actual million-dollar winners of the contest, everything was uncovered. This is a fun, cleverly made series about a ridiculously brazen crime.
Mind Over Murder
Year: 2022
Length: Six episodes
Director: Nanfu Wang
The phenomenal director of In the Same Breath (maybe the best COVID doc) helmed this excellent series about the Beatrice Six, a group that was convicted for the rape and murder of Helen Wilson in 1985. Five of them confessed, but all of them were exonerated by DNA evidence in 2009. Why did they confess? And how has public opinion about them shifted in their community? Smartly made and deeply empathetic to everyone involved, this one will keep you hooked.
Murder on Middle Beach
Year: 2020
Length: Four episodes
Director: Madison Hamburg
Filmmakers who get too involved in front of the camera can often sink a docuseries, but Madison Hamburg is more than just the director of this strong miniseries. It’s really his story as he tries to investigate the unsolved murder of his mother, Barbara, reconciling himself with the fact that it may have been at the hands of his father. Murder on Middle Beach asks the question: How do you look into a case that could have a conclusion you don’t really want to be true?
The Murders at Starved Rock
Year: 2021
Length: Three episodes
Director: Jody McVeigh-Schultz
We don’t often see true-crime series about cases this old, but this is an unusual series that focuses more on the shifting opinions of a community than most projects like it. In 1960, three women from Chicago were found brutally murdered in Starved Rock State Park, south of the city. Chester Weger was convicted of the crime, but always professed his innocence, and was finally granted parole in 2019. Did he do it? Watch and decide for yourself.
Paradise Lost
Year: 1996, 2000, 2012
Length: Three films
Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Paradise Lost is really the one that poured the foundation for activist true crime, series that actually have an impact on the real cases. One of the most famous cases of the ’90s, it’s the tale of the West Memphis Three, a trio of teenagers accused of the vile murders of three boys in 1993. The initial film led to two more follow-up films, but it’s the original movie that feels so important to TV history, a shift in how cable networks like HBO handled true stories about murders and miscarriage of justice.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV
Year: 2024
Length: Five episodes
Directors: Mary Robertson, Emma Schwartz
The truth is that Hollywood doesn’t protect child performers like it should, and this heartbreaking documentary about toxic and criminal behavior around the Nickelodeon original programming of the ’90s and ’00s will make you wonder if they shouldn’t shut the whole industry down. Much of the focus is on the culture crested by Dan Schneider, one of the network’s most successful creators, and a man allowed to get away with awful behavior, creating an environment that essentially protected sexual predators. Quiet on Set has become one of the most talked-about shows of early 2024 — see why for yourself.
Savior Complex
Year: 2023
Length: Three episodes
Director: Jackie Jesko
In 2009, Renee Bach started a nonprofit organization designed to feed malnourished children in Uganda. Having almost no medical experience, Bach made life-or-death decisions, and her hubris led to the deaths of 105 children in the name of God. Bach turns out to be a fascinating figure, someone who recognizes some of her errors yet still hangs on to the amount of good she did in Uganda.
The Truth vs. Alex Jones
Year: 2024
Length: 1h 58m
Director: Dan Reed
However much you hate Alex Jones, you will hate him more after this documentary. Director Dan Reed perfectly structures his film, focusing on the awful shooting of Sandy Hook first and then detailing how Jones and his idiotic cohorts at InfoWars distorted grief for profit. The footage of the defamation trials can be infuriating, but it’s important to see the micro and macro damage that people like Jones do to the national discourse.
Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall
Year: 2022
Length: Two episodes
Director: Erin Lee Carr
Danish journalist Kim Wall went to interview the owner of a mini-submarine named Peter Madsen in August 2017. She was never seen again. When the sub was found sunken, it was presumed that Madsen had murdered her aboard the vessel, and then her body parts started being discovered. Madsen was sentenced to life in prison for a story that’s truly tragic, a tale of a reporter just trying to do her job when she crossed paths with a monster.
The Vow
Year: 2020-2022
Length: 15 episodes
Directors: Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer, Omar Mullick
The NXIVM story is crazy. A supposed self-improvement group that went on to become a full-fledged sex cult, the megalomaniac Keith Raniere–led NXIVM gained national prominence due to the involvement of an actress named Allison Mack, who was recruiting new members to the group. The Vow follows the whole sordid saga, outlining all jaw-dropping details that made NXIVM a source of national fascination.
Who Killed Garrett Phillips?
Year: 2019
Length: Two episodes
Creator: Liz Garbus
Liz Garbus again! The talented director (see: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark above) helmed this underrated two-parter about the death of Garrett Phillips, a 12-year-old boy who was murdered in his own home in 2011. The police immediately targeted Nick Hillary, a soccer coach at Garrett’s school and the ex-boyfriend of his mother. Just when you think Hillary probably did it, Garbus raises new questions and details some pretty grotesque legal malfeasance.
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