Prepare to be unsettled as we dive into the darkest corners of documentary filmmaking. From true crime shockers to disturbing social experiments, these films tackle the most chilling aspects of human nature. Warning: This list isn't for the faint of heart!
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00:00They had this idealized image of this father as being this saint-like person,
00:08this Santa Claus, Messiah, you know."
00:12Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the documentaries
00:17that tackle dark topics in the most unsettling of ways.
00:20For this list, we're excluding any docuseries, and spoilers will be mentioned.
00:25The members of the church that were responsible for keeping those records
00:31threw up a lot of roadblocks in having to contact their attorneys
00:35to find out what they had to give to us.
00:41They had a lot of speculations on who did it, but no one was ever brought.
00:47Telling scary stories is a formative experience for many,
00:50but the roots of some of the most iconic ones have often been ignored.
00:53Killer Legends sets out to fix that,
00:55by taking four of the most well-known urban legends and delving into their history.
01:00Some schools stop celebrating Halloween, they stop using the word Halloween,
01:05and they start talking about having a fall festival.
01:08New Jersey passed a law specifying penalties for people who were caught
01:15contaminating Halloween treats.
01:17From the Candyman to evil clowns, each villain is analyzed,
01:20with some of the most wicked having connections to serial killers like John Wayne Gacy.
01:25It perfectly hits the balance between creepy and informative,
01:28and makes viewers realize just how much overlap there is between reality and horrific fiction.
01:33After watching this, it'll be practically impossible to hear a haunted tale
01:37without wondering what real-life monster served as the inspiration.
01:40Everybody knows that people are afraid of clowns,
01:43everybody knows that something's up with clowns,
01:45and the last couple of decades have just been confirmation of everything they ever feared.
01:51The Blackout Experiments
01:52I started to have some second thoughts about whether or not I should do this.
01:59I signed my life away going to this place.
02:02Despite it going against so many of our natural instincts,
02:05there are still people that will intentionally put themselves through
02:08the most extreme or terrifying circumstances.
02:11So what exactly drives them to do this?
02:13The Blackout Experiments dives into this phenomenon by interviewing
02:16those who had taken part in an uncomfortably immersive haunted house experience.
02:21You know, we all live once,
02:22and I guess we all want to do something that's risk-taking or scary.
02:27Although they're put through extremely intense scares,
02:30ranging from being partially stripped to being put through various methods of torture,
02:34they still come back for more.
02:36As the sessions continue to ramp up,
02:38the audience is left wondering when it will all go too far.
02:41It is a fascinating look at how far some will go to push themselves,
02:45even when there's no reward for doing so.
02:48It felt like S&M.
02:51Upon receipt of this email, fill out the questionnaire below and send it back today.
02:55Can we see a camera on that's watching me?
03:00I'm out on the prime cod of the big green.
03:02Behind me is Ed and Rowdy, members of an up-and-coming sub-adult gang.
03:06They're challenging everything, including me.
03:09Goes with the territory.
03:10If I show weakness, if I retreat, I may be hurt, I may be killed.
03:16I must hold my own if I'm going to stay within this land.
03:19This demonstrates that nature isn't as docile as it's portrayed in Disney movies.
03:24Following the final years of Timothy Treadwell's life,
03:26Grizzly Man is the ultimate cautionary tale.
03:29It documents his steadily increasing delusions of befriending bears,
03:33and how this leads to his horrific fate.
03:35It's July 26th and I've been dropped off all alone again here in the grizzly maze.
03:40And it's always such a surreal feeling as the plane takes off,
03:44and it doesn't quite sink into you, but just how alone you are.
03:48That for the next two months or more, you will be alone in this wild wilderness,
03:52this jungle that the bears have carved tunnels through.
03:56It's made even more hard-hitting with clips and recordings made by Treadwell himself,
04:00including one that captures every grizzly second of his and his girlfriend's deaths.
04:05The audio was reportedly so horrific that the director omitted it,
04:08meaning it was left to the viewer's imaginations to fill in the blanks themselves.
04:12It is a harsh reminder on the mindless brutality of nature,
04:16and how love for a wild animal will always lose to its base instincts.
04:42Number 27.
04:44Beware the Slenderman
04:45One thing about Morgan that always struck us as a little odd was that she...
04:56She didn't react the way that you would expect her to react like at the movies.
05:03The internet has allowed even the creepiest creations to become widespread phenomena,
05:07for better or for worse.
05:09When Slenderman first took the web by storm,
05:11no one could have ever guessed it would culminate in a brutal murder attempt.
05:15The documentary about the case delves into the teenage suspect's mentalities,
05:19such as their belief in the boogeyman,
05:21and their insistence that the stabbing was at his bequest.
05:42Despite physical proof of their obsession, such as chilling drawings,
05:47their parents were still left in the dark up until the stabbing took place,
05:51showing how easily concerning behavior can slip under the radar.
05:54As if the crime itself wasn't enough,
05:56it's accompanied by unsettling animations and visuals
05:59that would frighten even the bravest souls.
06:12So it's just hard to know, you know, where to draw the line,
06:16where does that become abnormal?
06:26Jim was not celibate.
06:28Nobody knew that until perhaps it was their time to find out
06:32what he spoke from the pulpit wasn't what he did behind the scenes.
06:37Although the fates of Jim Jones and those he led were heavily covered,
06:41by the media at the time,
06:43the full extent of his abuse wasn't really known by the general public.
06:47In 2006, the public was given fresh insight from surviving members themselves.
06:52The movie covered the cult's history from indoctrination to death.
06:56In between stories of his unfettered perversion were clips of his speeches,
06:59wherein he pitted his followers against the rest of society.
07:03We had a lady who visited us a week ago here,
07:06and was speaking to one of the doors.
07:07She was a member of a prominent church, a pastor's wife,
07:10and she said, I think that the poor should be made to control
07:14how many children they bring into the earth.
07:16You remember?
07:18Some leading scientists say we have to have euthanasia.
07:21Oh no.
07:22Each lurid detail reveals more of Jones's twisted intentions and acts,
07:26all leading to the mass death event orchestrated by him.
07:30While undoubtedly gripping,
07:31it's hard not to watch without realizing
07:33just how easy it is to fall victim to manipulation disguised as charm.
07:38I look at all the babies, and I think they deserve to live.
07:41I agree.
07:42You know?
07:42Maybe it's the doctors that deserve much more than they deserve to eat.
07:48We all come here for peace.
07:50It's too late for us.
07:53She's calling Jim Jones on some of the things that he has promised them
07:58that they were going to do.
07:59Number 25.
08:00A certain kind of death.
08:02According to the hotel manager,
08:03the decedent checked into the hotel on 713 at 1130 hours
08:08and paid cash for one night.
08:10On 714, the manager checked on the welfare of the decedent
08:14because he did not vacate the room at checkout time.
08:17He knocked on the door at 1100 hours and heard the shower water running.
08:21In the modern age, practically everything is turned into an industry,
08:25even death itself.
08:26Covering every step of the process
08:28from the moment a body is found to the moment it's disposed of,
08:31a certain kind of death is a raw look at what occurs after someone passes away.
08:35The film pulls no punches whatsoever,
08:38showing everything from recently deceased corpses in all their glory
08:42to smoldering bones.
08:43I can just imagine if we do find a relative,
08:51the response is going to be probably non-emotional.
08:56It's like, oh, okay.
08:57Uh, well, we always wondered what happened to him.
09:02The macabre imagery is coupled with the mortician's
09:04seemingly detached emotions from their work,
09:07proving that one can become numb to even the most upsetting things.
09:11The result is an undoubtedly fascinating yet dark look
09:14into a process that everyone will eventually go through,
09:17even though they won't be aware of it.
09:19Looking through Mr. Tanner's things, he may have had a pre-need.
09:22And here's, um, actual pictures with his name written on his plot,
09:27which I've never seen that type of an organized situation.
09:33So, he had buried his partner in a plot that he originally owned.
09:38Number 24, Tickled.
09:40One of the reasons that it's hard for us to go on camera
09:44or to take part in a documentary is that,
09:48first of all, we don't think it would be very fun
09:50First of all, we don't think it would be very good for the company that we work for
09:54because it seems like the spin, we have no control over the spin.
09:58The internet is full of strange rabbit holes that are often tempting to dive down.
10:03However, in doing so, you may come across something you can never unsee.
10:07The director of Tickled experienced this firsthand
10:10after stumbling across a video depicting competitive endurance tickling
10:14and immediately knew he had to know more.
10:16I wake up every morning to a message from Jane and Brian Media.
10:19Who you guys work for?
10:22With a list of various personal attacks and also legal threats.
10:26That's been happening daily.
10:29You started this fight.
10:31You were the one that decided this is what you were going to do.
10:34The film covers his descent into the phenomenon,
10:37all while being insulted and threatened by the company distributing tickling videos.
10:41Things only become more twisted as victims remarked on the financial abuse
10:45and blackmail they underwent by the perpetrator.
10:47After seeing this, it'll be near impossible to see a piece of odd content
10:51without wondering about the person on the other end
10:54or their true intentions for making it.
10:56You're not welcome here.
10:58We're not welcome here?
10:59And I'm calling the police.
11:02All right, well, uh, we'll hit off.
11:05You don't want to do any final checks or anything?
11:07Last opportunity?
11:08Number 23, The Nightmare.
11:10Last ditch effort of everything I had, I just like wrenched my body
11:14as soon as I like flipped over on top of her, I woke up.
11:20And I was still laying in my original position, like none of it had happened.
11:24And I was just completely shocked.
11:27I had no idea what was going on.
11:29And I just did not know what to make of it.
11:32While we may think bad dreams are only confined to our minds,
11:35there are ways they can manifest in the real world.
11:38Sleep paralysis, a temporary condition wherein one's brain wakes up
11:42but their body remains frozen, is the center of The Nightmare.
11:45Sufferers recount their experiences with the state,
11:48including visual and auditory hallucinations
11:50and even feeling as though they were being touched.
11:53The person on the other end was just like a very pleasant man.
11:57He was like, hello, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.
12:02What kind of favor?
12:08Let me in.
12:10As if that isn't off-putting enough,
12:12they then recreate each person's tale with visual representations
12:15of the supposed demons bothering them.
12:17They also delve into how other cultures see the phenomenon
12:20as proof of demonic possession and the ancient rituals they use to expel them.
12:24It shows how our minds will find ways to work against us, even while unconscious.
12:29There was never an explanation for the shadow man
12:34except for hypnagogic hallucinations,
12:37which is a nice word that the doctors like to throw around,
12:40but it really means you just imagined it.
12:42My guess is we conceptualize things in our unconscious
12:45based on like snippets of information that we picked up along the road somehow.
12:53When I first learned that Tanya was actually killed by a hit-and-run driver,
12:58it was more than likely Franklin Floyd that had committed that.
13:02I mean, this guy was gonna be violent.
13:04Catching him might be tricky.
13:05Even the worst crimes can go on completely unnoticed for decades.
13:09No case exemplifies that more than the kidnapping and eventual murder
13:13of a girl known only in life by her fake name, Sharon Marshall.
13:17Her tragic story lives on in Girl in the Picture,
13:20which details every aspect of her horrific torment leading up to her death,
13:24and the search to find her true identity.
13:26In the 1990s, again, he attacked a woman,
13:30so we begin to see the pattern of violence and abuse.
13:34But going through Floyd's past, it was obvious that something was off.
13:39While the details of her upbringing,
13:41including being forced to marry the man who abducted and raised her,
13:45were horrid enough on their own,
13:46what makes it even scarier is how it went unnoticed until her mysterious death.
13:51It is unfortunate proof of how we truly never know what's going on behind closed doors,
13:56often until it's too late.
13:58When we examined the skull, we found two bullet holes to the head,
14:01When we examined the skull, we found two bullet holes to the back of the skull,
14:05and the orbital bone was broken under one of the eyes.
14:08It was definitely not a natural death.
14:10There was definitely homicidal violence involved in it.
14:13So yes, it was classified as a homicide almost immediately.
14:17We looked at all of the local agencies.
14:21We weren't able to identify the skeleton.
14:26I mean, he took me out of the house.
14:29I said, you know, sometimes I get car sick on the road.
14:31He said, put your head on my lap and boom, the abuse started.
14:35I mean, I was on Highway 12, you know, two minutes away from my house and it started.
14:39And for 96 hours, that abuse was happening until my parents came and said,
14:44did you have fun with father?
14:45And I'm like, he tickled me too much.
14:47The Catholic Church has had a hand in covering up numerous underage abuse cases.
14:51This documentary dives into one case in particular
14:54and how the internal protection of a predator had a ripple effect across several lives.
14:58It's centered around a Californian priest
15:00responsible for the assault of over two dozen young victims during his tenure.
15:05Here's somebody that I like.
15:07Here's somebody that I respect, whose family I respect.
15:14What would he feel like at the end of this?
15:17Yet at the other side, there was urges within me to be sexual with him.
15:23Between haunting letters he sent detailing his horrific acts
15:26to testimonies revealing his vile manipulation tactics,
15:30it's hard not to watch without feeling extreme disgust.
15:32It was even revealed that other officials were aware of his crimes for years
15:36and took measures to shield him from the law,
15:39implying that they silently allowed the mistreatment to continue.
15:42Are you at all concerned, Oliver,
15:44that if you give testimony that hurts the diocese, that they might revoke that?
15:51I have a lot of concerns about a lot of things.
15:53I guess that would be one of them.
15:58Released by HBO,
15:59Mommy, Dead and Dearest chronicles the events that led to Dede Blanchard's death.
16:10It details how she committed factitious disorder imposed on another,
16:14or what was once known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, on her daughter, Gypsy Rose.
16:18Blanchard essentially made it seem like her daughter
16:21suffered from a number of terrible ailments.
16:23While upholding the lie,
16:25the mother put her child through unnecessary surgeries and other terrible things.
16:29Gypsy Rose then conspired with her boyfriend,
16:31Nicolas Gaudijan, to kill Blanchard.
16:34It's unsettling to think of the horrors that pushed a daughter to slay her own mother.
16:38No matter how you view it,
16:40Mommy, Dead and Dearest makes for one creepy viewing experience.
16:43I take blame on myself and I blame other people,
16:45but I never once blamed y'all.
16:49Back in September of 1977,
16:51Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson was supposedly abducted and abused
16:55by a woman named Joyce McKinney.
16:57The story became known as the Manacled Mormon case.
17:00She said to him she was going to go on having sex with him
17:03until she found she missed a period
17:07and would then hopefully be pregnant by him.
17:09This terrifying story was extensively covered in the British tabloids,
17:13specifically The Warring Rivals, Daily Express and Daily Mirror.
17:17The documentary tabloid conveys these events with unnerving detail
17:21and is even narrated by Joyce McKinney herself.
17:24That shocking choice immediately brings viewers closer to the case than they expected.
17:28As a result,
17:29those watching will further question the story that she weaves
17:32because it has multiple viewpoints and perspectives.
17:44This troubling documentary tells the story of the 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash,
17:49a nasty traffic collision that resulted in eight deaths.
17:59After the head-on crash which left eight people dead,
18:02it was caused by a woman named Diane Shuler, the titular Aunt Diane.
18:06On that fateful day,
18:08she was the one traveling on the parkway in the wrong direction.
18:11It's a very disconcerting story that is rooted in unimaginable tragedy.
18:15Throughout the documentary,
18:16upsetting questions are raised about Shuler's state of mind.
18:19Between footage of the accident,
18:21interviews with grieving individuals and some rather uncomfortable topics,
18:25there's something wrong with Aunt Diane puts forth a very uneasy atmosphere.
18:37Number 17.
18:39Team Foxcatcher.
18:40The story of John DuPont was famously captured in the 2014 film Foxcatcher,
18:45which earned five Oscar nominations.
18:48Team Foxcatcher was released two years later and serves as an eerie companion piece,
18:52retelling the story with a more grounded and arguably more disturbing angle.
18:56This Netflix documentary uses harrowing archival footage to tell its story.
19:01Viewers are also given a rather personal and alarming glimpse into the mind of a killer.
19:06By incorporating all these details,
19:08viewers get a sense of what led to DuPont's horrific death.
19:18The documentary explores how mental illness,
19:20wealth and power can create a nightmarish situation.
19:28Number 16.
19:30Capturing the Freedmen.
19:47Don't watch this, this is private.
19:49What started as a short film about birthday party entertainers
19:52devolved into something much, much darker.
19:55Capturing the Freedmen delves into the activities of a disturbed man and his son,
19:59whose crimes are thought to range from possession of abhorrent material,
20:02to using computer classes as a guise for luring in victims.
20:06Once that came to light, the rest of the dominoes came crashing down.
20:10If you were going to be the first one abused on a particular day,
20:13he would pull up a chair and sit next to you.
20:15Maybe it would start with his arm around your shoulder or on your leg.
20:19You gradually move it up, touching private parts.
20:23It features recordings made by some of his sons,
20:26giving the audience glimpses into their troubled home life.
20:29However, even more disturbing is the defense of his vile actions.
20:33Both aspects make an already off-putting documentary all the more disturbing,
20:37creating a watch that is difficult for many viewers to get through.
20:40The types of behaviors which were described, which were,
20:44well, just downright satanic in nature.
20:47I mean, they make him sound like some kind of brutal sadist,
20:50whereas, you know, I just always thought of him as being kind of a nebbish.
20:58Much has been written about the Zodiac killings.
21:08At this point, the case is among the most discussed serial tragedies
21:12in American history.
21:13This is The Zodiac Speaking is one of the most definitive documentaries about the case.
21:18It contains interviews with retired police officers and criminal profilers.
21:22Their first-hand accounts of the case give viewers unfettered access
21:25into the distressing story that has captivated Americans
21:28and true crime enthusiasts for decades.
21:31The disturbing story covers how Zodiac targeted innocent people
21:34and flippantly discussed his crimes.
21:36All the interviews in the documentary play on his notoriety.
21:40Seeing the impact the case has had on people's psyches
21:43is arguably even scarier than the story itself.
21:57Released in 1982,
21:59The Killing of America argues that the United States
22:02is in the midst of a messy cultural collapse.
22:05The title has both metaphorical and literal layers to it.
22:08Much of the film is centered around the incredible wave of violence
22:11that struck America in the 60s and 70s.
22:24This includes the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy,
22:27the rise of serial killers,
22:29and a very distressing shooting.
22:31It's a shocking documentary that leaves viewers feeling extremely uncomfortable.
22:35Featuring genuine footage of violence
22:37and interviews with the likes of criminals like Sirhan Sirhan and Ed Kemper,
22:41The Killing of America makes for one distressing watch.
22:58Having aired on the British station Channel 5,
23:01The Cannibal That Walked Free is a nightmarish glimpse
23:03into one of humanity's darkest crimes.
23:06Through the lens of Japanese criminal Issei Sagawa,
23:08it explores the psychology behind cannibalism.
23:21In June of 1981,
23:23Sagawa killed and desecrated a student named René Hartevelt,
23:27but he was allowed to walk free thanks to a legal snafu between France and Japan.
23:32This documentary delves into Sagawa's crimes
23:34and the psychology behind his actions
23:36through interviews with Sagawa himself.
23:38Seeing this perturbing story get conveyed
23:40through the lens of the perpetrator can be skin crawling.
23:44For many, it may prove too much to bear.
23:57Based on a non-fiction book of the same name,
23:59Wisconsin Death Trip is a sinister docudrama
24:02about a turbulent time in Wisconsin history.
24:04The story follows a series of disturbing occurrences
24:07that plagued the state in the late 19th century.
24:21This includes the abandoning of children,
24:24homicides,
24:25arson,
24:25and supernatural delusion.
24:27As if the subject matter wasn't troubling enough,
24:30the docudrama is also shot in silent black and white
24:33to convey the style of old movies.
24:35The aged cinematography immediately puts viewers on edge.
24:38Meanwhile, the contemporary newspaper accounts
24:41are chillingly narrated by Ian Holm.
24:43The combined effect is one of deep and uncomfortable surrealism.
24:57Number 11,
24:58Aileen Wuornos,
25:00The Selling of a Serial Killer.
25:01Aileen Wuornos was a sex worker who killed seven clients
25:04between 1989 and 1990.
25:07Two years later,
25:08Nick Broomfield made a documentary.
25:10Most of the film is centered around Broomfield's attempts
25:13at conducting an interview with Wuornos in prison.
25:23As she discusses the case,
25:24viewers witness the troubling defense that she put forth
25:27and the implications that it represented.
25:29The interviews with Wuornos are also bone-chilling.
25:32It's clear that her life was full of extensive pain
25:35and suffering at every stage.
25:37Years later,
25:38the documentary became an enormous inspiration
25:40for Charlize Theron,
25:42who would later win an Oscar for playing Wuornos in Monster.
25:52Number 10,
25:52The Imposter.
25:57It really does.
25:58In 1994,
26:0013-year-old Nicholas Barkley disappeared in Texas.
26:14Three years later,
26:15a man claiming to be Nicholas came forward.
26:18But this man wasn't Nicholas at all.
26:20He was Frederic Bourdain,
26:21a French con artist.
26:23The Imposter explains how Bourdain was able to get away with it for so long,
26:26despite being significantly older than Nicholas
26:29and not looking anything like him.
26:31It's incredibly disturbing how Bourdain inserted himself into the Barkley family
26:34and tricked them into accepting him.
26:36Most remarkable of all, however,
26:38is that director Bart Layton conducted interviews with Bourdain himself,
26:42which makes the case even more complex
26:44as he somehow manages to come across as sympathetic.
26:51Number 9,
26:52Cropsey.
26:56A pair of filmmakers who grew up on Staten Island
27:10decided to take a closer look at the New York version of the boogeyman,
27:13Cropsey,
27:14and how or if this urban legend fits into the mysteries
27:17involving a series of kidnapped children in the 70s and 80s.
27:26From the letters prime suspect Andre Rand
27:31sends the documentarians claiming his innocence,
27:33to investigating the tunnels underneath the condemned Willowbrook State School
27:37for People with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities,
27:39and finally theories about devil worshippers,
27:42Cropsey is sure to send a chill down your spine.
27:56Number 8,
27:57The Bridge.
28:03The Golden Gate Bridge may be one of America's most iconic landmarks
28:06and the image that comes to mind when you think of the city of San Francisco,
28:10but for many,
28:10its looming presence is a symbol of tragedy.
28:13This documentary takes a closer look at some of these tragic incidents in 2004,
28:17but it certainly isn't easy viewing.
28:19It remains controversial,
28:21with reports of bridge jumpers increasing after the documentary was released,
28:24and in 2015,
28:26it was even removed from Netflix in New Zealand.
28:43Number 7,
28:44Holy Hell.
28:49While searching for a new home and a new purpose in the 1980s,
28:52film grad Will Allen fell in with the Buddhafield New Religious Movement,
28:55a cult based in West Hollywood at the time.
29:08Allen became the group's documentarian,
29:10and lived with them for 22 years,
29:13finally leaving in 2007.
29:15He became inspired to make a movie,
29:17and used all the footage he had of his time with the Buddhafield cult
29:20and its leader, Michelle,
29:21to create Holy Hell.
29:22This direct look at the inner workings of a cult is both rare and creepy,
29:27made all the more unsettling by the fact that the cult continues to this day,
29:30now based in Hawaii.
29:40Originally intended to examine juvenile criminals in the U.S.,
29:43this documentary quickly shifted to focus on the personal tragedy
29:46faced by Charity Lee in February 2007,
29:49involving her young daughter.
29:58It follows Charity as she grapples with the reality of her son having killed her daughter,
30:02as she mourns Ella's loss but refuses to abandon Paris,
30:05still visiting him in prison.
30:07It's difficult to know what to make of this uncomfortable watch,
30:10as the film leans into the fact that with true crime,
30:12there are no easy answers.
30:20One of the most disturbing films ever made,
30:23Tiddicate Follies was banned for over 20 years upon release.
30:26Shot in black and white with no narration,
30:29it's a raw expose of the injustices that Americans with mental health issues
30:33faced in the 1960s.
30:34Specifically centered on the Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts,
30:38the film focuses on the mental health issues faced by Americans
30:41with mental health issues in the 1960s.
30:43It's a film about a group of young people who are forced to leave their homes
30:46Specifically centered on the Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts,
30:49the film shows the gross mistreatment of the inmates,
30:52all people in need of real care,
30:54who were dehumanized and abused by those tasked with looking after them.
31:08Despite being banned,
31:09the film was able to draw attention to these issues,
31:12though it still took decades for this to begin.
31:16This look at a summer camp for one branch of evangelical Christians
31:20has been disturbing viewers around the world since its initial release.
31:24Seen by many as a damning portrayal of allegedly abusive practices at camps
31:28like the featured Kids on Fire School of Ministry,
31:30it played a role in getting the camp shut down.
31:47The camp pastor Becky Fisher was forced to close the retreat due to backlash.
31:54But it's arguably a credit to the directors
31:56that you can't necessarily tell where their own sympathies lie
31:58while watching this movie.
32:00It's down to the viewer to decide what's right and what's wrong.
32:03You could call it brainwashing,
32:05but I am radical and passionate in teaching children about their responsibility.
32:25A harrowing watch,
32:26Dear Zachary follows Kurt Kenney as he makes a movie about Andrew Bagby,
32:30his lifelong friend who was allegedly murdered by his ex Shirley Jane Turner.
32:34Turner revealed shortly after Andrew's death that she was pregnant with their child,
32:38but police had a difficult time pinning the murder on her.
32:45The movie is intended as an archive of Andrew,
32:48a widely loved person by all accounts, for his son Zachary.
32:51But the project became more complex the longer it went on,
32:54and by the time it was finished,
32:56it had become a fully-fledged documentary.
32:58An examination of loss and grief,
33:00Dear Zachary is as poignant as it is upsetting.
33:20With subject matter this heavy,
33:22the act of killing was always going to be a tough watch.
33:25In Indonesia,
33:26filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer interviews former executioners
33:29who took part in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965 to 66.
33:33They reenact the killings in a variety of genres,
33:36including westerns and musicals,
33:38while Oppenheimer asks them both about their artistic choices in the portrayals
33:41and about the events themselves.
33:43The fun reenactments juxtaposed with the horrific topics they portray
33:47is extremely disturbing.
33:49It's not hard to see why this documentary remains so controversial.
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34:12Number 1. Abducted in Plain Sight
34:14She looked up at me, her eyes beaming,
34:17and I knew that I had found the little girl that I was searching for.
34:21Jan Broberg's story is particularly disturbing.
34:24When she was just an adolescent in the 1970s,
34:27one of the Broberg family's neighbors, Robert Birchtold,
34:29befriended Jan's parents and inserted himself into their lives.
34:33Twice, Birchtold abducted Jan, including taking her to Mexico.
34:38His manipulation knew no bounds.
34:40Even after Jan was brought home the first time,
34:42her parents still allowed Birchtold to be around her,
34:45even letting him sleep in her bed.
34:47I don't think I can ever really forgive myself for letting that happen.
34:53By far the strangest detail is the recordings Birchtold made of aliens
34:58to further increase his influence on Jan.
35:00Thankfully, Jan and her family survived the long ordeal.
35:04And I immediately thought I'd been kidnapped by a UFO.
35:09Which documentary unsettles you the most?
35:11Let us know in the comments below.