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Recently, there’s been a growing fascination with true crime series and films. It’s a running joke that while fictional horror movies are scary, there’s something particularly captivating about real individuals, often serial killers, committing heinous acts. The allure of the macabre is strong, but it’s crucial to remember that when a story is based on actual events, there are real victims, survivors, and people deeply affected by these events, even if audiences watch them on streaming platforms.
Movies like “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” and “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” skyrocketed in popularity due to the public’s curiosity about some of history’s most notorious killers. The cast, which included big names like Zac Efron, Lily Collins, and Evan Peters, also played a significant role in their success. While there are numerous other series and shows based on real crimes and murders, some remain underrated due to less recognizable casts or less-known storylines.
Here are 10 lesser-known true crime movies that deserve your attention.
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10 Underrated Movies Based on True Crimes
The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story
In 2002, as reported in People magazine, a 15-year-old girl named Kara Robinson had a terrifying encounter with a seemingly ordinary man who handed her pamphlets. However, within moments, her life took a horrifying turn as he pulled out a gun and threatened her, forcing her into the back of his vehicle. Robinson was subsequently bound and gagged before being taken to the man’s apartment, where she endured 18 harrowing hours of unspeakable torment. The following morning, through her sheer determination and courage, Robinson managed to free herself from her restraints and escape from the apartment, running to seek help.
Kara Robinson Chamberlain’s story is a source of inspiration for several reasons. Not only did she manage to break free from her abductor, but her resilience also played a crucial role in helping three families find closure in the cases of their daughters’ deaths. “The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story” recounts the events from Robinson’s abduction to her frustration and eventual relief when her captor took his own life.
Girl in the Basement
While it’s well-known that movies claiming to be “based on a true story” often make dramatic changes for entertainment purposes, it’s important not to diminish the severity of the actual events that inspired them. “Girl in the Basement” portrays the harrowing ordeal endured by Elisabeth Fritzl for over two decades, subjected to captivity by her disturbed father instead of allowing her to leave home when she reached adulthood.
The film alters some elements, including changing Fritzl’s name to Sarah Cody, tweaking the duration of her captivity, and adjusting the number of children resulting from her father’s actions. However, the fundamental horror remains: she spent more than 20 years imprisoned, at the mercy of her ruthless and psychotic father. In real life, Fritzl managed to escape and gain custody of her seven children, while her father was incarcerated for life. Her story is a heart-wrenching and devastating one, but it remains vital for us to be aware of it.
Lost Girls
There are numerous unresolved murder cases that remain unaddressed, but a determined mother refused to allow her missing daughter to be forgotten. In May 2010, Shannan Gilbert disappeared after a frantic call to 911. Shannan’s mother, Mary, became her most fervent advocate, insisting that the police needed to do more to locate her daughter. As the police intensified their search, they stumbled upon the bodies of other women, prompting the reopening of cold cases from the past.
Netflix premiered “Lost Girls” in March 2020, and at that time, the perpetrator was still at large, with some victims remaining unidentified. However, in July 2023, a man was apprehended based on compelling evidence linking him to the crime scenes and demonstrating that he had interacted with several victims before their deaths. People are optimistic that this arrest will lead to the identification and closure of more families affected by these cases.
The Good Nurse
Doctors often convey information to patients in a straightforward manner, while nurses are often viewed as more compassionate and personable. However, it’s important to note that not all nurses fit this stereotype. In 2003, at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey, Amy Loughren formed a close friendship with her fellow nurse, Charlie Cullen. She confided in him about her own medical secret, but later discovered that Cullen had a much larger secret of his own. After a patient’s unexpected death, investigators began delving into Cullen’s past and uncovered suspicious deaths in previous hospitals where he had worked.
“The Good Nurse” is a narrative that presents the events in a storytelling format, allowing readers to witness the interactions among the characters and the unfolding of the true events. Netflix also released a documentary called “Capturing the Killer Nurse” a month later, which delves deeper into Loughren’s perspective and provides a detailed discussion of the trial.
Bully
While Bully understandably received a lot of criticism and negative reviews due to the characters’ lacking depth and the amount of nudity, the film should still raise concern due to the actual murder that it depicts. In 1993, a 20-year-old man named Bobby Kent was killed by seven people, including his best friend and a girl he thought wanted to be with him. Supposedly, Kent had physically or sexually abused nearly everyone in the group, and they decided to take action.
The film is less than stellar due to its lack of direction with not knowing whether it needed to be more of a black comedy film with the “based on a true story” tag tied to it, or if it was meant to keep things on a surface level because real teens and young adults often lack the in-depth perception of what they are doing when a strong group mentality is formed. Either way, the film has slipped below a lot of true-crime buffs’ radars, but it is worth the watch to see what teens truly are capable of.
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Girl in the Bunker
While “The Lovely Bones” briefly depicted the horrifying ordeal of a young girl being abducted and confined in a remote underground bunker by a stranger, “Girl in the Bunker” offers a more detailed and accurate portrayal of Elizabeth Shoaf’s real-life experience. In this case, Vinson Filyaw used a deceptive impersonation as a police officer to gain Shoaf’s trust, ultimately luring her to his secluded hideout where he subjected her to sexual assault over a period of 10 days.
The film highlights Shoaf’s remarkable survival strategy, wherein she endeavored to establish a human connection with her captor by engaging him in conversation and showing interest in his personal interests. This approach played a crucial role in her ability to endure the harrowing situation and gradually gain Filyaw’s trust. Over the course of a week, the rapport she built with him allowed her to exploit small opportunities that eventually led to her rescue and Filyaw’s subsequent arrest.
The Gabby Petito Story
In late 2021, the names Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie dominated the headlines across the United States. Gabby Petito had gone missing or had not returned home with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, after a road trip, causing nationwide concern. Speculations and rumors swirled, and Brian Laundrie himself went into hiding. Eventually, two bodies were discovered. The details of what transpired between the start of their trip and the discovery of the bodies remain unclear, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to piece together the puzzle.
Thora Birch, known for her role in “Hocus Pocus,” was deeply moved by the story and the need to fill in the gaps. She directed a Lifetime film titled “The Gabby Petito Story” to provide an interpretation of what might have happened between the couple. Drawing from police tape footage and available evidence, this movie attempts to recount the circumstances surrounding the tragic deaths of these two young individuals.
Blue-Eyed Butcher
Sara Paxton, known for her role in “The Innkeepers,” delivers a compelling performance in “Blue-Eyed Butcher,” where she takes on a dramatic character as Susan Wright. In the film, Susan is depicted as a woman who, in 2003, brutally murdered her husband by stabbing him nearly 200 times in their Texas home. She went on to bury his body in the backyard, clean up the crime scene, and continue with her life.
The movie delves into the emotional turmoil experienced by those in the courtroom, who were perplexed by the conflicting narratives surrounding why this seemingly ordinary wife and mother would take her husband’s life. Was her husband abusive? Was she trying to end the marriage but unsure of how to proceed? The story is heart-wrenching for all those involved, but the pursuit of justice remained paramount.
The Girl Next Door
While all true-crime films are horrifying in their own way, The Girl Next Door is not something you should watch casually or simply because you like the murder-mystery genre. The story depicts what really happened to a teenage girl named Sylvia Likens in the 1960s. Likens’ parents worked out a deal with a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski where she would take in Likens and her younger sister while they were away. Baniszewski agreed, but after a short time, she decided to take out her frustrations on the elder sister.
To say Likens was brutally tortured would be a gross understatement. Baniszewki, several of her children, and even neighborhood kids would harm Likens as she was tied up, starved, and deprived of basic human rights. She was cut, hit, kicked, burned, and sexually abused in front of others. The film does an incredible job at portraying the real life events, but it is important to know that a lot of details are still missing.
Karla
Misha Collins, famous for his role as Castiel in Supernatural, and Laura Prepon from Orange is the New Black, teamed up in the chilling true-crime movie Karla. In the film, Collins takes on the role of the serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo, while Prepon portrays his wife, Karla Homolka. The narrative unfolds with a psychologist attempting to coax Karla into recounting the horrific deeds committed by her and her husband. However, as the story delves into a series of flashbacks and navigates through a web of deception, it becomes apparent that even Karla herself is uncertain about the full extent of her husband’s actions.
While the film effectively portrays Karla’s post-crime struggles and her battle to recollect the details of her involvement in the heinous acts alongside her husband, the true history of Paul Bernardo’s past is even more disturbing.
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