Series like Breaking Bad and The Penguin can show just how thrilling crime can be as a genre, but there’s just an extra sense of shock and awe when you realize that the crime that the story is telling actually transpired in real life.
True Crime has been a steadily rising genre when it comes to television, and here’s a list of 10 titles that are actually based on some real, and quite shocking cases.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Brothers Story
Kicking off the list with something that was a hit this year, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story follows the case of two brothers from a wealthy family murdering their parents with shotguns and almost getting away with it.
While the discovery that the brothers themselves were guilty was shocking enough, the revelations of the relationship between the brothers and their parents that were revealed during the trial will make audiences question their moral compass and wonder if what the brothers did was justified or not.
Under the Banner of Heaven
Fans have watched Andrew Garfield play someone questioning their faith in Silence and Hacksaw Ridge, and with Under the Banner of Heaven, he plays a devout investigator who tries to take on a case of a double murder that was committed ‘in the name of God.’
This is actually based on a book of the same name by author Jon Krakauer and has Andrew Garfield doing what he does best, having a crisis of faith onscreen.
Love & Death
She may have skipped out on an appearance in Agatha All Along, but WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen shines as unlikely killer Candy Montgomery in the HBO series Love & Death.
Back in the 80s, Candy was considered to be a typical Christian housewife—until she wasn’t. Discover how this seemingly harmless woman ended up murdering her friend with an axe.
Interestingly enough, Candy’s story was considered to be so enticing that it actually got adapted twice in the same year. Hulu also released Candy starring Jessica Biel as the lead.
The Act
Gypsy Rose Blanchard recently re-entered the spotlight thanks to her release from prison last December, but a lot of people can forget the horrific story behind why she was incarcerated in the first place.
Gypsy Rose (Joey King) and her mother DeeDee (Patricia Arquette) had been putting up the act that Gypsy was incredibly sick and living off the benefits that they were getting from well-meaning people. Though the con had worked for several years, DeeDee’s controlling nature of Gypsy’s life eventually led to a terrible crime that involved an online boyfriend and some weird anime roleplay.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Evan Peters may be best known for playing Quicksilver in the Fox X-Men films, but he had a very horrific turn playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer who had a penchant for eating people.
Not only does the series get into Dahmer’s modus operandi whenever he would victimize someone; but the series also goes to great lengths to portray the police bias against Dahmer, with multiple black women saying that there was something suspicious about him to authorities, and him getting away scott-free because he was a white man.
The Dropout
Tech crimes may not be violent, but they can indirectly lead to deaths—which is what happened with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried).
The series follows the story of Holmes as she sets out to revolutionize the tech and healthcare industry with her new invention; but the big thing is, the tech didn’t work and Holmes was mostly getting all her money from lying about her product—a product which she says would save millions of lives.
From being the ‘next Steve Jobs’ to being branded as one of the biggest grifters on the planet, The Dropout is a cautionary tale of lies and their consequences.
Inventing Anna
Anna Delvey (Julia Garner) was considered to be a New York socialite who loved art and had friends in high places, but as it turns out, she had a completely made-up backstory—but that didn’t stop her from moving around millions in finances and living the high life.
Despite branding Anna as a criminal, Inventing Anna kind of glamorizes her and how she was able to dupe all of the rich people she was connected to and squeeze them for money with nothing but manipulation.
Painkiller
A lot of true crime series like to focus on individuals and their specific crimes, but Painkiller from Netflix presents a villain that is bigger than just one person—greed.
Exploring the rise of the opioid crisis, Painkiller may be a fictional retelling of events, but the research is very real; and Matthew Broderick’s Richard Sackler and Purdue Pharma were actual figures that were responsible for the peddling of the highly addictive drug OxyContin.
Mindhunter
Probably one of the last good things that David Fincher brought to Netflix, Mindhunter follows the origin of the science of criminal profiling and the birth of the term ‘serial killer’.
Throughout the series, two FBI agents (played by Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany) interview actual serial killers and get into the psyche of what made them into real-life monsters.
The series is currently canceled, which is disappointing to a lot of fans; seeing that the arc of the BTK killer was never completed.
American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
One of the most polarizing cases from the 90s, The People v O.J. Simpson is probably what started this true crime trend since it came out.
The story follows the trial of Simpson after he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Besides the actual crime, the series goes into the social climate at the time and how it affected the outcome of the trial.
For anyone who loved the Menendez Brothers series, it’s worth noting that this was the trial that took the spotlight from them and led to their second trial being swept under the rug.
What's your favorite True Crime series? Let us know in the comments below!