What 'American Murder: The Family Next Door' Viewers Are Saying About Netflix's True Crime Doc

Michael Hein

10/20/2020 10:18 am EDT

Two weeks after its release, social media is still buzzing about the new Netflix true crime documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door. The movie traces the case of the 2018 Watts family murders in Frederick, Colorado, where Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts and their daughters — 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. These horrifying crimes have viewers talking online, although many don't know what to say.

American Murder: The Family Next Door uses archival footage, social media posts, law enforcement footage and text messages to share the story of the Watts family murders. The 82-minute documentary hit Netflix on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and has consistently drawn eyes ever since. At the time of this writing, the movie is number 6 overall in Netflix's "Top 10 Movies in the U.S. Today" list.

The true crime genre has seen a huge surge in popularity recently, but even in a crowded field, The Family Next Door stands out. The story is distinct for its subjects' particularly heinous crimes, and his apparent disregard for the lives of his family. At the same time, many viewers praised it for centering the victims in the narrative, rather than the killer.

Netflix releases little data on how well its productions perform, but three weeks in it seems clear that this documentary is on track to be one of its most popular ever. Here is a look at what people are saying about American Murder: The Family Next Door.

Privileged Treatment

Many viewers' overwhelming impression of the documentary was of the immense privilege with which the murderer was treated. They noted how law enforcement seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt at every turn, and guessed that a non-white person would not have gotten the same treatment.

Seasonal

For some viewers, true crime is a seasonal pick leading up to Halloween, and this documentary made the list.

Shocked

Some viewers could do little but share their visceral reactions to the documentary, which left them mentally and physically stunned.

Men

True crime fans can't ignore the pattern of men murdering their wives in many of these documentaries, and in this case the outrage was strong enough to scare many away from marriage in general. More than a few commenters said that they would think twice about marrying at all if a seemingly normal man like Chris Watts could turn out to be a murderer.

Apologists

Many commenters posted angry rebukes for anyone "defending" Watts, although few defenses of him could be found on social media. For the most part, viewers were surprised and horrified by the reality of his crime.

Perspective

Viewers praised the filmmakers for centering the victims in the documentary rather than their killer. They compared it to other true crime documentaries, arguing that it was less exploitative and more sympathetic.

Trigger Warning

Finally, many users warned their followers that this documentary was not for those who would be triggered by depictions of extreme violence. Even while praising the documentary, they noted that it should come with a major trigger warning where applicable.

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