- 6 months ago
Reality can be far more disturbing than fiction. Join us as we count down our picks for the most chilling documentaries released since the new millennium. From sleep paralysis nightmares to internet rabbit holes that led to tragedy, these films expose the darkest corners of humanity. Which documentary sends the most chills down your spine?
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00:00If the evangelicals vote, they determine the election.
00:04It's a fabulous life.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:09for the most chilling documentaries released since the new millennium.
00:12Do you believe that there are devil worshippers?
00:14Oh yeah, I do.
00:15Somebody said they were doing freaky experiments and crap like that.
00:19Number 20, The Nightmare.
00:21Last ditch effort of everything I had, I just like wrenched my body.
00:25As soon as I like flipped over on top of her, I woke up.
00:31And I was still laying in my original position.
00:34Like, none of it had happened.
00:35I was just completely shocked.
00:38I had no idea what was going on.
00:40I just did not know what to make of it.
00:43While we may think bad dreams are only confined to our minds,
00:46there are ways they can manifest in the real world.
00:49Sleep paralysis, a temporary condition wherein one's brain wakes up
00:53but their body remains frozen, is the center of the nightmare.
00:56Sufferers recount their experiences with the state,
00:59including visual and auditory hallucinations
01:01and even feeling as though they were being touched.
01:04The person on the other end was just like this very pleasant man.
01:08He was like, hello, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.
01:11If you could do me a favor.
01:13What kind of favor?
01:19Let me in!
01:21As if that isn't off-putting enough.
01:23They then recreate each person's tale with visual representations of the supposed demons bothering them.
01:28They also delve into how other cultures see the phenomenon as proof of demonic possession
01:33and the ancient rituals they use to expel them.
01:35It shows how our minds will find ways to work against us, even while unconscious.
01:40There was never an explanation for the shadow man except for hypnagogic hallucinations,
01:47which is a nice word that the doctors like to throw around, but it really means you just imagined it.
01:53My guess is we conceptualize things in our unconscious based on, like, snippets of information that we picked up along the road somehow.
02:01Number 19. Tickled.
02:03One of the reasons that it's hard for us to go on camera or to take part in a documentary is that,
02:11first of all, we don't think it would be very good for the company that we work for,
02:14because it seems like the spin, we have no control over what the spin would always be.
02:19The internet is full of strange rabbit holes that are often tempting to dive down.
02:23However, in doing so, you may come across something you can never unsee.
02:28The director of Tickled experienced this firsthand after stumbling across a video depicting competitive endurance tickling,
02:34and immediately knew he had to know more.
02:36I wake up every morning to a message from Jane and Brian Media, who you guys work for,
02:42with a list of various personal attacks and also legal threats.
02:47That's been happening daily.
02:50You started this fight.
02:51No!
02:52You were the one that decided this is what you were going to do.
02:55The film covers his descent into the phenomenon.
02:58All while being insulted and threatened by the company distributing tickling videos.
03:02Things only become more twisted as victims remarked on the financial abuse and blackmail they underwent by the perpetrator.
03:08After seeing this, it'll be near impossible to see a piece of odd content without wondering about the person on the other end,
03:14or their true intentions for making it.
03:16You're not welcome here.
03:18We're not welcome here?
03:19And I'm calling the police.
03:21Bye.
03:22All right.
03:24We'll, uh, we'll hit off.
03:24You don't want to do any final checks or anything?
03:28Last opportunity?
03:29Number 18.
03:30Beware the slender man.
03:32One thing about Morgan that always struck us as a little odd was that she,
03:39she didn't react the way that you would expect her to react, um, like at the movies.
03:49The internet has allowed even the creepiest creations to become widespread phenomena, for better or for worse.
03:56When Slender Man first took the web by storm, no one could have ever guessed it would culminate in a brutal murder attempt.
04:01The documentary about the case delves into the teenage suspect's mentalities,
04:06such as their belief in the boogeyman and their insistence that the stabbing was at his bequest.
04:10If you're a proxy, supposedly you live in Slender Mansion that all the creepypastas supposedly live in,
04:19and it's supposedly in the middle of Nicolette National Park.
04:25Despite physical proof of their obsession, such as chilling drawings,
04:34their parents were still left in the dark up until the stabbing took place,
04:37showing how easily concerning behavior can slip under the radar.
04:41As if the crime itself wasn't enough,
04:43it's accompanied by unsettling animations and visuals that would frighten even the bravest souls.
04:48It's hard with kids because they don't necessarily know how to differentiate between fantasy and reality to begin with.
04:59So it's just hard to know, you know, where to draw the line, where does that become abnormal?
05:08Number 17, Dear Zachary, a letter to a son about his father.
05:13He called back to the Sunnyvale Police Station, so he gave me another number.
05:16And then I got through to Sergeant Krulak, and he said,
05:18your son is dead under suspicious circumstances.
05:21Have you got any idea why he was in the park?
05:23A harrowing watch, Dear Zachary follows Kurt Kenney as he makes a movie about Andrew Bagby,
05:28his lifelong friend who was allegedly murdered by his ex, Shirley Jane Turner.
05:32Turner revealed shortly after Andrew's death that she was pregnant with their child,
05:36but police had a difficult time pinning the murder on her.
05:38I have to tell you that Andrew is dead.
05:40Are you sure?
05:41Yes, ma'am, I am. I'm absolutely sure.
05:43The movie is intended as an archive of Andrew,
05:46a widely loved person by all accounts for his son, Zachary.
05:50But the project became more complex the longer it went on,
05:53and by the time it was finished, it had become a fully-fledged documentary.
05:57An examination of loss and grief, Dear Zachary is as poignant as it is upsetting.
06:01This film was no longer a letter to you.
06:04It was now a letter to someone else.
06:06Number 16, The Blackout Experiments.
06:09I started to have some second thoughts about whether or not I should do this.
06:16I signed my life away going to this place.
06:18Despite it going against so many of our natural instincts,
06:22there are still people that will intentionally put themselves through the most extreme or terrifying circumstances.
06:27So what exactly drives them to do this?
06:30The Blackout Experiments dives into this phenomenon by interviewing those who had taken part
06:34in an uncomfortably immersive haunted house experience.
06:37You know, we all live once, and I guess we all want to do something that's risk-taking or scary.
06:44Although they're put through extremely intense scares,
06:47ranging from being partially stripped to being put through various methods of torture,
06:51they still come back for more.
06:52As the sessions continue to ramp up,
06:55the audience is left wondering when it will all go too far.
06:58It is a fascinating look at how far some will go to push themselves,
07:02even when there's no reward for doing so.
07:04It felt like S&M.
07:07Upon receipt of this email, fill out the questionnaire below and send it back today.
07:12I see a camera on, and it's watching me.
07:14Number 15.
07:15Tell Them You Love Me.
07:17The thought of someone abusing their position to take advantage of others is awful.
07:21Tell Them You Love Me follows Anna Stubblefield,
07:23a former college professor who'd been helping Derek Johnson,
07:26a non-speaking man with cerebral palsy, express himself.
07:29And when I asked him to spell as many words as he could using these four letters,
07:35he made a very good showing.
07:37The documentary shows examples of their communication,
07:40giving off the impression that they were becoming closer.
07:42Eventually, Stubblefield took advantage of him, claiming they were in love.
07:46He asked me to kiss him, and I did.
07:49That's when it was revealed that he was incapable of communicating with her in the way she claimed,
07:53and that there was no way he could have consented.
07:55This reveal recontextualized both their entire relationship and the film as a whole.
08:00Even after being convicted in 2015, she is still convinced she hasn't done anything wrong.
08:05From my perspective, she was having conversations with herself.
08:08Number 14.
08:09Mommy Dead and Dearest.
08:11Released by HBO,
08:13Mommy Dead and Dearest chronicles the events that led to Dee Dee Blanchard's death.
08:16It details how she committed factitious disorder imposed on another,
08:27or what was once known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, on her daughter, Gypsy Rose.
08:32Blanchard essentially made it seem like her daughter suffered from a number of terrible ailments.
08:37While upholding the lie,
08:38the mother put her child through unnecessary surgeries and other terrible things.
08:43Gypsy Rose then conspired with her boyfriend,
08:45Nicholas Godejahn, to kill Blanchard.
08:47It's unsettling to think of the horrors that pushed a daughter to slay her own mother.
08:52No matter how you view it,
08:53Mommy Dead and Dearest makes for one creepy viewing experience.
08:57I take blame on myself and I blame other people,
08:59but I never want to blame y'all.
09:01Number 13.
09:02Holy Hell.
09:03I thought I was capturing life and expressing love.
09:07While searching for a new home and a new purpose in the 1980s,
09:10film grad Will Allen fell in with the Buddhafield New Religious Movement,
09:13a cult based in West Hollywood at the time.
09:16It was all designed to show how devoted you really were.
09:20He wanted to control the social lives, the interactions of everybody, what they did.
09:27Allen became the group's documentarian and lived with them for 22 years,
09:31finally leaving in 2007.
09:33He became inspired to make a movie and used all the footage he had of his time
09:37with the Buddhafield cult and its leader, Michelle, to create Holy Hell.
09:40This direct look at the inner workings of a cult is both rare and creepy,
09:45made all the more unsettling by the fact that the cult continues to this day,
09:49now based in Hawaii.
09:50Even to this day, I just, I don't understand.
09:54Some people still stayed.
09:56Number 12.
09:57The Imposter.
09:58It gives you nightmares.
10:02It really does.
10:03In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barkley disappeared in Texas.
10:07About 15, 15 years ago,
10:10one of my ideas were not in the end.
10:15The group is here for you.
10:17You need to talk to me if you're scared.
10:19Three years later, a man claiming to be Nicholas came forward.
10:23But this man wasn't Nicholas at all.
10:25He was Frédéric Bourdain, a French con artist.
10:28The Imposter explains how Bourdain was able to get away with it for so long,
10:31despite being significantly older than Nicholas
10:33and not looking anything like him.
10:35It's incredibly disturbing how Bourdain inserted himself into the Barkley family
10:39and tricked them into accepting him.
10:41Most remarkable of all, however,
10:43is that director Bart Leighton conducted interviews with Bourdain himself,
10:47which makes the case even more complex,
10:49as he somehow manages to come across as sympathetic.
10:52From as long as I remember,
10:54I wanted to be someone else.
10:56Number 11.
10:57Cropsey.
10:58Growing up on Staten Island,
11:00Barbara and I had often heard the legend of Cropsey.
11:02For the kids in our neighborhood,
11:07Cropsey was the escaped mental patient
11:08who lived in the tunnels beneath the old abandoned Willowbrook Mental Institution.
11:13A pair of filmmakers who grew up on Staten Island
11:16decided to take a closer look at the New York version of the boogeyman, Cropsey,
11:20and how or if this urban legend fits into the mysteries
11:22involving a series of kidnapped youth in the 70s and 80s.
11:26When your child disappears and you don't know where that child is,
11:31to a parent, the child is never dead.
11:33From the letters prime suspect Andre Rand
11:36sends the documentarians claiming his innocence,
11:38to investigating the tunnels underneath the condemned Willowbrook State School
11:42for people with neurodevelopmental disabilities,
11:44and finally theories about devil worshippers,
11:47Cropsey is sure to send a chill down your spine.
11:50Is there satanic cults, people that practice?
11:52Of course there is.
11:53But it's something that's kept very quiet,
11:57something that not many departments investigate.
12:02Number 10.
12:03Zoo.
12:03You may remember this incident from the infamous video
12:06that circulated the web in the mid-2000s.
12:08Zoo covers not only Kenneth Pinyon's,
12:10more commonly known as Mr. Hand's life,
12:13but also the horrid act that led to his death and permanent notoriety.
12:16Before I knew Mr. Hand's real name,
12:19it was always Mr. Hand's.
12:20In 2005, his passing following a sexual act with a horse
12:24led to an investigation that would unsettle even the bravest viewers.
12:28The farm Pinyon had utilized was a cover for an underground zoophile ring,
12:32where several men gathered to engage in adult activities with stallions.
12:36The documentary includes interviews with those engaged in the acts,
12:39and even reenactments.
12:40It is an insane deep dive into one of the most disturbing paraphilias,
12:44and how it went unpunished for years.
12:46The brother just kept saying,
12:49keep me away from this guy.
12:50Just keep me away from this guy.
12:52Number 9.
12:53The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.
12:55It's shocking how normalized some acts are,
12:58even if they are technically illegal.
13:002010's The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
13:02delves into one of the more twisted underground sects of society,
13:05Bacha Bazi.
13:06But to expose this secretive culture,
13:09first he has to get inside it.
13:11Boys are kidnapped or coerced into dancing for older men,
13:14under the guise of making money for their families.
13:17Though banned in Afghanistan at the time of filming,
13:20it was still a thriving industry.
13:21Between footage of victims dancing while dressed in feminine regalia,
13:25were scenes depicting men training a new child.
13:34What's even worse is that the abuse goes far beyond the performance,
13:37and that they are harshly punished if they fight back.
13:40It is a stark, brutal reminder of the dark underbelly of society,
13:44and how it continuously preys on the most vulnerable.
13:51Number 8.
13:52This is the Zodiac speaking.
13:54Much has been written about the Zodiac killings.
13:57Get on your stomach so I can tell your feet.
13:59Okay.
14:00It gets really cold out here at night.
14:02We could freeze.
14:05At this point,
14:06the case is among the most discussed serial tragedies in American history.
14:10This is the Zodiac speaking,
14:11is one of the most definitive documentaries about the case.
14:14It contains interviews with retired police officers and criminal profilers.
14:19Their first-hand accounts of the case
14:20give viewers unfettered access into the distressing story
14:23that has captivated Americans and true crime enthusiasts for decades.
14:27The disturbing story covers how Zodiac targeted innocent people
14:31and flippantly discussed his crimes.
14:33All the interviews in the documentary play on his notoriety.
14:36Seeing the impact the case has had on people's psyches
14:39is arguably even scarier than the story itself.
14:42I would say the paranoia in the initial lasted a good six to seven months.
14:47People were very concerned,
14:48and it escalated every time after another reported killing.
14:51Number seven, deliver us from evil.
14:54I mean, he took me out of the house.
14:56I said, you know, sometimes I get carsick on the road.
14:59He said, put your head on my lap, and boom, the abuse started.
15:03I mean, I was on Highway 12, you know,
15:04two minutes away from my house, and it started.
15:07And for 96 hours, that abuse was happening
15:10until my parents came and said,
15:12did you have fun with Father?
15:13And I'm like, he tickled me too much.
15:15The Catholic Church has had a hand
15:16in covering up numerous underage abuse cases.
15:19This documentary dives into one case in particular
15:21and how the internal protection of a predator
15:24had a ripple effect across several lives.
15:26It's centered around a Californian priest
15:28responsible for the assault of over two dozen young victims
15:31during his tenure.
15:32Here's somebody that I like.
15:35Here's somebody that I respect,
15:39those family I respect.
15:41What would he feel like at the end of this?
15:44Yet at the other side, there was urges within me
15:48to be sexual with him.
15:51Between haunting letters he sent
15:53detailing his horrific acts to testimonies
15:55revealing his vile manipulation tactics,
15:57it's hard not to watch without feeling extreme disgust.
16:00It was even revealed that other officials
16:02were aware of his crimes for years
16:04and took measures to shield him from the law,
16:07implying that they silently allowed the mistreatment to continue.
16:10Are you at all concerned, Oliver,
16:11that if you give testimony that hurts the diocese,
16:14that they might revoke that?
16:18I have a lot of concerns about a lot of things
16:21and I guess that would be one of them.
16:23Number 6.
16:24The Cannibal That Walked Free
16:25Having aired on the British station Channel 5,
16:28The Cannibal That Walked Free
16:29is a nightmarish glimpse
16:31into one of humanity's darkest crimes.
16:33Through the lens of Japanese criminal Issei Sagawa,
16:36it explores the psychology behind cannibalism.
16:3926 years ago,
16:40this man murdered an Etta woman in Paris.
16:44He has never stood trial.
16:46Today, he walks the Tokyo streets a free man.
16:49In June of 1981,
16:50Sagawa killed and desecrated a student
16:52named Rene Hartevelt.
16:54But he was allowed to walk free
16:56thanks to a legal snafu between France and Japan.
16:59This documentary delves into Sagawa's crimes
17:02and the psychology behind his actions
17:03through interviews with Sagawa himself.
17:06Seeing this perturbing story get conveyed
17:08through the lens of the perpetrator
17:10can be skin-crawling.
17:11For many, it may prove too much to bear.
17:14You see the beautiful girls on the train in the summer
17:17and you see their legs, don't you?
17:19I think they look delicious.
17:21That much is true.
17:22Number 5.
17:23The Bridge
17:23So then I cut over just to see
17:26or maybe possibly help.
17:28The Golden Gate Bridge
17:29may be one of America's most iconic landmark
17:31and the image that comes to mind
17:33when you think of the city of San Francisco.
17:35But for many,
17:36its looming presence is a symbol of tragedy.
17:39This documentary takes a closer look
17:40at some of these tragic incidents in 2004,
17:43but it certainly isn't easy viewing.
17:45It remains controversial,
17:46with reports of bridge jumpers increasing
17:48after the documentary was released.
17:50And in 2015,
17:52it was even removed from Netflix in New Zealand.
17:54Gene had people in this world that loved him.
17:58And he heard them.
18:01If I see him again,
18:04that's what I want to tell him.
18:06He heard me.
18:07And I didn't think he would ever do that.
18:09Number 4.
18:10Jesus Camp
18:11Listen.
18:14We hold the keys.
18:16We can change the world.
18:18This look at a summer camp
18:20for one branch of evangelical Christians
18:22has been disturbing viewers around the world
18:24since its initial release.
18:25Seen by many
18:26as a damning portrayal
18:27of allegedly abusive practices
18:29at camps like the featured
18:30Kids on Fire School of Ministry,
18:32it played a role
18:33in getting the camp shut down.
18:34Father,
18:35we just wash them
18:36with the water of your word.
18:38We say,
18:38no more, devil.
18:40No more.
18:41The camp pastor,
18:42Becky Fisher,
18:42was forced to close the retreat
18:43due to backlash.
18:45But it's arguably a credit
18:46to the directors
18:46that you can't necessarily tell
18:48where their own sympathies lie
18:49while watching this movie.
18:51It's down to the viewer
18:52to decide what's right
18:53and what's wrong.
18:54You could call it brainwashing,
18:56but I am radical and passionate
18:57in teaching children
18:59about their responsibility.
19:01Number 3.
19:02Abducted in Plain Sight.
19:04She looked up at me,
19:05her eyes beaming,
19:07and I knew that I had found
19:08a little girl
19:09that I was searching for.
19:10Jan Broberg's story
19:12is particularly disturbing.
19:14When she was just an adolescent
19:15in the 1970s,
19:16one of the Broberg family's neighbors,
19:18Robert Birchtold,
19:19befriended Jan's parents
19:20and inserted himself
19:21into their lives.
19:22Twice Birchtold abducted Jan,
19:24including taking her to Mexico.
19:27His manipulation knew no bounds.
19:29Even after Jan was brought home
19:31the first time,
19:32her parents still allowed Birchtold
19:33to be around her,
19:34even letting him sleep in her bed.
19:36I don't think I can ever
19:38really forgive myself
19:41for letting that happen.
19:43By far the strangest detail
19:44is the recordings Birchtold made
19:46of aliens
19:47to further increase
19:48his influence on Jan.
19:50Thankfully, Jan and her family
19:51survived the long ordeal.
19:53And I immediately thought
19:54I'd been kidnapped by a UFO.
19:58Number 2.
19:59The Act of Killing.
20:00With subject matter this heavy,
20:12the Act of Killing
20:13was always going to be a tough watch.
20:15In Indonesia,
20:16filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer
20:17interviews former executioners
20:19who took part
20:20in the Indonesian mass killings
20:21of 1965 to 66.
20:24They reenact the killings
20:25in a variety of genres,
20:26including westerns and musicals,
20:28while Oppenheimer asks them both
20:29about their artistic choices
20:31in the portrayals
20:31and about the events themselves.
20:33The fun reenactments
20:35juxtaposed with the horrific topics
20:37they portray
20:37is extremely disturbing.
20:39It's not hard to see
20:40why this documentary
20:41remains so controversial.
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21:01Number 1.
21:03Capturing the Freedmans.
21:04What started as a short film
21:24about birthday party entertainers
21:25devolved into something
21:26much, much darker.
21:28Capturing the Freedmans
21:29delves into the activities
21:30of a disturbed man
21:31and his son,
21:32whose crimes are thought
21:33to range from possession
21:34of abhorrent material
21:35to using computer classes
21:37as a guise
21:37for luring in victims.
21:39Once that came to light,
21:40the rest of the dominoes
21:41came crashing down.
21:43If you were going to be
21:44the first one abused
21:45on a particular day,
21:46he would pull up a chair
21:47and sit next to you.
21:48Maybe it would start
21:49with his arm around your shoulder
21:51or on your leg
21:52and gradually move it up,
21:55touching private parts.
21:56It features recordings
21:57made by some of his sons,
21:59giving the audience glimpses
22:00into their troubled home life.
22:02However,
22:02even more disturbing
22:03is the defense
22:04of his vile actions.
22:06Both aspects make
22:07an already off-putting documentary
22:08all the more disturbing,
22:10creating a watch
22:11that is difficult
22:11for many viewers
22:12to get through.
22:13The types of behaviors
22:14which were described,
22:15which were,
22:16well,
22:18just downright satanic
22:19in nature.
22:20I mean,
22:20they make him sound
22:21like some kind
22:22of brutal sadist,
22:23whereas,
22:24you know,
22:24I had just always thought
22:25of him as being
22:25kind of a nebbish.
22:28What's the creepiest documentary
22:29you've ever seen?
22:31Let us know
22:31in the comments.
22:32Let us know
22:32in the comments.
22:33Let us know
22:33in the comments.
22:34Let us know
22:35in the comments.
22:36Let us know
22:37in the comments.
22:38Let us know
22:38how to do it.
22:39Let us know
22:39in the comments.
22:40Let us know
22:40in the comments.
22:40We'll see you next time.
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