X
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 23 m
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 23 m
Summary In 2018, 34-year-old Shanann Watts and her two young daughters went missing in Frederick, Colorado. As heartbreaking details emerged, their story made headlines worldwide. Told entirely through archival footage that includes social media posts, law enforcement recordings, text messages and never-before-seen home videos, director Jenny P...
Directed By: Jenny Popplewell
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 23 m
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 23 m
American Murder: The Family Next Door
67
7.7
Where to Watch
Summary In 2018, 34-year-old Shanann Watts and her two young daughters went missing in Frederick, Colorado. As heartbreaking details emerged, their story made headlines worldwide. Told entirely through archival footage that includes social media posts, law enforcement recordings, text messages and never-before-seen home videos, director Jenny P...
Directed By: Jenny Popplewell
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
67
60% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
67
60% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Popplewell’s film presents the Watts story as more than a crime story. It is a thematic film about marriage and the deception of social media, as well as a piercing examination of domestic violence constructed with care and undeniable craft.
An impeccably produced look at a heinous crime, Popplewell’s documentary meticulously weaves together a wealth of information . . . that it almost feels too readymade for the film treatment. Almost.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 User Ratings
7.7
73% Positive
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
27% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 User Ratings
7.7
73% Positive
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
27% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
I knew this story. When I watched this I realized I didn't REALLY know the story. I was always looking for who or what caused him to do this. I sat in silence at the end and knew how wrong we are to do that. He and only he is responsible for his horrific actions. No one MADE him people loved him. His wife, his children, his girlfriend, his wife's family and his own family. The issue is he only loved himself.
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Excellent piece of filmmaking. The irony here is the filmmakers don’t realize that what they’re selling people is partially why these things happen in the first place.
What the movie should be doing is talking about how society is f#%^ people from birth and treating them like disposable consumer slaves. The filmmakers promote the tabloid cliche of the supposed American dream gone bad. These people never had dreams. You could argue they never existed. Their deaths affect no one.
The family was part of a system, and even their death was ultimately (re: immediately) manipulated/processed into more consumer trash. They became the superficial goods their own lives were built on.
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The result is a film that feels deeply personal, and not always in a good way. It’s a film that can’t help but feel a little like an invasion of privacy.
As an experiment in format, “America Murder” is intriguing. Instead of bringing people in to give fresh commentary, we have only the artifacts left behind by a seemingly ordinary family in a seemingly ordinary suburb. But as a documentary, it makes for an incomplete picture, like trying to piece together the story of an ancient disaster based only on archaeological fragments.
Maybe my criticism of American Murder is more a criticism of the genre itself and how its desire to shed light on crimes inherently exploits them regardless of intent. Popplewell’s film is an expertly researched prologue to a much-needed conversation it avoids.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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The documentary itself has nothing special, even with its form of presentation, because when it reaches a certain point, it seems like any other episode of a tv crime show, because despite the terrible tragedy it tells, the whole thing is nothing more than a recount for the sake of morbidity.
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There's little effort to position the case in a broader context of domestic abuse, mental health, masculinity or the law. It's simply a voyeuristic, horrific timeline. As such, American Murder leaves you with a guilty, disgusted feeling. It's exploitative, invasive and ultimately shallow.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
Knickerbockerglory TV
Release Date Sep 30, 2020
Duration 1 h 23 m
Rating TV-MA
Genres
Awards
FOCAL International Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Televisual Bulldog Awards, UK
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Nomination
