Mini-Series
“Devil in the Family:
There have been several recent worthwhile documentaries and docuseries that examine the dark side of social media, but no other true-crime offering this year so effectively exposes the disastrous repercussions when religious fanaticism dovetails with social-media fame.
This three-parter from Hulu is about the disgraced Utah mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, a mother of six who for years shared much of her family’s life on YouTube. At one point, she had about 2.5 million subscribers to the account, earning as much as $100,000 a month.
The docuseries makes compelling use of a vast amount of footage, but the previously unreleased outtakes — many of her snapping between personas — are most haunting. Also included are in-depth interviews with Franke’s two oldest children, Shari and Chad, and her now ex-husband, Kevin.
When the counselor and YouTube creator Jodi Hildebrandt enters the scene, and the Franke’s family home, the story veers into places I could never have imagined. As The Times critic Margaret Lyons put it: “‘Devil’ is not a sloppy rehash. Instead, it is pointed and insightful.”
Podcast
“Scam Inc.”
It would not be hyperbole to suggest that every American adult should listen to this podcast from the Economist. Over eight episodes, the journalist and host Sue-Lin Wong dives deep into the online scam economy that, according to her reporting, already rivals the size of the illicit drug trade and represents the most significant change in transnational organized crime in decades.
What may have once seemed like a threat to those who are less technologically adept is now a threat that can leave just about anyone in financial ruin, she explains.
Wong starts the story in a small Kansas town and before long, takes us across Asia, where these pig-butchering scams — a term used for how scammers essentially groom targets by fattening them up before slaughter — are run by complex criminal syndicates.
While these swindlers continue to exploit core human emotions — fear, grief and loneliness — it’s all made worse by strides in human trafficking, money laundering, A.I., crypto and social media. In turn, the crimes are growing bigger, more sophisticated and more innovative by the day, with victims at nearly every level.
Documentary Film
“Chaos: The Manson Murders”
The grisly Manson family murders, which left a string of dead bodies in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969 including that of the pregnant actress Sharon Tate, is among the first sagas to propel true-crime obsession in America. It’s a story that has been rehashed and retold relentlessly since. So much so, I felt that I could skip this documentary, having all the information that I needed about Charles Manson, his disciples, the murders and the fallout.
But I finally came around, in no small part because it’s from the renowned documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. I’m glad I did, because this movie is less concerned with providing answers than it is with posing and inviting questions — mostly about our collective fascination not just with murder, but with mind control. It’s an anxiety that “clearly extends far beyond Charles Manson,” The Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson wrote in her review. “This isn’t just about fringe cults on ranches anymore: It’s about social groups, theories about the world, the bubble you float around in on the internet.”
This film is based on the book, “Chaos: Charles Manson, the C.I.A., and the Secret History of the Sixties,” by the journalist Tom O’Neill, who spent decades investigating the case and who is interviewed extensively for this film.
Mini-Series
“A Body in the Snow:
Not long ago, true crime documentaries almost always dealt with events that took place solidly in the past, those that were often resolved one way or another. But in recent years, there’s been a significant uptick in series and films that examine current or ongoing cases.
We saw it with the Murdaugh murder trial in 2023 and with several new offerings across streaming services about the 2022 murders of four college students in Idaho.
This five-part HBO Max docuseries from Investigation Discovery drops viewers into the high-profile 2024 murder trial of Karen Read, whose boyfriend John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, had been found dead in the snow in January 2022. The series is primarily told from the perspective of the defense; Read had maintained her innocence and argued that she was the victim of a police cover-up. The proceedings ended in a mistrial in July 2024.
This series aired in mid-March, and jury selection for her retrial began on April 1 with the verdict announced in mid-June — making this among the most of-the-moment true-crime series of 2025 to date and possibly ever.
Maya Salam is an editor and reporter, focusing primarily on pop culture across genres.
The post True Crime to Stream: The Best of 2025, So Far appeared first on New York Times.
