Yahoo Lifestyle 33 Incredible Documentaries With The Most Shocking Endings
A while back, we asked the documentary film fans of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most shocking ending or twist they've ever seen in a doc. There were so many responses to that post that we decided to update everything with an expanded list. Here's what people shared:
Warning: Some spoilers ahead. Continue at your own risk.
1.There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane (2011)
"I watched it, and let me tell you...I was UGLY CRYING NON STOP. I've never been like THAT over any type of show."
What it's about: Explores the mystery behind a wrong-way car crash that killed a mother and several other people in New York.
Where to watch it: Max
2.Take Care of Maya (2023)
"Take Care of Maya absolutely devastated me. I cried so hard. As a mom, as a nurse, as a woman (who are often labelled as hysterical when we vehemently stand up for something), and as someone who has dealt with mental health issues, I sobbed my eyes out. I can’t believe this happened. If Dear Zachary scarred you, don’t even think about this one. You’ve been warned."
"Take Care of Maya is the first Netflix documentary where I've found myself just actively sobbing during it. Everything that family went through, and then to find out they aren't the only ones, that there are dozens of other families in that county who also went through hell...and the case is ongoing!"
What it's about: A heartbroken couple battles authorities for custody of their severely ill daughter after being accused of child abuse
Where to watch it: Netflix
3.Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
"I am going with Capturing the Friedmans because of the brilliant way the filmmakers kept you in suspense. I thought the dad, but not the son, was guilty. My best friend thought they were both guilty. My dad thought both were innocent. An example of superb filmmaking that leaves it to the viewer to decide what really happened."
What it's about: The messy and dark story of a father and son both charged with child sexual abuse.
Where to watch it: Max
4.Cropsey (2009)
"Cropsey is a really underrated documentary that starts off as an investigation into an urban legend about a kind of boogeyman named 'Cropsey,' but I wasn’t expecting it to go where it ended up."
What it's about: Two filmmakers look into the case of five missing children in their hometown and the myth of a "boogeyman" tied to their disappearances.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
5.God Knows Where I Am (2016)
"It's a very good, if gut-wrenching, documentary. It’s the story of Linda Bishop, a homeless woman suffering from mental health problems, told by the people who knew her and her diary entries."
What it's about: Unfolds the story of Linda Bishop, a woman from New Hampshire with severe bipolar disorder with psychosis.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
6.The Overnighters (2014)
"Many travel to a popular fracking town in North Dakota for a job, and when they fail to find one, they struggle to survive homelessness, hunger, and a sense of failure. This is where the doc follows a local pastor who offers these guys shelter, food, and support at his church. It isn't until the third act we learn there's a price tag attached to his offer. I get mad when I recall how it handled that revelation."
What it's about: A pastor in North Dakota opens his church's doors to oil field workers experiencing homelessness.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
7.Time: The Kalief Browder Story (2017)
"A 16-year-old school student is taken to jail when the police believe he's stolen a backpack. His family couldn't afford to bail him out, so he ended up spending three years in jail waiting for a hearing. The conclusion almost broke me."
What it's about: A docuseries that explores the case of Kalief Browder, a Black teen in the Bronx, New York, who spent three years in jail despite not being convicted of a crime.
Where to watch it: Netflix
8.Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
"Hands down, the most shocking, upsetting ending to a documentary I've ever seen. I was blindsided. Looking back, it's easy to see how everything was leading to such a devastating conclusion. I didn't want to believe it, though."
What it's about: The true case of a young man named Andrew Bagby who was killed by his ex-girlfriend, who is revealed to be pregnant with his child.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
9.Tarnation (2003)
"I think there are a lot of documentaries listed here that are amazing, terrifying, and devastating...but I think a documentary that deserves its place among these is Tarnation by Jonathan Caouette. It’s small and personal but huge."
What it's about: An autobiographical documentary focusing on Caouette's life growing up and his relationship with his mother, who had schizophrenia.
Where to watch it: Roku
10.The Pharmacist (2020)
"The Pharmacist was incredible, I will never forget it."
What it's about: Motivated by his son's tragic death, a pharmacist in Louisiana attempts to expose the rampant corruption behind the opioid addiction crisis.
Where to watch it: Netflix
11.The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo (2020)
"Please watch this movie. It's about a mom trying to find justice for her daughter's murder. It takes an extremely dark turn, please be advised, but in my country, women are being killed left and right, and we need these stories to be heard and known around the world. Hopefully, this will make the government take this with the seriousness it deserves. Thank you in advance."
What it's about: A woman in Mexico seeks justice for her daughter's murder after the judicial system fails her.
Where to watch it: Netflix
12.The Staircase (2004)
"I was shocked at the last-minute curveball in The Staircase. No spoilers, but it came completely out of nowhere, sounded ridiculous, but when I thought about it, it made so much sense."
What it's about: A deep look into the twisty, high-profile murder trial of Michael Peterson, a novelist accused of killing his wife, Kathleen.
Where to watch it: Netflix
13.Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019)
"I’ve mentioned this one before, but Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer has GOT to win the award for most satisfying plot twist (even though the 'twist' happens very early on) ever!"
What it's about: A three-part series that follows a group of amateur internet detectives who set out to take down a criminal, unraveling an even darker story.
Where to watch it: Netflix
14.The Deepest Breath (2023)
"Although it was clear from the start the ending would not be a happy one, the way it intertwined the two stories and then still built up to a completely shocking ending broke my heart and left me in tears."
What it's about: A free diver trains to break a world record with the help of an expert safety diver.
Where to watch it: Netflix
15.Our Father (2022)
"I shouldn't really have been surprised about the ending to this one. It's about a fertility doctor secretly using his own sperm to impregnate women. In the end, he ended up getting off scot-free."
What it's about: Uncovers the twisted story of a fertility doctor who inseminated dozens of his patients with his own sperm in the '70s and '80s.
Where to watch it: Netflix
16.The Witness (2015)
"This is a documentary film about Kitty Genovese — at the end, they get an actress to reconstruct Kitty’s final moments when she was repeatedly stabbed in her doorway, to see whether people could, in fact, hear her screams for help. I watched this documentary years ago, and I still think about that scene and can hear those screams; it’s so chilling and haunting it gave me goosebumps."
What it's about: An investigation into the murder of Kitty Genovese, a woman who was attacked while many people apparently did nothing to help, in 1964.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
17.Paris Is Burning (1990)
"This was filmed in the mid to late '80s and follows the ball culture of New York at that time. And it takes an unexpectedly sad turn."
—rtrz
"Paris is Burning is SUCH an intensely heartbreaking and equally intensely important documentary. 🩷🩷🩷"
What it's about: A groundbreaking documentary following drag queens and their "house" culture in New York City during the 1980s.
Where to watch it: Max
18.Last Breath (2019)
"I watched it with a friend, and she legit had a panic attack because most of the documentary uses actual footage of the incident. It is definitely a nightmare and a half and it's amazing what we're capable of."
What it's about: A first-hand and super intense account of a dividing incident where the diver was stranded on the bottom of the North Sea.
Where to watch it: Netflix
19.The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (2020)
"This horrified me beyond comprehension. I still remember sitting on my couch when I finished the last episode, numb and speechless. I couldn't move. Then I got angry — just absolutely incensed. The system failed the boy and then some. Everyone involved in his case should have been raked over the coals and given sentences as harsh as the abhorrent creatures who killed him. The docuseries left me wrecked for days, and even now just thinking about it makes my stomach drop."
What it's about: A six-part series looking into a boy's brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers, which prompts questions about the system.
Where to watch it: Netflix
20.Three Identical Strangers (2018)
"You think it's just about brothers finding themselves, and really, it's a whole messed up lab experiment on twins/triplets!"
What it's about: Follows the story of three young men who were all adopted and find out they're actually triplets who were separated at birth.
Where to watch it: Hulu
21.The Keepers (2017)
"It seems like a murder mystery but winds up going down the tunnel of sexual assault at a Catholic school and all the women and what they went through and the possible reason why a nun was murdered."
What it's about: A docuseries that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969.
Where to watch it: Netflix
22.Tell Me Who I Am (2019)
"It's about identical brothers, one of whom has an accident and amnesia. The other brother then has to tell him about their lives. No spoilers, watch it and be blown away!"
What it's about: The story of twins where one loses his memory, and the other struggles to hide a dark family secret from him.
Where to watch it: Netflix
23.The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)
"Robert Durst was astoundingly charismatic! Despite all the evidence against him, I found myself rooting for him, and genuinely hoping he was innocent! Very, very, very well done."
"The Jinx is definitely one of the best true crime series EVER and an absolute must."
What it's about: Tells the story of Robert Durst, a real estate heir suspected of three murders.
Where to watch it: Max
24.Girl in the Picture (2022)
"I associate Netflix's true crime series with the fact that they often end with some sort of plot twist. The first title that pops into my head is Girl in the Picture. In general, it's a show full of shocking (and devastating and heartbreaking) plot twists."
What it's about: The tragic story of a young girl who was abducted by a fugitive, raised as his daughter, and then killed in a mysterious hit-and-run accident.
Where to watch it: Netflix
25.Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee (2022)
"The McAfee documentary on Netflix is so wild from start to finish. The end has an interesting twist to it also concerning his death. It’s insane but also a really enticing watch. It gives a little bit of a Tiger King vibe."
What it's about: Via raw footage, it tells the story of the life and times of John McAfee, a computer programmer who went on the run.
Where to watch it: Netflix
26.The Rescue (2021)
"One that’s slightly happier but still a wild ride is The Rescue, about the soccer team that was trapped inside an underground cave system and the supreme lengths that volunteers from around the world went to to get them out."
What it's about: Chronicles the wild 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from an underwater cave.
Where to watch it: Disney+
27.The Champions (2015)
"It gutted me at times, but the survivors were so inspiring, and I was so proud of them. Sadly, I think they’ve all passed on by now due to the length of time, but they lived out the rest of their lives as dogs should."
What it's about: The story of the Michael Vick dogs who survived (and thrived) and the people and organizations who helped them along the way.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
28.Misha and the Wolves (2021)
"It’s on Netflix and popped up one night on my recommendation feed and let me tell you, I could not look away once it was going. It is BONKERS. It’s a little spoiler-y to say much about it, but it’s about a woman who tells her story about escaping Nazi Germany by hiding in the forest with wolves. But there are so many twists and turns… once it was over, I just sat on my couch staring into space and it took like like two days to fully recover."
What it's about: Examines the dramatic memoir of a woman's story of surviving the Holocaust.
Where to watch it: Netflix
29.Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez (2020)
"The Aaron Hernandez documentary (Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez) was absolutely heartbreaking to me, and I have never watched a game of NFL in my life, nor do I care to after watching that, thank you very much! 💔"
What it's about: The docuseries explores the murder conviction of NFL player Aaron Hernandez for the murder of Odin Lloyd, other murder cases he was a suspect in, and his dark past.
Where to watch it: Netflix
30.My Flesh and Blood (2003)
"It was disturbing to me on many levels and has never left my mind even though it's been years since I watched it. Any description I could give would pale in comparison of the reality of the situation."
What it's about: Follows a year in the life of the Tom family, with eleven adopted children, many of whom had serious diseases or disabilities.
Where to watch it: Apple TV
31.Grizzly Man (2005)
"You never get to see the footage of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard being killed and eaten by the rogue bear, but you get to see Director Werner Herzog (who no one would accuse of being a weak-hearted man) break down as he listens to the sounds of the two people being killed. It ended the documentary on a note of sadness as you realized that this was a study of ego, madness, and misguided perceptions of the natural world."
—Anonymous
What it's about: It shows the life and death of bear enthusiast and conservationist Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard in Alaska.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
32.New York Doll (2005)
"Much lesser known, but it's about Arthur Kane and his life after drugs, alcohol, and a band break up. I didn’t see the ending coming."
What it's about: The life of musician Arthur Kane, a former member of the band New York Dolls, who became a Mormon, as he tries to reconnect with his former bandmates.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
33.Finally, I Survived BTK (2010)
“I Survived BTK is horrific. It’s the 15-year-old son’s account of his family being slaughtered by Rader. Horrible things happen real time during the filming."
What it's about: The story of Charlie Otero, the oldest member of the first family Dennis Rader, aka BTK, murdered in 1974.
Where to watch it: Prime Video
Are you a fan of documentary films, too? Is there something missing from this list that you would add? Tell us in the comments below or via this totally anonymous form for a chance to be featured in a BuzzFeed Community post!
