Followers of documentaries know that Netflix has a knack for delivering weekend viewing that sparks dialog come Monday. And the truth that the chilling sequence Demise of a Pastor’s Spouse remains to be perched at No. 1 on the streamer’s U.S. High 10 additionally says loads about viewers’ urge for food for true crime.
This weekend’s doc picks embrace top-of-the-line true-crime sequence that Netflix has ever produced, and a brand new one borrowed from A&E that’s No. 3 in TV exhibits on the service, as of this writing. And my high decide this weekend is a critically acclaimed documentary movie that has been making the rounds on streaming, and given the heightened nervousness over AI in the mean time, it is a must-watch.
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Do not F**okay with Cats: Searching an Web Killer
An web manhunt for a very heinous felony
I keep in mind watching this Emmy-winning Netflix true-crime sequence when it first arrived in 2019, and it turned a breakout hit for Netflix, not simply due to its really surprising story, however due to how the thriller slowly unfolds into a world web manhunt powered by passionate individuals.
When newbie web sleuths Deanna Thompson (a.okay.a. Baudi Moovan) and John Inexperienced uncover a video on-line of an unknown man doing actually, actually dangerous issues to kittens, the infuriated duo goes to work dissecting the video, uncovering clues, and mercilessly looking the wrongdoer to ID him—and so they do, properly earlier than the police. However then the entire thing will get darker, as the person, recognized as Canadian Luka Magnotta, goes even additional, murdering worldwide pupil Jun Lin in Montreal after which happening the lam.
The three-part sequence spirals from there as a global police hunt for Magnotta spans the world—together with Toronto, Paris, Los Angeles, New York, London, Vegas, and Berlin—with the sleuths attempting to assist alongside the way in which. Combining archival information footage, pictures, information footage, and interviews with Thompson, Inexperienced, and legislation enforcement, Don’t F**okay with Cats: Searching an Web Killer is one in every of Netflix’s greatest; it isn’t for the faint of coronary heart, and you will not have the ability to cease watching.
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I Survived a Serial Killer (Season 1)
Actual survivor tales from those that lived them
As I mentioned, true crime is massive on Netflix, and this super-popular A&E documentary sequence from 2021 hasn’t wasted any time attending to the highest three on the service within the U.S. Season one in every of I Survived a Serial Killer arrived on September 15, and it’s 16 episodes of darkish, twisted, first-person accounts, led by the survivors—not investigators or legal professionals—telling their ugly tales of how they managed to flee near-death conditions by the hands of serial killers.
The roughly 20-minute episodes are sometimes emotional and detailed as survivors use their very own phrases, with some extra context and clarification supplied by analysts, legislation enforcement, reporters, and different consultants for an entire image. And sure, some are onerous to look at, with some standout episodes together with Palm Springs, California’s Jennifer Asbenson, who miraculously clawed her approach out of the trunk of serial killer Andrew Urdiales’ automobile after he attacked and kidnapped her.
Shot with intimate, first-person interviews and utilizing some dramatic recreations, the storytelling is riveting and intense. And there is a second season, too, so this is hoping that this Netflix run sparks its addition someday within the close to future.
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The AI Doc: Or How I Grew to become an Apocaloptimist
A father-to-be confronts AI’s hopeful and terrifying future
With among the most up-to-date information tales about AI ratcheting up the nervousness about its unpredictability, and business and authorities requires a slowdown in its improvement, Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher and co-director Charlie Tyrell (no irony there) sobering documentary The AI Doc: Or How I Grew to become an Apocaloptimist could not have landed on Netflix at a greater time.
However it’s not what you suppose. The one-hour-and-44-minute function takes one thing massively technical and provides a private spin, coming at it from Roher’s standpoint as a father-to-be worrying over what sort of an AI-dominated world his youngster shall be rising into. The AI Doc is Roher’s earnest approach of attempting to grasp it.
To do that, Roher goes to the AI overlords themselves, interviewing everybody from OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, who communicate concerning the prospects of AI’s potential, from curing ailments to fixing local weather change—whereas additionally admitting that it could all simply go horribly incorrect. Roher additionally factors the digital camera at a number of critics, comparable to Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin, Yoshua Bengio, and Deborah Raji, who, whereas additionally cautioning in opposition to the evils of AI, can see its potential, too… if we do not screw it up. Does it finish on a hopeful notice? I will allow you to resolve. However it’s undoubtedly value your time.
The AI Doc: Or How I Grew to become an Apocaloptimist
- Launch Date
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March 27, 2026
- Runtime
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104 Minutes
- Director
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Josef Beeby, Charlie Tyrell, Daniel Roher
Documentaries that can get your coronary heart fee up
Right here you go—three alternative ways to break a superbly good weekend night. Simply kidding, this weekend’s docs are positive to spark dialog, make your jaw drop, and probably finish in a little bit of snuggling and hand-holding to ease the jumpiness. When you’ve recovered, although, our different Netflix film picks and streaming advice lists have lots extra choices to vanish into.
- Subscription with advertisements
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Sure, $8/month
- Simultaneous streams
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Two or 4
- Stay TV
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No
- Worth
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Beginning at $8/month
Stream licensed and authentic programming with a month-to-month Netflix subscription.