America loves true crime. From Ann Rule’s bestselling books about famous serial killers in the 1980s and 1990s to the popularity of the Serial podcast in the 2010s, Americans, and most of the world, can’t get enough of real-life mayhem and murder.
As a result, there’s a bountiful selection of true crime documentaries and TV shows on a wide variety of streamers (Netflix alone is chock-full of intriguing true crime shows). Hulu has upped its true crime game in September, with a number of series devoted to the popular genre. Here are eight shows and movies to watch on Hulu this month.
Editor’s note: The descriptive text for each show and film comes from Hulu’s PR, not Digital Trends.
Never Let Him Go (September 6)
In 1988, Scott Johnson, a gay American mathematician, was found dead beneath a cliff in Sydney, Australia. Steve Johnson, Scott’s brother, would spend the next 35 years trying to solve the mystery of Scott’s death.
He could have never imagined the tinderbox he would crack open — a wave of anti-gay violence, homophobia, and fear that cast a shadow for decades. Never Let Him Go delves into Scott Johnson’s extraordinary life and mysterious death, and Steve’s dogged, multi-decade quest for justice.
The Jewel Thief (now streaming)
The Jewel Thief is the unbelievable firsthand account of Gerald Blanchard, one of the most creative, calculating and accomplished criminal masterminds in modern history.
Two unlikely Canadian detectives track Blanchard across the globe as he perpetrates a series of increasingly elaborate heists in a quest for fame and notoriety through a life of crime.
Mother Undercover (Now streaming)
A gripping new four-part docuseries, Mother Undercover tells the tales of four courageous mothers on a mission to save or get justice for their children. Across four captivating episodes, audiences will witness the extraordinary lengths mothers will go to protect their children.
In incidents of murder, international kidnapping, mass suicide, and judicial corruption, these four mothers transform into undercover detectives, mounting covert operations and taking matters into their own hands. The series showcases the strength and resilience of these women who give new meaning to the saying “a mother’s love knows no bounds.”
Demons & Saviors (now streaming)
The three-part series Demons and Saviors tells the remarkable story of Christina Boyer– once infamously known as the “poltergeist girl,” and now a woman convicted of murdering her three-year-old daughter. Thirty years into a life sentence, Christina still proclaims her innocence.
The series follows a group of amateur sleuths who have become consumed by their obsession to exonerate her. Exploring Christina’s troubled upbringing, her alleged telekinetic abilities, and the questions that remain about the death of her daughter, Demons and Saviors investigates what is the conspiracy and what is the truth.
Sound of the Police (now streaming)
Sound of the Police examines the fraught relationship between African Americans and the police, which is often rife with tension, fear, suspicion and hostility on all sides.
Framed by some of the most recent conflicts between Black Americans and police officers, which garnered national media attention, the film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities and fuels the ongoing conflict between African American communities and law enforcement.
Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks (now streaming)
Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks is a new 10-part documentary series focusing on murder cases that remained unsolved for decades and were ultimately cracked with DNA evidence. It explores these stunning scientific developments – as well as the unwavering dedication of families and investigators – that eventually brought the killers to justice.
The Emmy-nominated Cold Case Files was the original forensic science crime show when it first aired in 1999. This brand new series is narrated by the original host and executive producer, celebrated journalist Bill Kurtis, and builds on the success of the original with spectacular cinematography, extraordinary crime scene footage, and cutting-edge science.
BTK: Confessions of a Serial Killer (now streaming)
This documentary provides unprecedented access into the mind of Dennis Rader, who is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences in El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas. Dr. Katherine Ramsland shares the intimate details of Rader’s past and his gruesome murders while providing insight to arm criminologists and law enforcement on how to better identify and potentially deter extreme violent offenders in the future.
The author and renowned professor of forensic psychology leads the examination of Rader’s transformation from an American boy to an American monster who wreaked havoc in Wichita, Kansas, and went uncaptured for 30 years.
Betrayal: The Perfect Husband (now streaming)
Jen Faison and Spencer Herron were the perfect couple. She was a successful television producer and he was a beloved teacher of the year at a Georgia high school. For over seven years, Jen thought she was living in a fairy tale romance, but one fateful spring afternoon, when the police showed up at her home, the façade came quickly crumbling down.
Her perfect life was torn apart when she learned she was the victim of the ultimate betrayal. Behind the fairy tale romance was a web of lies, affairs, and criminal sexual assault. Spencer Herron, the man she thought she knew and loved, was living a double life.
