5 Best True Crime Reenactment Shows to Watch
5 Best True Crime Reenactment Shows
If you are a true crime junkie like me, these shows will knock your socks off. Personally, all of these shows were well casted and soooo freaking amazing to watch. I highly recommend watching all of these if you haven't done so already. Get ready to stay in, make some popcorn, and binge these top 5 reenactments of real true crime stories.
5. Inventing Anna
Julia Garner plays Anna Delvey (real last name Sorokin) who poses successfully as a wealthy German heiress living a lavish lifestyle in New York City. Scamming multiple banks, hotels, and even using fake bank accounts, Anna, tricks the system giving an illusion that she is rich. Anna also scammed wealthy socialists into sponsoring her faux art foundation. However, she is met with severe charges and sentenced to 4-12 years in jail.
The show allows you into the controlling mind of Anna as she deceives her entire social circle. Managing to live lavishly illegally for quite some time and at such a young age.
4. Candy
Candy is about a woman named Candy Montgomery (portrayed by Jessica Biel) who is accused of an axe murder. The story is set in the 1980s in an innocent suburban town in Texas. Candy, who has been secretly having an affair with her neighbor, encounters his wife and murders her while he is out of town. She pleaded self-defense and was acquitted. The real-life Candy is said to be currently residing in Georgia. Biel portrays Candy so perfectly in the show and gives an amazing performance. Side note, I also highly recommend watching her in the psychological show The Sinner.
3. The Act
We all remember the Gypsy Rose Blanchard story. Some are happy she is out of jail now and free of the mental torment. Some are not so thrilled Blanchard is roaming on the streets. Either way, if you haven't watched The Act or if you need to brush back up on the timeline of events that led to her arrest, this is the best reenactment of her story.
Joey King plays Gypsy, who realizes that after years of being in a wheelchair and endless medications, she is perfectly healthy. Her mother, Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette), was leading her to believe she was sick, even convincing the world she was forever ill. Dee Dee gained public assistance for Gypsy's medical conditions and eventually, Habitat for Humanity built them a house. Using Gypsy's "disabilities" as financial gain as well as convincing her own daughter she needs medical assistance at all times.. A famous example of Munchausen by proxy.
If you don't know, when Gypsy found out her mother was lying this entire time, she grew furious. Her and her then-online boyfriend conspired to free Gypsy from the sick world she was living in and flee freely together. How? The only plausible escape they could think of, murdering Dee Dee Blanchard.
In 2015, Dee Dee was found dead in her home with Gypsy nowhere to be found. The police eventually caught Gypsy and her boyfriend after finding the IP address of mysterious Facebook posts on Dee Dee's profile. Gypsy received 10 years in prison for second-degree murder while her boyfriend was given life in prison. In 2023, Gypsy was granted parole and is seemingly pretty popular on social media.
2. The Staircase
This is a series you won't be able to stop watching. The staircase follows a mysterious case of Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of her stair case at home. During the series, you are torn between if her husband Michael Peterson committed the crime. This was a wild ride and there are so many theories as to what happened to Kathleen. Did she accidentally fall, was she attacked by an owl, or was she attacked by her husband. If it was him, what would be the motive?
In 2003, after a long trial, Michael was charged with murder and life imprisonment. However, in 2011 he was given a retrial due to false information. He served a total of 8 years and currently resides in North Carolina. This story has so many twists and turns, wild theories, and crazy speculations. You can also watch the real documentary on this story on Netflix.
I am a big Toni Collette fan and she did an amazing job portraying Kathleen. Colin Firth was also incredible as Michael, giving multiple sides to his character. You really wonder how the system works and what actually happened.
1. Jeffrey Dahmer
When the Jeffrey Dahmer series came out starring Evan Peters, I said "Say no more". Anyone and everyone knows who Dahmer is. Evan Peters studied Dahmer's voice and mannerisms to perfect his role. This role would certainly be a dark and heavy one to play. Peters did an unbelievable job and the overall show was hands-down the best true crime reenactments I have seen.
A brief history, Jeffrey Dahmer was an American Serial Killer who was said to have murdered 17 young men from 1978-1991. Many involved necrophilia and eventually cannibalism. He was captured after one of his victims escaped and led the police back to Dahmer's residence where they found evidence of multiple murders. He was sentenced to life in prison and was beaten to death in jail in 1994.
There are several documentaries on Jeffrey Dahmer and no matter how many times I look into this case, I am still so shocked at the psychological mind behind Dahmer. Peters was by far the best possible person to portray him.
