American Murder: The Family Next Door uses real footage to chilling effect

CNET

"There's no narrator in the new Netflix true-crime documentary film American Murder: The Family Next Door, which tells of Chris Watts' unthinkable 2018 murder of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters," says Gael Fashingbauer Cooper. "There are no scripted lines or cameras cutting to detectives being asked to talk about the case by an offscreen producer. The documentary was assembled using all archival footage from real sources. Some viewers complain about this technique, saying the footage was already widely shown, or that it made for a less cohesive story. I disagree. The real footage made this already horrific tale all the sadder, and I'll never forget about Shanann and her children." ALSO: American Murder deserves credit for not digging deeper into Chris Watts’ persona and probing for underlying motives in his behavior.