' An American Murder ' Premiering Today On Netflix

Fir those who don't know this is a documentary about Chris Watts who murdered his wife and two daughters.
A sick and twisted tale.
Anyone going to be watching?

 

My mom and I will be.

 

I love documentaries like this but the last couple of years I've struggled with them due to mental health issues. I try to focus on less disturbing subjects at the moment! Hopefully I'll be in a place before long where I can watch things like this again and enjoy them for what they are rather than being upset by them This is on the list!

 

If that is the case with you , don't watch this. The subject is disturbing.

 

We watched a few seconds of this, but decided not to continue and we're watching something else instead.

 

first I'm hearing of this... Nope, I have no interest...not my cup of tea.

 

Well, I just finished watching it and was disappointed.
There's much better stuff about this case on YouTube.
Horrible crime though. Despicable character.

 

I saw this and then I read the NYT review on the doc....they tend to blame social media as part of the problem, but one thing overlooked is WHERE THEY LIVE......they truly live in a boring suburb and I wonder how much that played a role, subconsciously, in deciding to kill his family. The neighborhood he lives in and his house is so banal.
I use to live in the suburbs and I hated it.

The review:
‘American Murder: The Family Next Door’ Review: Tragedy Reconstructed
"It is a thematic film about marriage and the deception of social media"

But again, IMO nothing about the boredom of suburban life.
Gerry Goffin didn't write the lyrics to the Monkee's "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for nothing

Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care

Creature comfort goals, they only numb my soul
And make it hard for me to see
Ah, thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I need a change of scenery


For such an upbeat song, it really has depressing lyrics.

 

I’m worried for you if you think living in a “boring suburb” can/will push someone to murder.

 

I doubt where they lived was a motive.
It was the life he was living that he wanted out of.
I can't get over how slimy he is. The bit about saying his wife killed the children so he had to kill her was absolutely unforgivable.

 

It was Okay but a half hour too long.

 

Why did you stop watching it?

 

his boring suburb was boring and I was watching it through the TV

Its death by 1000 cuts. Do you really think he snapped because of just one thing that happened to him? Have you ever had a nervous breakdown?

 

I never said it was one thing. You’re reading too much into this and making it personal.

 

somebody stop Ryan Murphy already

wait, nevermind

 

Chris Watts had a life like thousands if others have.
A fairly good paying job , a house in the suburbs , a wife and children.
Then he hooked up with a co-worker and thought being with her would be more exciting. This happens a lot too.
But very few feel compelled to strangle their wives and children .

Why not just get a divorce and work out visiting rights in regards to seeing the children?

What a sick f*** he is.

 

Fair enough, I thought it was too short, not that I really should be wasting my time on TV like this. But I felt they just kind of threw all the video (and phone text) documentation they had at the viewer, without any real insight provided as commentary by anybody at all. And I'm not usually a fan of "talking heads" (though I love the band.) But it was too short to establish anything like a point of view on what happened, other than, obviously, it was unconscionably horrific. But we knew that.

"Spoiler-ish" (if that's a thing with something like this) rhetorical questions but, was the wife some kind of a controlling shrew behind the closed doors, hidden behind her overly positive social media postings? The film seemed to want to go down that road for a minute, than turned away quickly - probably appropriately; because obviously nothing justifies what he did, not in a billion years. But we never got any idea of how he could do such a thing. What was going on with the guy's relationship with his own parents, were they enablers of a kind, how did he really feel about his wife basically banning them from his life? The texting with her friend seemed so shallow and cliche almost, "he's not having sex with me all of a sudden - is he having an affair?" His whole physical transformation, losing dozens of pounds and getting in good shape, how quickly could that really have happened? The timeline was a little unclear, the narrative unfocused. There was a weird old video shown from what seemed many years before (possibly before he met his wife) where the guy is making some kind of corporate presentation on why people leave their wives. It seemed relevant, but there was no real context, and then it was just dropped and moved on.

Regardless, I think when we see something like this, on some level we are wanting to understand, "how could someone do such something so horrific and evil, and so selfishly?" And the film provided really nothing. If he's a sociopath who is going through life only pretending to have feelings and pretending to care for people, let's have that discussion on screen. If he's just some kind of total idiot, let's talk about that. The film failed to really explore the deeper questions, it just came off cliche - he wanted out of the marriage. But plenty of people want out of their marriage at times. Very few people could do what he did, I hope. And how could anyone in their right mind think that their family is just going to mysteriously "disappear" and then they'll be able to move on to some other life? The questions remain. We want to make sense of these things. The film didn't help that.

 

Excellent summary. They sure could use you on The A/V Club site! Thanks for the response.

 

Solid commentary.
I agree with much of what you said too.
The film was scattershot and somewhat unfocused. It would start to zoom in on a matter and quickly dart off to another.

Never understood why he agreed to take a polygraph test. There's an old saying about them : " If you're guilty don't take it. Of you're innocent think twice about it. "

 

Or he really should of had a lawyer present while taking the polygraph

 

Lawyer wouldn't have helped . Best to not take the test.
Doesn't seem the police had much evidence.

 

As Frank Black said in Millennium, "He doesn't want anything. He's insane."

If you want context and detail, look up the crimes. This doc was meant to make a point. We're trapped in a voyeuristic society full of people like Shannan who are exhibitionists. The fact that the entire doc was nothing other than publically available footage and postings makes a chilling point.

I thought it was exceptionally well done.

 

It was too morbid of a subject.