No streaming service worth its weight in dishy talking heads and overwrought reenactments shows any shortage in true crime content. Netflix is the leader, with the most sensational (read: trashiest) stuff, followed by Prime Video and the focus of today’s spotlight, Hulu, which offers enough journalism to potentially rival the credible documentary efforts of HBO Max. 

Not that Hulu’s offerings aren’t juicy, mind you — we’ve got hypocritical preachers, egotistical thieves, and not-at-all-camera-shy hucksters among some more serious, heavy-hitting subject matter here. Which is to say, no streamer is wholly devoted to hard-hitting journalism, and viewers are, as ever, apparently just fine with tabloid fodder.

Not that we’re judging anyone, mind you. Even trashy stuff can make for a fascinating documentary! The 10 most compelling true-crime documentary films on Hulu below offer a broad mix of tones and topics, from harrowing allegations of rampant sexual assault to catfishing Canadian indie pop band Tegan and Sara to torturing a poor Japanese everyman for a nation’s entertainment…

• Bizarre ancient lore and pragmatic modern sensibilities butt heads in this fascinating deep dive into homicides committed in an Inuit community in Alaska. In 2012, Teddy Kyle Smith shot and killed two hunters, claiming he was possessed by Inukuns, fabled little people with supernatural abilities who dwell in the woods. The doc follows James Dommek Jr., a writer, musician and filmmaker who lives in and therefore understands the community, and uses his knowledge of local legends and connections with his fellow Inuits to address the mysteries of this strange, upsetting case — and he hopes his investigation leads to a sitdown with the incarcerated Smith. Don’t expect your typical true crime narrative here. Or any easy answers, either.

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• No roundup of true crime docs is complete with a preposterously maddening story of late-capitalist corporate fuckery accompanied by 11-digit dollar amounts. In this case, the perp is Adam Neumann, a Jobs/Musk wannabe quasi-cult-leader who created WeWork, a “subscription-based communal workspace,” which is a convoluted and annoying way of saying he rented desks to the self-employed. Not a terrible idea, really. But he did took the 21st-century route to building the business, using shell-game strategies and hot air to land at a business valuation in the tens of billions. Of course, it collapsed. And Neumann escaped with little repercussion — and an enormous fortune. Do not watch this if you’re prone to putting your fist through the drywall in fits of rage.

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• Leave No Trace

  In 2020, the Boy Scouts of America doled out a $2.7 billion settlement after 82,000 former Scouts claimed they were sexually abused during the organization’s watch. Eighty-two thousand. This doc explores the BSA’s putrid hypocrisy, an org with a stereotypically wholesome, squeaky-clean reputation that cloaked — and covered up — a litany of appalling crimes. A horrific watch for sure, but it’s necessary journalism.

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• The image of spoiled rich people forced to eat dry cheese sandwiches after they were promised luxury accommodations at a music fest in tropical environs was so enticing, Hulu and Netflix (see also: Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened) trotted out competing documentaries hoping to capitalize on the schadenfreude of us average folk. We were hooked, of course — and it started a trend where multiple streamers hopped on hot viral stories to churn out multiple docs on the same topic. Fyre organizer Billy McFarlane sat down for an interview full of fibs and quarter-truths before he went to prison, and we all got to Nelson Muntz in the general direction of a royal jerk who got a much-deserved comeuppance.

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• “Fegan” is shorthand for “Fake Tegan,” the person who, having stolen private information and hacked social media accounts, pretended to be rock star Tegan Quin online online. This saga about privacy invasion in the internet age chronicles how twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara were among the first to successfully use digital spaces like MySpace as a promotional tool, then became victims of those very spaces after Tegan’s identity was stolen. An ugly, ugly story, and a reminder that celebrities’ humanity is just as fragile as anyone’s.

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• Irresistible title here, eh? Now imagine you’re 23-and-Meing yourself and learn that you’re related to the most infamous psychopathic cult leader in American history. That’s essentially what happened to Sophia Maddox when her father dropped a hard truth on her — so she turned her personal DNA-derived exploration of the old nature-vs.-nurture debate into this compelling documentary.

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• This doc tells the strange and sad story of Richard “Beebo” Russell, who in 2018 stole an airplane despite not being a pilot — and never intended to safely land it. Director Patricia E. Gillespie pieces together real-time audio from radio communications between Russell and authorities, chronicling one man’s deeply upsetting mental health breakdown, helping audiences try to make sense of the seemingly inexplicable.

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• This isn’t “crime” in the strictest sense, but it does put us in a moral quandary: Should we laugh at the downfall of a high-profile holier-than-thou-er who uses fundamentalist religion to judge and condemn others? Actually, that’s not much of a quandary at all — yes, yes, we absolutely should laugh at Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of “Moral Majority” preacher Jerry Falwell, who pioneered politicizing religion in America, to the betterment of nothing, and whose ministry was laced with one-man-and-one-woman-forever rigidness and other icky moral assertions. And so it’s revealed, much to our delight, that Falwell Jr. really enjoyed being cucked by a hot young poolboy. And THIS is that poolboy’s hilarious story.

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• Not only did Gerald Blanchard snatch the crown jewel of Austria, but he also turned down an Oprah interview request. Quite the life this guy lived, eh? This doc chronicles his journey from shoplifter — out of necessity; he grew up poor and needed milk — to criminal mastermind who committed a variety of thefts and evaded capture for a while, but eventually ended up in prison. Oh, and became the primary interviewee of a documentary about his exploits, which make for pretty fascinating TV. Turns out good old-fashioned high-stakes burglary is just as juicy as catfishing sagas and tales of schadenfreude.

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• Again, no letter-of-the-law crimes in this one, but maybe there should be? The Contestant documents the suffering incurred by Tomoaki Hamatsu, a Japanese man who participated in conceptually convoluted reality TV show Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes. Contestants exist in a tiny space, totally naked and with no food, forced to survive wholly by mail-in magazine contests. Producers exploited Hamatsu, manipulating the rules and essentially exploiting and torturing him for months, as audiences laughed at his apparent mental breakdown. Here’s the kicker: Hamatsu could’ve quit whenever he wanted. But it seems the psychological cage created by the challenge may be stronger than any prison.

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John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.