Movies like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster (2019)
The best movies like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster (2019) are The Crash (2026), Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019) and A Toxic Love Story (2026). If John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Crash (2026)6.8/10 from 200 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
The Crash (2026)
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTed Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019)
New exclusive access and never before heard testimony gives a unique insight into the mind of America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Breathtaking archive from the time and the voice of Bundy himself, reveals the monster inside the man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Menendez Brothers (2024)
Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTales of the Grim Sleeper (2014)
When Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested in South Central Los Angeles in 2010 as the suspected murderer of a string of young black women, police hailed it as the culmination of 20 years of investigations. Four years later documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield took his camera to the alleged killer’s neighborhood for another view.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Shot (2017)
When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around unexpected raw footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press (2017)
The courtroom and publicity battles between the superstar wrestler and the notorious website explode in a sensational trial all about the limits of the First Amendment and the new no holds barred nature of celebrity life in an internet dominated society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mystery of D.B. Cooper (2020)
This documentary brings to life the stories of four people believed by their family and friends to be “DB Cooper,” a man who hijacked a 727 flying out of Seattle and jumped from the plane over the wilds of Washington State with a parachute and $200,000, never to be heard from again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAileen: Queen of the Serial Killers (2025)
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMemories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021)
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014)
A documentary that captures the sensational trial of infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the legal proceedings as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger examines Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStolen: Heist of the Century (2025)
Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Father, the BTK Killer (2025)
Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023)
From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhy Did You Kill Me? (2021)
The line between justice and revenge blurs when a devastated family uses social media to track down the people who killed 24-year-old Crystal Theobald.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Case of the Wrong Man (2017)
The documentary tells the story of Júlio César, a young Afro-Brazilian who was executed by the Police in the 1980s in Porto Alegre. The crime became notorious when the press published photos of Julius being put alive in the police car and arriving 37 minutes later shot and dead at the hospital.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Leif GW: Fallet Tove (2023)
One October night in 2022, 21-year-old Tove disappears after an evening at the pub. She never comes home. Six months after she was found dead, two young women are sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. The case will shake Sweden and leave indelible wounds in Vetlanda. What actually happened? Leif GW Persson goes to the Småland small town to search for answers and follow the women in their tracks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Murder Trial: The Killing of Dr Brenda Page (2024)
A look at one of Scotland’s most high-profile murder trials, the brutal killing of Dr Brenda Page. It was part of the Scottish criminal justice system’s 45-year quest for answers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae (2023)
On the 12th November 1976, Renee MacRae, a glamorous 36-year old mother of two and wife of a wealthy building firm owner, vanished after leaving her home in Inverness. Later that night, Renee’s burnt out BMW was found in a lay-by on the roadside of the A9. Neither she nor her three-year-old son Andrew have ever been seen again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Encounter with a Killer (TBA)
In 1980, the capture of the infamous serial killer Pedro Alonso López, also known as the Monster or the Strangler of the Andes, seemed to end his nearly decade-long reign of terror. However, Ecuadorian laws benefited the murderer by giving him a shorter sentence and even the option of leaving in less time. When the Monster's release draws near, a group of family members struggle to find ways to keep him in jail, while he, from the inside, searches through a series of letters to clear his name and unmask the real killer: Jorge Patiño. The problem is that Jorge Patiño exists only in his mind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Russell Murders (TBA)
On 9 July 1996, three bodies were found in a little leafy copse beside a country lane in Chillenden, Kent. Dr Lin Russell, 45, and her two daughters, Megan, six and Josie, nine, had all suffered brutal head injuries caused by a blunt instrument. They had been tied up and their family dog, Lucy, was also found dead nearby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2020)
When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence (2007)
Documentarian Jeffrey Morgan set out to the track one woman's search for the truth about her great-great-aunt's 1908 murder. But his film quickly became a fascinating study of racism, revenge and family secrets. In the process of uncovering information about her ancestor's violent death at the hands of an African-American suspect, the woman learns that her family tree might have also produced a few murderers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Murder in a Teacup (2024)
When members of a workforce began falling violently ill, locals believed a virus was sweeping the area, but after the death of two men it became clear that the only impurity was a serial poisoner with a toxic past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
No One Is Safe From Son of Sam (2017)
Experience the fear and paranoia of New York City during the Summer of 1977. This short documentary explores the legacy of the Son of Sam case using original footage not seen since it aired and interviews with PIX11 journalists.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster?
The closest matches to John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster are The Crash (2026), Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019) and A Toxic Love Story (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster?
Start with The Crash (2026), the closest match to John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster.
What is the highest-rated movie like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster?
The Crash (2026), rated 6.8/10 by 200 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster?
Yes: The Crash (2026), Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019) and A Toxic Love Story (2026).
How are movies similar to John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.