The top true crime documentaries currently on Tubi are mostly case files and emotional gut punches. Others are about the justice system breaking in plain sight.
Below are the top rated documentaries on the platform listed according to their IMDb score:
1. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
IMDb score: 8.5/10
This starts as a tribute from one friend to another after Dr. Andrew Bagby is murdered. Then it turns into something much bigger and much more painful. Tubi lists it as a documentary about Bagby’s murder, and IMDb describes it as a filmmaker trying to memorialize his murdered friend after learning that his friend’s ex-girlfriend is expecting his son.
You should go in with as little detail as possible. That is part of what makes it hit so hard. It is not slick or showy. It feels personal, raw, and furious, and that gives it a weight that many true crime films never reach.
2. The Thin Blue Line
IMDb score: 7.9/10
The Thin Blue Line is mostly about the cracks in the U.S. justice system. It focuses on the manufactured evidence that sent an innocent man to prison.
What makes it special is the way it builds doubt piece by piece. You will not sit back and absorb a sad case. Here, you get to watch through testimony, motive, memory, and police work in a harder way. It still feels modern, and it still feels angry. If you like true crime that questions power instead of just retelling violence, this belongs near the top of your list.
3. Murder on a Sunday Morning
IMDb score: 7.9/10
This film follows the defense team for a 15-year-old Black teenager. The boy is wrongfully accused of murder in Florida. Critics frame it around the Brenton Butler case and the legal fight around that accusation.
You do not get cheap twists here. What you get is pressure, fear, and weak evidence. You also get a close look at how easily a young person can be pulled into the system.
4. West of Memphis
IMDb score: 7.8/10
The streaming service calls this a new investigation into the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis. The film blows open the case and its controversial verdict.
This is a heavier watch than many shorter documentaries, but the extra time pays off. You get more case detail, more frustration, and a clearer sense of how long a bad conviction can last. If you already know the West Memphis Three story, this is essential. If you do not, it still works because it lays out the failures in a way that feels sharp and urgent.
5. Brother’s Keeper
IMDb score: 7.5/10
This creation is about the true murder trial of Delbert Ward. The case took place in upstate New York. Critics love it and that’s why it won the Audience Award at Sundance.
It sounds simple at first, but the film never treats it that way. The documentary does not rush to label anyone a monster. Instead, it lets you sit with family bonds, isolation, class, and the way outsiders judge a rural life they do not understand.
6. The Imposter
IMDb score: 7.4/10
This is the story of a young Frenchman who convinces a grieving Texas family that he is their missing child. That setup alone is wild. But the film is much more than a strange headline.
You get a case that keeps shifting under your feet. The documentary uses interviews and reenactments, but it never loses control of the story. It pulls you forward because each answer creates a new question.
7. The Lie: The Murder of Grace Millane
IMDb score: 7.3/10
A raw and confronting look at the Grace Millane missing person case and murder trial in New Zealand. It is an original true-crime documentary about Millane’s murder after a Tinder date in 2018. The docudrama ties the case to wider violence against women.
This film is shorter than some of the others on this list. But it wastes nothing. It stays focused and direct. You feel the cruelty of the case, but you also see how the film pushes past the crime itself and looks at the culture around it.
8. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
IMDb score: 7.1/10
This documentary traces the life of Aileen Wuornos to its brutal conclusion. However, this still undersells how uneasy this documentary feels. It is not built like a neat crime recap. It is closer to a final, disturbing portrait of a person falling apart in public and in private.
You should not expect comfort here. The film leaves you with hard questions about mental health, media attention, punishment, and exploitation.
9. Jonestown: Paradise Lost
IMDb score: 7.1/10
Features interviews and dramatic reenactments. These document the final days of Jim Jones before 918 people died.
As mentioned, the docudrama focuses on more than a single murder case. But it still belongs in true crime because it studies manipulation, control, and mass death with a clear historical frame.
You will probably reach for this when you want a cult documentary with structure and momentum. It is not as emotionally crushing as Dear Zachary or as sharp as The Thin Blue Line, but it is gripping and easy to follow.
10. Cr*zy Love
IMDb score: 7.0/10
This is the true story of a couple who dated in the 1950s. They broke up, and later reconnected after a violent crime changed everything.
The narration is less procedural than the other titles here. You are not following detectives or a courtroom for most of the runtime. You will be watching obsession, revenge, and damage unfold across years.