From the horror printed in old newspapers to grave-digging trips on true-crime feeds, there is something unique that lingers about Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story long after the credits. It is not the gore, or even the myth, but the way isolation and mental illness contort reality, making way for one's inner darkness to spread outward. Such slow, horrific unwinding mastered by these seven documentaries ventures into similarly blood-curdling territory, where evil is not easy to spot.

To curb the true crime cravings after Monster: The Ed Gein Story, add these seven documentaries to watchlist where the truth is ugly, and the past never really remains buried. 

Trigger Warning: Has mentions of themes that can be disturbing for some. User discretion is advised.

Netflix's American Murder: Laci Peterson revisits one of the most highly publicized true crime stories in recent US history. In 2002, eight months pregnant, Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve following disturbing revelations about her husband, Scott shook the world. In three episodes, this docuseries sheds light on the media frenzy and courtroom drama that ensued.

Laci Peterson's corpse surfaced months after her disappearance and, just one day after the remains of her unborn child, Conner, were discovered. The Netflix series does not just rehash the headlines but delves deeper into the case, featuring interviews with her mother, Sharon Rocha, and Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey. 

Unlike some true crime documentaries, Hulu's The Girl From Plainville is a dramatized miniseries on the actual case of Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy, played by Elle Fanning and Colton Ryan, respectively.

The story explores Carter's relationship with her boyfriend, Roy, his suicide, and her conviction for involuntary manslaughter. Drama, lawsuits, and ethical dilemmas collide in the series, which addresses mental illness and vulnerability, comprising eight episodes.

Sometimes, truth is darker and more complex than fiction. American Nightmare is a Netflix 3-part documentary series about a 2015 California home invasion dubbed as the “real-life Gone Girl,” from the love con true crime The Tinder Swindler documentary filmmakers Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins. 

There is assault, kidnapping, and a great tragedy in this Netflix series, but that is just the beginning of the narrative that subverts expectations and blurs the victim-suspect line. Claims of victim blaming pile up, stories change, and audiences are left questioning reality.

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While these true crime documentaries thrill, the list extends further with spine-chilling horror tales that haunt, shock, and keep viewers awake at night.

Athlete A recounts the story of how The Indianapolis Star reporters uncovered Larry Nassar's abuse of young gymnasts and how USA Gymnastics and others covered up Nassar's horrific deeds. This 2020 Netflix documentary film amplifies the voices of survivors and reveals how failures at the systemic level facilitated heinous crimes. The film handles empathy and rage in balance, exploring how power, secrecy, and culture protect abuse.

Social media content creation might be one of the best career-building opportunities in this economy, but it comes with a cost. Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing uncovers the dark undertones of influencer culture among children. It centers around YouTube celebrity Piper Rockelle, The Squad, her momager, Tiffany Smith, and the allegations of emotional, physical, and even sexual abuse, manipulation for views and money.

Streaming on Netflix, this three-part series reveals what goes on behind the cameras, highlighting the intersection of viral fame with exploitation. For those viewers disturbed by Ed Gein's mental collapse in Monster, Bad Influence presents a different type of horror, one based on commerce, childhood, and identity.

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. (2022) is a four-part Netflix documentary series that follows Sarma Melngailis, owner of the well-known vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine, who becomes a victim of a conman called Anthony Strangis (a.k.a. Shane Fox). The series details how ambition, riches, and maybe naivety can drive one from the spotlight to shame.

Nearly thirty years since the murder of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey, the brutal mystery still remains unsolved. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey tackles Ramsey's murder in her basement in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996 in the three-episode Netflix docuseries directed by Joe Berlinger. It delves into the case with fresh interviews, media analysis, and examination of initial law enforcement errors.

Though it does not purport to finally close the case, the docuseries remains compelling in its delivery of what was overlooked, what was botched, how public opinion developed suspicion, and how decades' worth of conjecture still orbits without resolution. For enthusiasts of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, where historical obsession and notoriety seep in incrementally, this is also a story allergic to silence and oblivion.

Ed Gein's haunting appeal lies in the loneliness, the perverse fixations, the way depravity blooms in secret until it screams. Having inspired multiple iconic horror films and characters, Gein's real-life story has now captivated true crime viewers with Netflix's third installment of Monster. Its appeal not only lies in the frights and the gore but also in the psychology and terror of emotional tempests and how far it can push people beyond the edge of sanity.

Moreover, Netflix's Monster is enhanced by atmosphere and uncertainty, allowing speculations of where reality ends and fiction starts. Fans of true crime are usually attracted to loopholes in the narrative, unsolved questions, legal gray areas, and the intrigue, combined with slick production. If Monster: The Ed Gein Story has unsettled viewers, these seven documentaries would gladly carry forward the terror with stories of brutality, betrayal, scandal, or mystery, and most importantly, the horror of humanity.

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Pick your poison: Which one among the seven true crime documentaries will you binge? Let  us know in the comments below.