The 10 Most Terrifying Documentaries Of All Time

Daniel Lutz was just a kid when he and his family were tortured by paranormal entities at their house in Amityville, New York. The supernatural events that occurred shocked and intrigued the world, spawning the famous franchise The Amityville Horror. Lutz opens up about what happened in the month his family lived in that house. If you’re a non-believer in ghosts and demons, it’s doubtful you will be after watching this. [Where to stream My Amityville Horror]

The Boogeyman, The Killer Clown, and The Hook Man: all urban legends we’ve seen time and again in horror films. They don’t exist, right? This documentary unlocks the creepy truth about which are fiction and which could very well be fact. [Where to stream Killer Legends]

Stanley Kubrick was an auteur as secretive as they come. While he didn’t seclude himself Salinger-style, his work, which have been exhaustively dissected, still hold more secrets than the Kennedys. Room 237 breaks down every possible theory behind the true meaning of his horror masterpiece, The Shining. Just when you thought that movie couldn’t mess with your head any more, you’ll be up all night all over again. [Where to stream Room 237]

Andre Rand of Staten Island took pleasure in torturing kids after he escaped from the local asylum. You won’t believe what you’re seeing on the screen in front of you, but unfortunately everything about this terrifying account is true. [Where to stream Cropsey]

Decades after the brutal serial killer took the nation by storm, director Chris James Thompson uncovers who Jeffrey Dahmer really was through archival footage and interviews with those who knew him leading up to and after his 1991 arrest. [Where to stream The Jeffrey Dahmer Files]

Though this documentary wouldn’t necessarily be categorized as “scary,” it’s downright terrifying how close Oscar-nominated filmmakers Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn got to the danger. Retired Indonesian death-squad leaders open up about genocide and their favorite ways to kill people based on what they’ve seen in American cinema: musical numbers being among their favorite to reenact — with a brutal twist. [Where to stream The Act of Killing]

Three troubled teenage boys were accused and tried for triple homicide back in the early 1990s. Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky dug deeper into the seemingly transparent evidence found by police and helped get the teens off death row. [Where to stream Paradise Lost]

The Friedmans seemed like an good-natured, unassuming, all-American family until father and son Arnold and Jesse were accused on several counts of child pornography and molestation. Director Andrew Jarecki delves back into the 1987 case against the family, who many claim were innocent, to figure out if justice was rightfully served.  [Where to stream Capturing the Friedmans]

If you thought American Horror Story: Asylum was scary, you might want to skip this one, as it’s the real deal. Groundbreaking filmmaker Frederick Wiseman uncovers the torture chamber that was Bridgewater State Hospital, a Massachusetts institution for the criminally insane. The citizens of the quaint New England town had no idea that just up the road the terrifying myths of human experimentation were all too real. [Where to stream Titicut Follies]

How well do you know the ones you love? This mind-blowing account explores the truth behind a Texas teen who miraculously returns home, unharmed, after being kidnapped three years prior. It all seems to good to be true, especially when investigators start noticing stories aren’t adding up and that the victim might not be who he claims to be. [Where to stream The Imposter]

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