Best documentary, horror, & crime shows streaming, ranked.
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- #2100

Planet Earth
2006– · Series · 1 seasonDocumentary · Family
4 EmmysBest Documentary SeriesA documentary series on the wildlife found on Earth. Each episode covers a different habitat: deserts, mountains, deep oceans, shallow seas, forests, caves, polar regions, fresh water, plains and jungles. Narrated by David Attenbo...
MAX - #799

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
1974–1975 · Series · 1 seasonHorror · Mystery · Thriller
Carl Kolchak is a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. Through more accident than design he ends up investigating homicides, many of which involve supernatural forces. Ultimately, rather than reporting on the crimes, he solves them.
Peacock - #1398
Ocean with David Attenborough
2025 · Movie · 1h 35mDocumentary
Attenborough explores the planet's undersea habitats, revealing the greatest age of ocean discovery and emphasizing the ocean's vital importance while exposing its problems and highlighting opportunities for marine life recovery.
Disney+Hulu - #3496
Man on Wire
2008 · Movie · 1h 34mDocumentary · Biography · Crime
1 OscarA look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".
Prime Video - #5595
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
2020 · Movie · 1h 23mDocumentary · Biography
3 EmmysIn this documentary David Attenborough, the celebrated naturalist, reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime and the devastating changes he has seen. The film provides a snapshot of global nature loss in a single lif...
Netflix - #7094

Capturing the Friedmans
2003 · Movie · 1h 47mDocumentary · Biography · Crime
Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
MAX - #8394
Music by John Williams
2024 · Movie · 1h 45mDocumentary · Biography
1 EmmyHis unforgettable scores are an essential part of some of the most beloved movies of our time, over a career that spans decades. See and hear maestro John Williams' own story, with insights from filmmakers, musicians, and others he has inspired, complete with rare behind-the-scenes looks at the making of movie history.
Disney+ - #8593

Cameraperson
2016 · Movie · 1h 42mDocumentary · Biography · History
Exposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.
MAX - #9793
Paatal Lok
2020– · Series · Hindi · 2 seasonsCrime · Drama · Thriller
A down-and-out cop lands the case of a lifetime when four suspects are nabbed in the assassination attempt of a journalist. The pursuit leads him to 'Paatal Lok' and to shocking discoveries in the four suspects' pasts.
Prime Video - #10293
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
2024 · Movie · 1h 44mDocumentary · Biography
Reeve's rise to becoming a film star follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability ri...
MAX - #10393

Gleason
2016 · Movie · 1h 50mDocumentary · Biography
After he is diagnosed with ALS, former professional football player Steve Gleason begins making a video diary for his unborn son, as he, his wife, and their friends and family work to raise money for ALS patients as his disease pr...
Prime Video - #10593
The Endless Summer
1966 · Movie · 1h 35mDocumentary · Sport
The crown jewel to ten years of Bruce Brown surfing documentaries. Brown follows two young surfers around the world in search of the perfect wave, and ends up finding quite a few in addition to some colorful local characters.
Prime Video - #11193

Hell or High Water
2016 · Movie · 1h 42mCrime · Drama · Thriller
Toby is a divorced father who's trying to make a better life. His brother is an ex-con with a short temper and a loose trigger finger. Together, they plan a series of heists against the bank that's about to foreclose on their fami...
MAX - #12692
20 Feet from Stardom
2013 · Movie · 1h 31mDocumentary · Biography · History
1 OscarBackup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.
Prime Video - #12792
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
2004 · Movie · 2h 2mDocumentary · Biography · History
The story of Z Channel, one of the first U.S. pay cable stations and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974 in LA, their eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television.
Prime Video - #13792
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
1997 · Movie · 1h 20mDocumentary · Biography · Drama
German-American Dieter Dengler discusses his service as a U.S. naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Viet Cong, recreating many events for the camera.
Prime Video - #15092
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
2014 · Movie · 1h 37mDocumentary · Action
A behind the scenes chronicle of how clash of vision, bad creative decisions, lack of interest and really bad weather plagued the disastrous production of the infamous The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996).
Prime Video - #16091
Jim Gaffigan: Obsessed
2014 · Movie · 1hDocumentary · Comedy
Jim Gaffigan bursts back on the scene with this eagerly anticipated fourth comedy special. Dubbed the "King of Clean Comedy" by The Wall Street Journal, Jim's obsession with all things food comes to fruition on "Obsessed" as he ta...
Netflix - #16791
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off
2022 · Movie · 2h 15mDocumentary · Biography · Sport
Follows famous skater Tony Hawk's personal life, career and relationship with skateboarding, including never-before-seen footage and unprecedented access to Hawk, along with interviews with figures from the skateboarding world.
MAX - #17091

Grey Gardens
1976 · Movie · 1h 35mDocumentary · Comedy · Drama
Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Ca...
MAX - #19391
Birds of Passage
2018 · Movie · Spanish · 2h 5mCrime · Drama
During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his indigenous family get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their cul...
Prime Video - #20191
And Then There Were None
1945 · Movie · 1h 37mCrime · Drama · Mystery
Seven guests, a newly hired secretary and two staff are gathered at a manor house on an isolated island by an unknown absentee host and are killed off one-by-one. They work together to determine who the killer is before it's too l...
Prime Video - #20391
Escape from Kabul
2021 · Movie · 1h 13mDocumentary · History
Features never-before-seen archival footage of the historic confrontation at Kabul airport, from the U.S. withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan through the subsequent evacuation of Afghan citizens after the Taliban seized the ...
MAX - #20491

Long Way Round
2004–2010 · Series · 1 seasonDocumentary · Action
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman embark on a grueling quest to motorbike from London to New York. Going east through Europe, Asia and then to Alaska, they experience different cultures and have to overcome the elements and advers...
Apple TV+ - #21590
Dexter: Resurrection
2025– · Series · 1 seasonCrime · Drama · Thriller
Dexter Morgan awakens from a coma and sets out for New York City, determined to find Harrison and make things right. But when Miami Metro's Angel Batista arrives with questions, Dexter realizes his past is catching up to him fast.
Paramount+ - #21790
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021 · Movie · 1h 47mDocumentary · Family · History
Take a stroll down Sesame Street and witness the birth of the most impactful children's series in TV history. From the iconic furry characters to the songs you know by heart, learn how a gang of visionary creators changed our world.
Prime Video - #23590
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story
2017 · Movie · 1h 48mDocumentary · Biography
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story is the harrowing story of a stuntman overcoming a dehumanizing childhood filled with torment and bullying in Sparks, Nevada. After surviving a near-death burn accident, he worked his way up through Hollywood, leading to his ultimate rise as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th series and making countless moviegoers forever terrified of hockey masks and summer camp. Featuring interviews with cinema legends, including Bruce Campbell (Ash vs. Evil Dead), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark), To Hell and Back peels off the mask of Kane Hodder, cinema's most prolific killer, in a gut-wrenching, but inspiring, documentary. After decades of watching Kane Hodder on screen, get ready to meet the man behind the mask in To Hell and Back - an uniquely human story about one of cinema's most vicious monsters.
Prime Video - #24990
Beastie Boys Story
2020 · Movie · 1h 59mDocumentary · Biography
Here's a little story they're about to tell... Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of the band, Beastie Boys, and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary experience directed by friend and collaborator, Spike Jonze.
Apple TV+ - #25690
City of Joy
2016 · Movie · 1h 14mDocumentary · Crime · Drama
This film follows the first class of students at a remarkable leadership center in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region often referred to as "the worst place in the world to be a woman." These women have been through...
Netflix - #28089

Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey
2017 · Movie · 1h 36mDocumentary · Action · Biography
Fred Beckey is the legendary American "Dirtbag" mountaineer whose name is spoken in hushed tones around campfires. This rebel climber's pioneering ascents and lifestyle form an iconic legacy that continues to inspire generations.
Prime Video - #29689
The Disappearance of Shere Hite
2023 · Movie · 1h 58mDocumentary
Shere Hite's bestselling book The Hite Report liberated female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous surveys. Her findings rocked the American establishment and conversations about gender and s...
Hulu - #29889
After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News
2020 · Movie · 1h 35mDocumentary
A look at the ongoing threat caused by the phenomenon of "fake news" in the U.S., focusing on the real-life consequences that disinformation, conspiracy theories and false news stories have on the average citizen.
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