Director Jenny Popplewell finished and released a tragic documentary to Netflix on September 30, 2020. The film is a storyline of the new american crime documentary, “American Murder: The Family Next Door.” The film tells the story of the devastating events that took place in the Watts family home.

“American Murder: The Family Next Door” focuses on the 2018 disappearance of Shanann Watts, who at the time was pregnant, 4-year-old Bella Watts and 3-year-old Celeste. The true-crime documentary unfolds through home videos, social media posts, police body-cam recordings, news reports and private text messages. Though the disappearances and murder of Shanann and her children played out in the news, Popplewell takes you behind the scences, exploring the incident, from husband Chris Watt’s suspicious behavior to his extramarital affair and familiar ructions. Throughout the film, many of the events that take place throughout Shanann and Chris’ marriage unveil that mystery.

Shanann regularly posted videos about her family on social media where in multiple videos, it shows her spending time with her children and husband. Along the way, the videos start to get more intense. During some videos, the devastation in the voice of Shanann as she speaks to Chris builds. As the months continue during the filming, things about Chris unfold for viewers.

Shanann was due to fly home on August 12, but her flight was delayed. As a result, she didn’t arrive home until August 14 at around 1:48 a.m. Nickole Atkinson, a friend of Shanann who accompanied her during her recent trip, was the first to raise the alarm when she couldn’t get ahold of her friend later that day as well and was worried when Shanann didn’t show up to her doctor’s appointment. When police arrived, Chris subsequently arrived home and let the officer search the property. Shanann’s purse, phone and medication were all in the house, but there was no sign of her or the couple’s children. Chris told the police that Shanann had planned to take the girls to visit a friend but had no further details about his wife’s whereabouts. In a series of television interviews, Chris insisted that Shanann had left the house on her own accord and pleaded for them to return home. As seen in the film and detailed in the Frederick Police Department’s discovery report, Chris underwent a polygraph test on August 15, which he failed. Later that day, Chris was arrested. As the documentary continues, viewers find out more information on why they are missing, who is involved, the events taking place before the disappearance and much more.

This film is definitely one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever heard about. I never even knew about the events that happened during the lives of the Watt’s family until I watched the documentary. It explains every detail that unveils till the very end of their story which is what viewers enjoy. 

My favorite parts of the film is that they show events that took place way before the disappearance of Shanann, Bella and Cece. It is extremely detailed which is a big reason I find the story so interesting to know about. Some documentaries leave out certain details that would make viewers want to continue watching. One thing that I disliked about the documentary was mostly how stressed it made me. I am the type of person that gets annoyed at movies when I find a certain character annoying. Although this is a real life story filmed by the actual people who were a part of the events, Chris frustrated me a lot because  I felt like something was suspicious about him and I was eager to know what happened. 

SPOILER ALERT: November 19, 2018, Chris was sentenced to “five life sentences with no possibility of parole” As noted by the outlet, Judge Marcelo Kopcow told Chris, “I could objectively say this is perhaps the most inhumane and vicious crime that I have handled out of the thousands of cases I have seen.”

In the end, the lives of Shanann, Bella, and Celeste were extremely missed and still missed till this day. I highly recommend this documentary, whether you like this type of film or not. It’s an interesting as well as shocking story to hear about.