5 Best True-Crime Movies of 2025 Based on Real-Life Cases

In 2025, several movies based on true crimes emerged, drawing from real events to explore themes of deception, abuse, and unsolved mysteries. These films use interviews, footage, and records to present the facts surrounding the cases, highlighting how crimes affect individuals and society. For example, The Perfect Neighbor details a fatal neighborhood dispute in Florida, available on Netflix.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish covers a harassment case involving anonymous texts to teenagers, also on Netflix. Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke examines a family influencer’s child abuse charges, streaming on Hulu. Amy Bradley is Missing investigates a woman’s disappearance from a cruise ship, found on Netflix.

Lastly, The Fall of Diddy looks at allegations against a music mogul, accessible on HBO Max. These movies provide accounts of the events, investigations, and outcomes, based on public records and participant statements, offering viewers a look into real criminal cases without dramatization.

Top 5 picks for movies based on true crimes released in 2025

1) The Perfect Neighbor

In this documentary, the incident involving the death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a 36-year-old African American mother from Florida, is presented through 911 calls, body cam video, and videos from the neighborhood. In 2023, Owens, who is an African American mother, was fatally shot by the white neighbor, Susan Lorincz, with whom she previously had disagreements regarding children playing outside.

Lorincz pleaded the stand-your-ground rule from Florida, but later received 25 years’ imprisonment for the conviction of first-degree manslaughter. It is a documentary that does not have any additional narration over the sequence of events, with police responses and community reactions. It contains information from the trial and identifies racial tensions and flaws in the protection of laws during such disputes.

By Geeta Gandbhir, it is a feature-length film; the tragedy and its resolution are depicted using only official records. One can view it on Netflix, where it was released in October 2025.

2) Unknown Number: The High School Catfish

It portrays a 20-month harassment of high schoolers Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny through anonymous text messages. These messages included personal attacks and threatening messages to the point that the victims suspected an individual with a jealous motive. Investigations led to an unlikely harasser with strong ties to the victims.

Directed by none other than Skye Borgman, this documentary also has interviews with some of the people involved to demonstrate how this harassment took place and how it affected them. It is different from many docu-websites that only concentrate on murders since it is more oriented towards psychological trauma and solving it with the authorities. This movie was released in August 2025 on Netflix.

3) Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke

This documentary explores Franke’s life through her YouTube influencer status and her channel “8 Passengers,” where she displays her family life. One of her malnourished children pleaded for assistance from a neighbor in 2023, and Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. Both pleaded guilty, and Franke served time.

The documentary features interviews with her former husband, Kevin, and children, Shari and Chad, about her transition from online parenting guidance to abuse. It also looks at allegations of “spiritual warfare” and how social media stardom has impacted family life. The film is directed by Olly Lambert and showcases how appearance and reality are complete opposites. The feature will be available to stream on Hulu in February of 2025.

4) Amy Bradley is Missing

The movie investigates the 1998 disappearance of 23-year-old Amy Bradley from a cruise ship during a family vacation in the Caribbean. Theories include falling overboard, involvement with someone from the ship’s disco, or being trafficked to Curaçao. The film presents evidence and conflicting accounts, noting the challenges of international waters and limited jurisdiction.

It involves family interviews, describing their search over the years, and the fact that the mystery remains unsolved after so many decades. This documentary movie is directed by Phil Lott and Ari Mark. It uses historical footage to describe the events in the mystery, but does not end with a conclusion regarding the single cause of the disappearance. It was released on Netflix in July 2025.

5) The Fall of Diddy

This documentary chronicles Sean Combs’ life from his beginnings at Uptown Records to establishing Bad Boy Records and further developments in fashion and other fields. This documentary also chronicles charges of s*xual abuse that began in 2023 and include details of parties and gatherings that concerned employees and other individuals. This documentary features interviews with alleged Wade Robson and James Safechuck victims, media representatives, and individuals within his professional circles.

Made in conjunction with Rolling Stone Films, this offering chronicles the sequence of legal proceedings without further comment. This film is relevant as it considers the effect of these claims on Combs’ empire and the entertainment community at large. This documentary premiered in January 2025 on HBO Max.

Stay tuned for more content on true crime.

Also Read: Where Was We Bury the Dead Filmed? Complete Guide to All Filming Locations

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Hilfa Khan

Hilfa, Senior Writer at Hilvaro, excels in pop culture journalism. She crafts engaging content on movies, TV, & trends, fueled by her love for storytelling & entertainment.