The typical reaction to many of Netflix‘s best documentaries and series that I’ve watched (and I watch a lot of them) is, “wait, what?!” That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but if you’re in the mood for something shocking, illuminating, or just a train-wreck you can’t turn away from, shake a stick, and you’ll hit something with Netflix’s selection of docs.
For the weekend of January 9 to 11—you can still watch them next week, too, though—I’ve mined a deep dive into a shocking Utah child abuse scandal, a legacy-defining look at one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, and a sobering historical exploration of Hitler’s propaganda machine.
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Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story
Beware: the new Netflix documentary film Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story is not for the faint of heart, especially for those who have children. From the director behind Netflix’s popular Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and My Father the BTK Killer, Evil Influencer tells the story of Jodi Hildebrandt, a Utah therapist, life-coach, and YouTuber/podcaster who was at the center of a disturbing child-abuse case. Together with Ruby Franke, founder of the once-controversial 8 Passengers family YouTube channel where her and her husband preached strict parenting practices, the pair partnered to create Moms of Truth, an Instagram account offering their brand of “truth-based” discipline and parenting advice—that sadly went too far.
The opening moments of the documentary are tough to watch. It begins with home security camera footage of Franke’s 12-year-old son, who had just escaped from Hildebrandt’s Ivins, Utah home where him and his sister were being held captive. His hands and feet had been bound with duct tape, he was malnourished and injured. It doesn’t take long before police swoop in and start unraveling Hildebrandt’s growing influence over the community, and her involvement with Franke’s other kids—all culminating in the arrest and conviction of both women.
Through archival video, police materials, and interviews with a range of people involved—including former members of Hildebrandt’s classes and online communities—Evil Influencer is a chilling true-crime account of the investigation. Critics have been split on the doc, but much like other Netflix cautionary tales, like the scripted story of Instagram con artist Belle Gibson, Apple Cider Vinegar, at the very least, Evil Influencer acts as a broader warning of how ambiguous credentials, faith, and social media reach can be used for nefarious purposes.
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Elway
I played high school football during the final few years of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway’s storied career. He was certainly a much-discussed figure in the locker room, but after watching Ken Rodgers and Chris Weaver’s Netflix original doc, ElwayI quickly realized how little I knew about the NFL legend.
The 2025 feature documentary film is a crash course in Elway, much of it told in narration and in interviews with the man himself. It traces the 16-year career of the Hall of Famer, from his early days as a Stanford superstar, who could have easily chosen a career in pro baseball, to his rollercoaster career as the face of the Broncos, where he struggled through crushing defeats, even more crushing expectations (on the field and at home), and his eventual Super Bowl redemption.
Elway is stitched together with some stunning archival footage and interviews, where Elway’s family, friends, teammates, and other NFL notables (including Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, Gary Kubiak, and Mike Shanahan) share insights and reflect on his life. What makes Elway a good watch is that it’s less a tribute-style ego stroke, but more about ambition, pressure, and the psychology of endurance under a level of stress most of us cannot understand.
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Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial
“Evil men can convince ordinary men to do evil things.” This is one of several insights delivered by the many scholars and experts that help make this popular six-part Netflix historical docuseries so chilling and sobering. Directed by Metallica: Some Kind of Monster producer Joe Berlinger, Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial is a history buff’s dream that recounts the rise and collapse of the Third Reich, picking it apart in episodic detail.
Evil on Trial doesn’t assume you already know the story—in fact, it highlights the fact that, “The world we live in now seems to have forgotten many of the lessons of what happened in Nazi Germany,” says Holocaust historian Omer Bartov, one of many on-camera experts in the series. Let this act as a stark reminder. Mixing loads of archival footage and dramatic recreations, Evil on Trial drills deep, chronologically, on everything from Hitler’s childhood and his political rise, to his use of propaganda, censorship, and antisemitism to manipulate public perception, incite violence, and eventually rationalize genocide. The series ends with the Nazi regime’s eventual reckoning at the Nuremburg trials.
Evil on Trial has been well received, and holds a 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s well produced, the footage does a great job at drawing you into the era, and the reenactments, while perhaps a bit overdone, are valuable for driving the story forward.
This weekend’s trio of Netflix documentaries offers more than just a recap of the headlines—whether your cuppa tea is true-crime psychological fare, portraits of sports superstars, or historical accounts with a modern relevancy. I hope you find something here to bake your noodle in the coming days and weeks.