Do Heinous Crimes Sell? Netflix’s No. 1 Rankings Turn Into a Showcase for Criminals

Two Netflix No. 1 titles as of Oct. 1 center on figures still infamous for shocking crimes, according to FlixPatrol. By Netflix's official rankings, 〈Unabomber: Secret Experiments〉 topped the charts in 47 countries, and 〈Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story〉 has held the No. 1 spot for two weeks.

The film 〈Unabomber: Secret Experiments〉 tells the story of Theodore Kaczynski, the 'Unabomber'—a once-promising mathematician who later carried out 16 bomb attacks. The drama 〈Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story〉 focuses on the 1892 case in which maid Lizzie Borden of an aristocratic family was charged with murder. We examine the stories of these two figures that now top Netflix's charts.

〈Unabomber: Secret Experiments〉 centers on Theodore Kaczynski. The film opens with one of his bomb attacks before shifting to Agent Joan Miller (Shailene Woodley). In 1995, after a string of bombings, the Unabomber released a lengthy manifesto. When that manifesto ran on the front page of newspapers, the FBI intensified its hunt for him. But Agent Miller proposes restarting the investigation from square one. The narrative then flashes back to 1958, where Ted Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay), attending Henry Murray's (Russell Crowe) class at Harvard University, becomes a subject in an experiment at Murray's suggestion.

Rather than a straightforward chronicle of the criminal, 〈Unabomber: Secret Experiments〉 alternates between Kaczynski before he became the Unabomber and Joan Miller's pursuit, highlighting a hypothesis that Kaczynski suffered a mental breakdown under the influence of MK-Ultra. MK-Ultra is a psychological experiment the U.S. government has officially acknowledged and apologized for; it investigated methods of brainwashing. Kaczynski himself admitted he participated in MK-Ultra tests but insisted he was not affected. Still, as an early-admitted college student who was still a teenager, he may not have realized how the experiment changed him.

By pairing a mystery-driven thriller with a drama of psychological change, the film reconstructs Theodore Kaczynski's story. Some viewers may feel uneasy that the movie advances a hypothesis the criminal himself denied, but the film underscores how MK-Ultra seeded deep mistrust across American society. By following both the FBI and Kaczynski, the film aims for more than a straightforward crime drama, at times recalling 〈The Silence of the Lambs〉.

〈Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story〉 is one of Netflix's recent original entries in the 'Monster' anthology. It follows 2022's 〈Dahmer〉, 2024's 〈Monster: The Menendez Brothers Story〉, and 2025's 〈Monster: The Ed Gein Story〉, and is a new 2026 release. Unlike prior installments whose subjects' crimes were clearly established, this drama centers on Lizzie Borden, who in 1892 was charged with murder and was later acquitted; the drama, however, assumes she was the real killer.

Lizzie Borden (Ella Bitti) lives under the same roof as her father, Andrew (Charlie Hunnam), and her stepmother, Abby (Rebecca Hall). Their wealth makes the family look harmonious, but Andrew is distant and Abby enforces a harsh, sometimes physically abusive, form of discipline. Into this repressive household comes a newly hired maid, Bridget (Vicky Krieps). Bridget warns Lizzie that the environment is not in her best interest, and the two develop an uneasy bond.

Until now, the 'Monster' series has focused on modern killers; with the Lizzie Borden case it enters the modern era for the first time. Set in the 1890s, before forensic science was firmly established, and because the case ended unsolved, the series embraces bolder dramatization than earlier entries. It contains echoes of the 2019 film 〈Lizzie〉, and in that respect 〈Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story〉 goes a step further by explicitly adding the view that the era oppressed women.

As in earlier installments, the 'Monster' series uses a similar method here: it spotlights characters who become criminals under the pressures and dangers of their era or surroundings—portraying Lizzie Borden as driven to murder by family neglect and oppression. The series has been criticized for excessive dramatization, yet it remains No. 1 for a second week, underscoring Netflix's effort to develop it as a new source of programming.