This should almost be reclassified as a horror which makes it being a documentary even more harrowing.
Similar to a documentary, this starts off from a low level and slowly builds. There is a victim or witness who is usually a family member or close associate who lays all the back ground for what they are about to reveal. Like a good horror the build up is slow and deliberate. They take you into their world and show you how the situation slowly and almost casually started. There is a lot of reflection and this can only be done in hindsight with full knowledge of what was coming. I can imagine the subtle clues and signs were just that and certainly nothing to run to police or run away from. A lot of families have these types of characters and usually they grow out of it and go on to be normal family people. These stories are about the ones that did not.
I think the worst stories are where the person being interviewed had no knowledge of what was to come, weren't fully involved and when it did come felt guilty for not being a better parent, son, sister or what have you. The grief is real and the remorse, although unwarranted, is overwhelming.
Although there is an amount of recreation, I don't find it overly dramatic, more to put the viewer into the witnesses or victims situation. To see what they saw and went through. The people being interviewed genuinely seem to have been through hell, and are now almost devoid of emotion when they talk about it. It's a very eye opening look into how evil people can be and what effect that has on the innocent.
The reviewers who have attacked the people being interviewed for not seeing the signs and acting or just not getting out, accusing them of being weak and generally being laptop cowboys are the ones in need of help. The very lack of compassion and failure to understand that real life is not like the movies is concerning. That most of these stories involve innocent children shows me they haven't watched many of the episodes. Time to push the keyboard away and go out and see how the real world works.
The presentation and ability to tell a real story and sell the heart wrenching devastation that follows, earns an 8 from me.
