Why Did You Kill Me? is a crime documentary movie directed by Fredrick Munk. The movie follows the murder of Crystal Theobald.
When I read the synopsis for Why Did You Kill Me? I was immediately reminded of Don’t F**k With Cats. The latter, a documentary series that I came across too late (but better than never), focused on the power of social media and web sleuths to track down a cat-turned-human killer. It was a great watch – at just 3 episodes, I breezed through that one with intrigue and bated breath.
Why Did You Kill Me?, on the other hand, is much shorter. At just 80 minutes, it’s packed with information from start to end and makes for a compelling story that will keep genre fans (me included) glued to the screen.
The documentary is about Crystal Theobald, a 24-year-old mother of two who was shot dead in front of her home after the car that she and her boyfriend were in was peppered with bullets one night seemingly without any reason. The most tragic part of the story is that Crystal was shot just down the road to her home and her mother was in the car behind her and witnessed the entire scene.
The local gang, 5150, was suspected of the crime but no one could find a motive. Neither Crystal nor her boyfriend were part of the gang and had nothing to do with it. So, was it a case of mistaken identity? We don’t know, and neither do the police who also seem to find themselves in a pickle. However, that doesn’t deter Belinda from taking up her daughter’s cause. Spanning a years-long struggle to find her daughter’s killers and seek justice, she took to MySpace to find them and succeed in the end.
Why Did You Kill Me? is fast-paced as it is interesting. The way a 14-year-old kid and Belinda covertly took on the entire 5150 gang is absolutely mind-blowing and scary to think about. It was ingenious at the time and the way Jamie, Crystal’s cousin, roped them all in with her wit, determination and charm in order to exact revenge on her sister’s killers is a journey that I am here for.
With true crime, you always expect to watch a lot of crime scene footages, re-enactments and interviews. Why Did You Kill Me? features those, but the re-enactments take place with the help of toy cars and a small model of the area around the crime scene. It’s a new and fresh take rather than just straight up having people re-enact scenes. It’s thrilling and great to watch.
Why Did You Kill Me? has a variety of perspectives to show us with its commentary and in the road to bring out what went down that day and how justice was served. It’s a very satisfying watch because of the conclusion and due to how the script takes a balanced and rounded approach to get to it – it compliments the case to a T.
Summing up: Why Did You Kill Me?
Why Did You Kill Me? is a great watch. It’s interesting and intriguing and takes into account the horrible crime that took place and how a mama bear and the authorities took up the cause to seek justice. It proves that if you have enough interest and push to see justice served, there’s nothing that can stop you. There’s a lot of balanced perspectives to be found and the documentary ensures that the audience gets the right information in the right way.
Why Did You Kill Me? is streaming on Netflix.
Liked the Why Did You Kill Me? review? Read our other reviews here.