Netflix’s American Murder: The Family Next Door called ‘terrifying’ and ‘disturbed’ by viewers

"The hardest thing I've ever watched"

Netflix has become known for their hard-hitting true-crime documentaries and their latest offering, American Murder: The Family Next Door, is no different. The film launched on September 30th, and over the weekend it has had a big reaction on social media, with viewers calling it 'terrifying' and 'disturbed'. American Murder: The Family Next Door tells the story of the Watts family murders that took place in 2018 in Frederick, Colorado. Christopher Lee Watts murdered his pregnant wife Shan'ann Watts, and their two young daughters. “This documentary examines the disappearance of Shan’ann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed," reads Netflix's official synopsis. The film uses social media posts, police recordings, text messages and home video footage to recreate the events of Shan'ann Watts and her daughter's disappearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep8iKiQNSrY The stark retelling of a woman and her children being killed by her partner has understandably left viewers moved after watching the film. On Twitter, one user called it "truly terrifying" and another said it was "possibly the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen in my life." https://twitter.com/rachidabenamar/status/1312337119000645632 https://twitter.com/supercessa/status/1312321133337669632 Other viewers said that their "heart broke watching that documentary," and that the film was really "sad and frighting." https://twitter.com/TJemmott1/status/1311405956413239296 https://twitter.com/t0nit0ne/status/1312406854346117122 https://twitter.com/SarahETurney/status/1311717531195858946 Another viewer called it "the hardest thing I've ever watched.". https://twitter.com/coletzzz/status/1312394913661681666 American Murder: The Family Next Door is directed by Jenny Popplewell. It is executive produced by James Marsh, the British filmmaker who made the Oscar-winning documentary Man of Wire, and also directed the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything starring Eddie Redmayne. Christopher Lee Watts admitted to strangling his wife Shan'ann Watts, and smothering to death their two young daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, in August 2018. Shan'ann was pregnant at the time, and her unborn son did not survive. Christopher Watts received five live sentences, without the possibility of parole.