21 Incredible Documentaries With The Most Shocking Endings

"I was shocked at the last-minute curveball in The Staircase. No spoilers, but it came completely out of nowhere, sounded ridiculous, but when I thought about it, it made so much sense."

We recently asked the documentary film fans of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most shocking ending or twist they've ever seen in a doc. Here's what they said:

Warning: Some spoilers ahead. Continue at your own risk.

1. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

HBO

"I am going with Capturing the Friedmans because of the brilliant way the filmmakers kept you in suspense. I thought the dad, but not the son, was guilty. My best friend thought they were both guilty. My dad thought both were innocent. An example of superb filmmaking that leaves it to the viewer to decide what really happened."

—bravesgirl21

2. Cropsey (2009)

Breaking Glass Pictures

"Cropsey is a really underrated documentary that starts off as an investigation into an urban legend about a kind of boogeyman named 'Cropsey,' but I wasn’t expecting it to go where it ended up."

—lauramoon9060

3. The Overnighters (2014)

Drafthouse Films

"Many travel to a popular fracking town in North Dakota for a job, and when they fail to find one, struggle to survive on homelessness, hunger, and a sense of failure. This is where the doc follows a local pastor, who offers these guys shelter, food, and support at his church. It isn't until the third act we learn there's a price tag attached to his offer. I get mad when I recall how it handled that revelation."

—prolix

4. Time: The Kalief Browder Story (2017)

Paramount Network

"A 17-year-old school student is taken to jail when the police believe he's stolen a backpack. His family couldn't afford to bail him out, so he ended up spending three years in jail waiting for a hearing. The conclusion almost broke me."

—prolix

5. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Oscilloscope Laboratories

"Hands down, the most shocking, upsetting ending to a documentary I've ever seen. I was blindsided. Looking back, it's easy to see how everything was leading to such a devastating conclusion. I didn't want to believe it, though."

—katies156

6. Tarnation (2004)

Hope Runs High

"I think there are a lot of documentaries listed here that are amazing, terrifying, and devastating...but I think a documentary that deserves its place among these is Tarnation by Jonathan Caouette. It’s small and personal but huge."

—rkrause

7. The Staircase (2004)

Netflix

"I was shocked at the last-minute curveball in The Staircase. No spoilers, but it came completely out of nowhere, sounded ridiculous, but when I thought about it, it made so much sense."

—noimpillagingeverybody

8. Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019)

Netflix

"I’ve mentioned this one before, but Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer has GOT to win the award for most satisfying plot twist (even though the 'twist' happens very early on) ever!"

—marcelswhalemask

9. Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez (2020)

Netflix

"The Aaron Hernandez documentary (Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez) was absolutely heartbreaking to me, and I have never watched a game of NFL in my life, nor do I care to after watching that, thank you very much! 💔"

—marcelswhalemask

10. The Deepest Breath (2023)

Netflix

"Although it was clear from the start the ending would not be a happy one, the way it intertwined the two stories and then still built up to a completely shocking ending broke my heart and left me in tears."

—seaflutter962

11. The Witness (2015)

FilmRise, Associated Press

"This is a documentary film about Kitty Genovese — at the end, they get an actress to reconstruct Kitty’s final moments when she was repeatedly stabbed in her doorway, to see whether people could, in fact, hear her screams for help. I watched this documentary years ago, and I still think about that scene and can hear those screams; it’s so chilling and haunting it gave me goosebumps."

—marveloustortoise92

12. Paris Is Burning (1990)

Prestige Pictures

"This was filmed in the mid to late '80s and follows the ball culture of New York at that time. And it takes an unexpectedly sad turn."

—rtrz

"Paris is Burning is SUCH an intensely heartbreaking and equally intensely important documentary. 🩷🩷🩷"

—marcelswhalemask

13. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (2020)

Netflix

"This horrified me beyond comprehension. I still remember sitting on my couch when I finished the last episode, numb and speechless. I couldn't move. Then I got angry — just absolutely incensed. The system failed the boy and then some. Everyone involved in his case should have been raked over the coals and given sentences as harsh as the abhorrent creatures who killed him. The docuseries left me wrecked for days, and even now just thinking about it makes my stomach drop."

—ravenbard

14. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)

HBO

"Robert Durst was astoundingly charismatic! Despite all the evidence against him, I found myself rooting for him, and genuinely hoping he was innocent! Very, very, very well done."

—marcelswhalemask

"The Jinx is definitely one of the best true crime series EVER and an absolute must."

—celeste_moon

15. Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Neon

"You think it's just about brothers finding themselves, and really, it's a whole messed up lab experiment on twins/triplets!"

—alyssah39

16. Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

Netflix

"It's about identical brothers, one of whom has an accident and amnesia. The other brother then has to tell him about their lives. No spoilers, watch it and be blown away!"

—tat4486

17. The Keepers (2017)

Netflix

"It seems like a murder mystery but winds up going down the tunnel of sexual assault at a Catholic school and all the women and what they went through and the possible reason why a nun was murdered."

—hovanmolly

18. Our Father (2022)

Netflix

"I shouldn't really have been surprised about the ending to this one. It's about a fertility doctor secretly using his own sperm to impregnate women. In the end, he ended up getting off scot-free."

—pepper314

19. Girl in the Picture (2022)

Netflix

"I associate Netflix's true crime series with the fact that they often end with some sort of plot twist. The first title that pops into my head is Girl in the Picture. In general, it's a show full of shocking (and devastating and heartbreaking) plot twists."

—celeste_moon

20. Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee (2022)

Netflix

"The McAfee documentary on Netflix is so wild from start to finish. The end has an interesting twist to it also concerning his death. It’s insane but also a really enticing watch. It gives a little bit of a Tiger King vibe."

—emberdahlia

21. Finally, Grizzly Man (2005)

Lions Gate Films

"You never get to see the footage of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard being killed and eaten by the rogue bear, but you get to see Director Werner Herzog (who no one would accuse of being a weak-hearted man) break down as he listens to the sounds of the two people being killed. It ended the documentary on a note of sadness as you realized that this was a study of ego, madness, and misguided perceptions of the natural world."

—Anonymous

Are you a fan of documentary films, too? Is there something missing from this list that you would add? Tell us in the comments below and maybe we'll do a part two!