Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan

Netflix trying to make a series out of a story that could be told in one episode.

I watched this and was very disappointed at how little they talked about the victims of this "person" It centered on making Billy the victim, trying to gather sympathy for him, and all the while the real victims are largely forgotten.

Director Olivier Megaton, known for his overly stylistic film-making, offers a tiring, troublesome, and nauseating take on infamous criminal Billy Milligan, who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. The material could have been a lot crisper - at most, a two-part documentary instead of four. There are too many interviews taking place at weird locations, a lot of shaky cam, flashy cuts, and a background score that rarely appears aligned with the stuff we're watching. I was left weary by the time the series ended, not caring what anybody had to say about Milligan - he could've been suffering from DID. Still, he committed some very heinous crimes (including rape and murder) that the justice system at the time was willing to be lenient on.

The first couple of episodes carry all the informational weight; the rest feel like random people giving random opinions on Milligan's cases and their aftermath. The interviews with Billy's siblings were clearly the most eye-opening amongst the lot. All the journalists, cops, attorneys, and mental health specialists seemed to take way too much time trying to opine what they believed in. This, in turn, sensationalized Billy's life and, in turn, lessened that of his victims' - the self-centered, narcissistic Billy (now dead) would have loved seeing this documentary himself. The popularity this guy got to the point of James Cameron deciding to make a film on him, alongside his escapades in Hollywood and Las Vegas, are downright ludicrous.

Director Megaton isn't the best choice for a subject like this. His is a very rapid, too-much-happening, cue-glitchy-transitions style of making that felt out of place. He seems fixated on how offbeat he can make the film look, much less on its core emotions. I had to take pauses while watching this - either the material became almost filler-like, or the horrible editing left my eyes sore. Netflix usually does a good-to-great job in the department of true crime content, but Monsters Inside isn't something that I'd recommend to anyone.

I'm sorry to say but I'm not sure the director of this documentary know what he is doing. The scenarios where the various actors are interviewed are hilarious out of place: inside a safe? Between two shelves? In a cell? Along some corridors? The editing is confusing, musics excessive.

The story is interesting but very poorly told.

The story of Billy Milligan is fascinating, a serial rapist and habitual criminal, who had a unique defence, multiple personality disorder. The story is fascinating, if you have an interest in psychology, or indeed in films such as Split, there really is a fascinating story here.

My advice however would be to read the various texts published, as this production isn't good. This is the most over produced documentary series that you will ever see, the cutaways, made up footage, and interviews are all over the place, it is a jumbled mess.

Too many people are interviewed, and the information is all too sporadic, too chaotic, it makes it so difficult to follow and engage in.

There are some fascinating accounts, Billy's siblings are fascinating to hear, unfortunately the camera is zooming all over the place, and the music overtakes, which is a real shame.

A fascinating story, unfortunately it's an over produced mess, which is two episodes too long, 5/10.