Lover, Stalker, Killer: L'ex de l'extrême

Rarely is there a documentary that will take you on the most unpredictable journey of a police investigation. The evolution of this case as detectives and forensics peel away the layers only to be thrown into a completely different direction is, for lack of a better word, simply "incredible."

A lonely man named Tony, looking for female company is bombarded, harassed and threatened via text messages from an ex-girlfriend. She knows his everything he does, where he goes, and who he's with every second of the day. The abuse is horrifying and relentless. The problem is, nobody knows where this woman is. Then the threats extend beyond Tony to his current girlfriend and her children. Vandalism. Arson. Threats, Murder? Tony is living a nightmare.

My one observation is that had the victim of stalking not been a man, and the perpetrator not been a woman, action by law enforcement (dare I say) would likely to have been taken a little more seriously at the beginning, and may had resulted in solving the case much earlier. It's as if poor Tony was left twisting in the wind. Stalking is a serious matter for anyone.

That being said, the investigators were deft and strategic. Applying both physical and digital technologies in forensics, as well as psychology, coding, and the laborious tasks of reviewing and revisiting the thousands of photos and IP addresses in evidence is a testament to these three men's endurance and patience. Their professional dedication in finding justice came at considerable personal cost.

If this were fiction, then there would be a Hollywood ending, tying off all the loose ends. This isn't a movie, and unfortunately, there are still stones left unturned and people still unavenged.

This is one of the rare exceptions where truth is not only stranger than fiction, fiction couldn't come close to this truth.

Highly Recommended!

I'm the type of person that sees something interesting on Netflix, I check what it is about watch the trailer and add it to my list, to then never watch it. On some very rare occasions I watch it immediately, like this one.

I was hooked from the start, unfortunately as I had an early morning the next day I had to watch it in two parts but I was so dragged into this story that I couldn't stop thinking about it.

My partner had it right from the start about how the events were gonna turn out, and I must say I should have seen it coming.

The documentary is filmed in a great way, it all comes together without losing the viewer and confusing us. It's disturbing to realise that this is how some people live and sad how the family of those around all get affected.

I rate this documentary. It's well worth your time to watch.

Maybe I watch too much true crime, but I could see fairly early on who the culprit was. And so I was kind of waiting for them to reveal that.

And so it moved a little slowly in that regard. The film makers filled in the details one by one towards the end. Things like the missing car, untouched bank accounts etc.

There were a few unanswered questions such as how the offender kept their digital ID untraceable for so long. How did they gain entry to properties? What happened to the gun?

I came away feeling very sorry for the male victim. He was put through the ringer. He seems like a decent guy.

I was hooked from the start on this true crime documentary. It was different to the majority lover, stalker, killer documaries in that this time you saw the male subject being stalked by the female.

What it does also proove is that a woman scorned is not to be messed with as she is imaginative, dangerous and very cunning.

For true crime buffs this documentary will be above the rest as there are so many twists and turns due to the psychotic but very intelligent stalker.

But like all Netflix true crime docos the ending is always the same. The bad guy/girl gets caught no matter how smart they think that they are.

A good watch for all the wrong reasons. A love triangle goes drastically wrong. Firstly I think I watch too many TV shows and too many crime documentaries, because I guessed exactly how all of this would unfold, almost to the minute details. That didn't take anything away from the film though.

Man goes on date with woman. He then dates another woman. Woman becomes scorned and unleashes hell on said man. That's pretty much a short, brief summary.

You do find yourself asking questions. Why couldn't the police get to the bottom of it much quicker? We all know how easy it is for law enforcement to track people, or ISP addresses. I feel it should never have got to the stage it did do.

Overall a good watch though for true crime fans. Give it a try.