Why Did You Kill Me?: Movie Review

"Why Did You Kill Me?" delivers a quick look into the sad and intriguing case of Crystal Theobald. It has everything to offer with a lot of mystery, twists and turns, and even a peculiar dive into how early social media worked and helped the case. But we have to be honest here also, with only 83 minutes as its running time, this documentary could have used a lot more time to fully flush out its story and characters.

One night in 2006, the family of Crystal Theobald just wanted to go to the convenience store. But soon after they left their home, their vehicle is suddenly gunned down by an unknown assailant at the corner of their street. Unfortunately, Crystal dies from her wounds. With little evidence and no other witnesses than the family themselves, the case is at the risk of going cold. But Crystal's mother and younger sister decides to take the matter in their own hands. They use social media to search and lure the culprit behind the senseless killing of their loved one.

Netflix once again has issues when it comes to its true crime documentaries. It seems that they are having a hard time finding that right amount of time (or episodes) to really make a mystery fully developed without overstaying its welcome. At least "Why Did You Kill Me?" wasn't too long but it was also too short. The basic backbone of this documentary film was intriguing and it had us hooked in from first scene to last scene. The case of Crystal Theobald had everything. Not only in terms of the actual murder and investigation that followed but also the families of those impacted by the killing. Crystal's family didn't have the best background (her brothers and mother for example had criminal records) and the mother in particular had crazy ideas about solving the case that made her stories disturbing and entertaining at the same time. Crystal's sister for us was the heart of the documentary showing the real devastation that the murder caused to her and her family. We also loved how "Why Did You Kill Me?" presented the other side of the coin - showing the real story behind the killing. As a whole, the killing was completely unfortunate, unnecessary, and a mess. It was a sad tale of misunderstanding and being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We just wished it had a length of a two hour experience - maybe a three episode series than just a film - to fully develop the mystery and characters at play within it.

Rating: 4 reels

Why you should watch it:
- there's no denying that the basic framework of this documentary was well-made and intriguing

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the very quick running time made the documentary felt lacking at times