True Crime
Because few things command attention like a crime story...
From prestige TV to blockbuster podcasts, true crime stories have significantly captured the public imagination recent years. And cinema has similarly surfed this sensationalist wave - right from its very beginnings. Films such as Fritz Lang's M (1931) - acknowledged to be based on the 'Vampire of Düsseldorf' crimes of the 1920s - established the cinematic template for the police-procedural picture. While Truman Capote's 1966 novel In Cold Blood, with its innovative melding of journalistic detail and fictional élan, arguably defined the true crime genre as we understand it today - and its equally brilliant film adaptation is also included here. We've also included some less obvious stories that don't necessarily fixate on notorious, grisly killings, such as Sacha Polak's sensitively handled Silver Haze, based on its lead actor's real-life experiences of violent crime.
