Netflix’s American Conspiracy trailer is filled with real-life murder, mystery, and spy scandals
You know you’re entering dark waters when a documentary’s YouTube trailer is preceded by a content warning. You’ll see that before you can watch the trailer for the new Netflix docuseries American conspiracy: the octopus murders, because it contains references to suicide and self-harm. Just like this story.
The documentary focuses on the death of journalist Danny Casolaro, a writer whose death appeared to be a suicide – but his family and colleagues believed, and continue to believe, otherwise. Casolaro had been investigating a conspiracy he called “the Octopus,” which connected a series of unsolved murders, a secret organization with stolen government spy software, and some of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century.
The documentary asks a simple question: what really happened to Danny Casolaro?
Wandering in a tangled web
As the show reveals, Casolaro wasn’t looking for a conspiracy. He thought he was investigating a fairly obscure intellectual property dispute. But as his investigation continued, he discovered links to the hidden underbelly of 1980s America: money laundering, spyware and even arms trafficking. The more he discovered, the more convinced Casolaro was of a vast conspiracy – and the more determined he was to uncover the secrets he had found. But he never got the chance.
Was Casolaro killed because of what he knew? According to his family, he told his brother that he had received threatening phone calls in the weeks leading up to his death. Casolaro said if something were to happen to him, it wouldn’t be an accident. His family also pointed out his extreme prudishness, which even made him afraid of blood tests: would a man who couldn’t handle the sight of blood really commit suicide in such a violent manner? Some law enforcement officials were also suspicious, but although the case was picked up by both ABC News and TIME magazine, they were unable to find any evidence of murder.
That’s where this documentary comes in. American conspiracy: The octopus murders is not just a historical story. It follows Christian Hansen, a photojournalist, who decades later picks up the pieces and tries to find the answers Casolaro was looking for. Together with filmmaker Zachary Treitz, he travels through America to find the key figures in this story, a journey that entails great personal risk for both men. What really happened to Danny? This documentary – made by the Duplass Brothers Productions with Stardust Frames, where they last collaborated Wild, wild, countryone of the best Netflix documentaries we’ve seen – attempts to find out.
American conspiracy: the octopus murders will stream on Netflix in the US from February 28.