MovieChat Forums > American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020) Discussion > So much to process...

So much to process...

posted 4 years ago by whoanelly (1592)
9 replies | jump to latest

Am I the Only Viewer who had never heard of this case before now?

I’m only half way through, but wow, this is such a sad, tragic story. The husband/killer is a piece of crap. What a horrible monster. It seems to me that this case doesn’t fit the typical profile of the family annihilator scenario. He didn’t take his own life afterward.

And I am not getting a heathy vibe regarding the wife. She seems so addicted to filming EVERYTHING in her life for social media. She interrupts every moment to adjust the scene, telling her husband and children how to pose, etc. Very unhealthy.

It begs the question: what did she really think about the state of her marriage before her husband started to disengage? How could she think they were actually happy? She had to be kidding herself—living her life on social media, for social media, and faking it.

From what I know about other multi level marketing companies, she couldn’t have been making much money and was very likely pouring more money into the business than she was getting out of it. Like Mary Kay salespeople, she might have been more interested in attending the sales conferences than doing the actual business side of it. They were definitely living beyond their means, and she was filming it all for social media. I don’t think I could have been friends with her.

Ugh, what a mess, So much sadness and tragedy. She did not deserve what happened to her. No one does.

Those beautiful children. So, So Tragic.

[–] Adam60z (3781) 4 years ago

Wow, that was intense! Yes, you may be the only one. It was all over the news when it happened, but what's incredible about this Netflix show is there is no reenactment necessary. There's so much actual footage before and after the murders it's hard to believe!
So from all the footage prior it all looks idyllic, maybe a little too much so...there's the rub. I'm at the interrogation now, but will update this.
Update: With all Shannan's texting you can see she's having a meltdown, and Chris is in complete denial; obviously beneath the surface a huge explosion is building up, but he's hiding it. Then we find out about the affair, etc. The thing is at the end he didn't hide the affair and didn't hide that he wanted a separation, didn't ask for an attorney, and okayed a lie detector test; therefore subconsciously he wanted to be caught just as the detective said.
But it didn't make sense; like they said at the end, why didn't he just get a divorce like millions of others?
Well done film and shows the psychology behind much of what led up to it, however it still doesn't explain his actions.
Definitely worth seeing!

[–] yvesyves (714) 4 years ago

i agree what made this so ''special'' is that there is so much real footage from the cop's bodycam and from the zillions of facebook videos

[–] whoanelly (1592) 3 years ago

Why didn’t he file for divorce?

He couldn’t bear facing her in court. Simply put: Shanann. Was. Just. Too. Much.

She admited to her friend that she ordered him around and emasculated him.

He couldn’t stand up to her.
He couldn’t tell her to stop filming.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want to be in her videos.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want her spending all their money on MLM schemes.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want her badmouthing his parents/family.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want to live beyond their means.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want her going on MLM trips they couldn’t afford.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want to have any more children.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t love her anymore.
He couldn’t tell her he didn’t want to be married to her anymore.

He couldn’t do any of those things because she would just out talk him every time.

He would rather convince himself that he could kill his entire family and hide their bodies and nobody would find out, rather than fight her in court.

[–] Boricanator (1469) 4 years ago

I didn’t hear about this case I until I saw the documentary yesterday.

This is a very sad and tragic story. But at the same time I am not sure why it warranted a documentary. I saw it out of curiosity, but it seemed like straightforward matter. This isn’t the first, and sadly won’t be the last, murder of this type. And there have been worst cases. Much worse.

Just trying to figure out why this situation was so different that Netflix felt that a documentary would be necessary.

[–] prolelol (1428) 4 years ago

Me neither. I watched it without absolutely not knowing the plot or the case, and I was completely shocked. I thought the wife is mental ill, but no, his husband is a monster. I thought he seemed always happy, and trying to not worry that will happen to them something terrible, but I was wrong. Such a tragic sad story!

[–] whoanelly (1592) 4 years ago

I think it might be due to there being so much footage available. The police all wore body cams, plus there was security camera footage, not to mention that the wife was obsessed with posting every moment of their lives on social media.

[–] exithereplease (3553) 4 years ago

It's interesting to see (because of the footage) the motors behind Chris's eyes just spinning and spinning. There are hours and hours of footage on Youtube, I've seen the entire interrogation in it's entirety at least 3 times.

He speaks like a teenager, "like I went upstairs", "like she usually", "like, like, like" and it's easy panic word to go to.

I think a Youtube commenter actually counted how many times he used the word, it was around 1,200 +.

Giving a television interview why cadaver dogs are running around the house is also a bit unusual.

A recent similar case, Anthony Todt has received very little attention and is just as disturbing.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7939319/Father-SUFFOCATED-family-Disney-home-stabbed-teen-son-kitchen-knife.html

[–] whoanelly (1592) 3 years ago

Yes, that case is really disturbing too. Looks like they were living the Disney lifestyle but couldn’t afford it.

[–] ItalianBuju (793) 4 years ago

I am in Canada and it was all over the news here too. I have also watched a couple of true crime stories about it but have not watched this one yet though it is on my list.

What I wanted to chime in with though is that not all people that kill their families kill themselves after the fact. Scott Peterson is another example of that.

He was trying to get rid of a problem, so he could start a new life. He didn't want to die.