Netflix’s fascination with true crime doesn’t just extend to dramatizations. A new harrowing true crime documentary around a former bodybuilder is muscling up on the streaming service, making the top ten most watched in 41 countries.
Killer Sally has appeared almost out of nowhere to great success on streaming, with the new docuseries gunning for the top spot around the world. Netflix’s eye-opening series sees Sally McNeil return to discuss the alleged second-degree murder of her husband Ray McNeil 26 years on from the event.
Sally McNeil, better known as Killer McNeil, was a bodybuilder in the U.S. Military and won armed physique championships during the late 1980s before it all came crashing down in 1996. McNeil pleaded self-defense to the charge of murder, and now Netflix’s documentary sees her finally able to tell her side of the story to the public, with it far more complex than the initial reporting or court hearing believed.
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Nanette Burstein who previously worked on documentaries Hillary, and a sports doc on three young boxers in On the Ropes. Killer Sally is a surprise one to surge up to the top of the charts. The case itself isn’t one the public had previously expressed much interest in, with the Wikipedia page for McNeil barely as long as this article.
The documentary also reshapes McNeil as a victim of abuse, giving further fuel to her self-defense claims as the case continues to haunt her many years on from prison release.
Killer Sally consists of three episodes and is currently available to stream on Netflix.