A Toxic Love Story – Review | Netflix

A TOXIC LOVE STORY on Netflix is a true crime documentary with a story that offers lots of twists and turns. And craziness! As you watch this, you will probably have many opinions and ideas about the various people, but keep an open mind. Read our full A Toxic Love Story documentary review here!

A TOXIC LOVE STORY is a Netflix true crime documentary that offers a shocking story. In many ways, this reminded me of Maternal Instinct. I mean, the “masterminds” in both stories are practically working from the same playbook. They use all the same tricks to keep their lies going.

And then again, there is yet another twist that offers some extremely valuable insight!

While the trailer does offer a good idea of how this true crime case evolves, you won’t know exactly what comes from one moment to the next. The story is told via interviews with many first-hand accounts, which is how I prefer my documentaries. The runtime is just around an hour and a half, which works well.

Continue reading our A Toxic Love Story documentary review below. Find it on Netflix from July 23, 2026.

It’s almost too easy…

Watching a true crime documentary like A Toxic Love Story, you may think it all seems too easy. I know I certainly sat with that feeling, but I also watch a lot of true crime productions. And crime thriller mysteries of the fictitious kind, for that matter.

With A Toxic Love Story, we are essentially getting a hybrid. Nothing is really as it seems. And as long as someone is selling their “story” well, then it appears that law enforcement isn’t too keen on investigating any further.

It’s wild that you can get a restraining order and have the police on your side when they have yet to actually investigate the case.

Trust no one…

A Toxic Love Story plays out in Anaheim, which, to many people, will be known as the city of Disneyland. It’s a California suburb, just outside Los Angeles, and it’s also the place of this very wild true crime case. Or, well, cases. As it evolves, it will become clear that several people have been the victims of the same perpetrator.

And yes, it does get very crazy as well.

However, when it’s less than an hour into its runtime, it appears that this true crime documentary is pretty much over and done with. And then the final act puts a spotlight on another huge issue. It’s so strange that it wasn’t really a focus at first, because wanting to paint women as crazy is the “go-to” story.

Watch A Toxic Love Story on Netflix now!

A Toxic Love Story is directed by Alexandra Lacey (Welcome to Murdertown) and produced by Curious Films. In essence, A Toxic Love Story is an actual revenge story. What begins as a story about a woman’s arrest in a stalking plot will instead start asking: Who is the victim, and who is the villain?

As already mentioned, the runtime works really well. It’s 88 minutes, and I really don’t think you could do this any faster. It needs to be told with as many details (and how it all evolved) for this story to work.

Originally, this true crime documentary was slated for release on July 22, but it was suddenly pushed to the following day. I don’t know how or why, but it usually means someone tried to stop its release. Once you have watched this true crime story, you’ll surely know who has an interest in keeping this away from Netflix.

A Toxic Love Story is out on Netflix on July 23, 2026.