Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez – Netflix Docu Review

KILLER INSIDE: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is a Netflix true-crime documentary. It’s a mini-series with just three episodes so it’s a relatively quick binge-watch. I was not familiar with the case or Aaron Hernandez in general, but I enjoyed watching this. Read our Killer Inside review here!

KILLER INSIDE: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is a Netflix documentary in the true-crime category. It’s a mini-series consisting of three episodes that each have a runtime of just over one hour.

If you enjoy crime documentary series, then you should certainly check this one out. It doesn’t really matter if you know the case. I didn’t and I just watched it as any other true-crime documentary series.

Don’t miss out on: Our list featuring the Best Netflix True-Crime Documentaries here >

Continue reading our review of Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez below.

A very classic documentary style

Sure, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is about NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez but it’s still a classic true-crime docu-series. In other words, you obviously don’t need to know anything about football to enjoy this documentary. Also, if you don’t like re-enactment “dramatizations” then you’re pretty safe watching this Netflix docu-series.

I definitely prefer the classic documentary style where the story is told via old footage, and interviews with real people. I have never been a big fan of dramatizations (or re-enactments of actual events) since it often feels like scenes from a Lifetime movie.

If you want to show what happened, then make a feature film and be done with it. If you want to make a documentary, then please try to stick with the facts as told by footage, documents and interviews. As already mentioned, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez does focus on interviews, phone conversations, old news footage, and printed facts.

With Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, I was not familiar with any parts of the story except having heard bits here and there. For me, this was a way to finally know who Aaron Hernandez was and I was pretty surprised by many facts.

A portrait of Aaron Hernandez

Of course, the actual Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez documentary begins by stating facts of the main crime. A man, Odin Lloyd, has been found murdered. However, within episode one of the Netflix documentary series, we mostly look back at the life of Aaron Hernandez to understand his background.

For the record, we do also hear from friends and family of Odin Lloyd, which I really appreciated. I’m never a fan of focus on the crime or perpetrator without also looking at the victim. Still, this is a docu-series about Aaron Hernandez, so mostly the documentary does focus on him.

And wow, I can definitely understand why Netflix has made a documentary about him. I mean, for one, the gay curveball that comes in episode one is enough to leave you speechless for a while. Personally, I am not one bit surprised about this part of the story, but I also did not expect such a decent and respectful focus on being gay and a football player.

I won’t say anything more about this since you really should check out the documentary on Netflix to get all the details.

Watch Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez on Netflix now!

All three episodes are directed by Geno McDermott who also made the documentary Man Behind the Curtain from 2017.

This new Netflix documentary mini-series is like the perfect storm for me. It manages to cover both true crime, the impact of sports and media as well as issues regarding race, religion, and sexuality. As much as the media loves to hype and build up people, there is a certain sadistic pleasure they take in dragging them through the mud.

Just to be clear, I do think it’s fair to expose the crimes of criminals. I’m just not a fan of celebrity worshipping which tends to really mess up especially young people. Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is not exactly about this, but it is about a fall from grace; Star athlete turns criminal and now everyone can agree that he was either an angel or the devil in disguise.

In reality, he was probably a bit of both since leading a double life created two very different people. If you only saw one side of him, then clearly this defined him. With Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, the documentary series attempt to finally show both sides to everyone watching.

Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is out on Netflix worldwide from January 15, 2020.

Plot

As a gifted young football athlete from Bristol, Connecticut, Aaron Hernandez had capitalized rapidly on his promise, playing for a top tier college program before being drafted into the National Football League at the age of 20. But in 2013, fresh off of a newly inked five-year, $40 million contract with the New England Patriots, Hernandez would become a household name for the most infamous murder case involving an American athlete since OJ Simpson. Hernandez’s trials for the brutal killing of Odin Lloyd and two Boston-area men yielded a Pandora’s box of secrets: a tumultuous and often abusive upbringing, a growing fascination with gang life, and other discoveries that painted a maelstrom of motivations behind his violent behavior.