Murder On Middle Beach – HBO Review

MURDER ON MIDDLE BEACH is a new HBO true crime docu-series. The documentary has four intense rollercoaster episodes that end with crazy cliffhanger reveals. Directed by the son of the murder victim who is searching for answers. Read our full Murder on Middle Beach series review here!

MURDER ON MIDDLE BEACH is a new HBO true-crime docu-series about an unsolved murder. The son of the murdered woman directs this documentary. A fact that is a lot more intense for the viewer.

After all, he has a very personal stake in this which results in a very honest and personal docu-series. Also, most of the suspects are members of his own family and there are many skeletons in their closets. However, I am impressed by how honest most of them have decided to be. With one glaring exception, as you will come to learn when you watch this – and you really should!

Continue reading our full Murder on Middle Beach docu-series review below.

Addiction, multi-level marketing, and murder!

Each episode will definitely make you want to watch the next one. With four amazing one-hour episodes, it’s probably a good thing that they are released weekly on HBO and not in one go on Netflix. You will no doubt change your mind about who killed Barbara Hamburg more than once.

Not because the documentary is meant to trick the viewer, but because we follow the facts and reveals along with her son, Madison, who is also the director.

This family has been through a lot and what seems like a tight-knit and happy family turns out to have a lot of secrets. Fortunately, they also tend to talk about things gone wrong and most of them want to be very candid. Even about the parts that make them look very bad. In some cases, the actual truth is clearly somewhere in between various explanations.

Filmed over more than six years

The Murder on Middle Beach docu-series begins in 2013 when Madison Hamburg starts making this documentary about his mother’s life. Obviously, this includes her untimely death when she was brutally murdered in 2010. We continue in 2016 and then again in 2019, so most of this documentary is shot over these three different time periods.

Most members of this family (again with one obvious exception) have been working on themselves a lot. Whether for addiction, psychological challenges, or other forms of self-improvement. It’s very positive to see how far you can get when you put in the work.

With these time jumps – as the secrets come out and people start blaming one another – we really get to experience how people can also change. Both for the better or worse… mostly for themselves. When doing the work and focusing on getting better, they usually do. And yes, we also experience what happens when they don’t (or can’t) work on getting better.

Watch Murder on Middle Beach on HBO Max

Madison Hamburg is the director of this documentary series on HBO. As mentioned several times, he is also the son of the murder victim, Barbara “Barbie” Hamburg. This definitely makes for a different kind of true-crime documentary that touches on extremely personal issues for the director.

I am beyond impressed by his ability to keep himself together. Something many family members also comment on. However, a very conscious decision to show the co-producers on camera several times explains part of why this was possible. A strong team of filmmakers and friends help Madison Hamburg stay objective and on track.

I do want to compliment this documentary on being very fair and showing us many aspects. This will allow the viewer to get the full picture. However, be warned, you will not be able to actually know the full picture until the final episode is over. Even then, this true-crime continues and is evolving just as this documentary begins airing on HBO.

Murder On Middle Beach premieres on HBO Max on November 15, 2020, with a weekly episode.