This Haunting Documentary Hiding On Paramount+ Is Perfect For True Detective Fans

Paramount+/Showtime

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The true crime genre has gone too far in a society that can't get enough of other people's suffering as entertainment. Sometimes, however, we get a truly important and well-made documentary with a strong journalistic ethic that sheds light on horrific crimes while maintaining empathy for the victims. Enter "Murder in the Bayou," a five-part docu-series that explores the unsolved murders of eight women in and around Jennings, Louisiana. The series is hiding on Paramount+ Premium (formerly Paramount+ with Showtime). But it's worth the upgrade to experience a story that just keeps getting darker, crazier, and more disturbing the longer it goes on — not unlike a certain celebrated HBO crime series.

The show is directed by Matthew Galkin, who's also responsible for one of the best true crime documentaries of 2025 in "One Night in Idaho: The College Murders." With his 2022 series, however, he teamed up with journalist Ethan Brown, author of the 2016 book on which the show is based, "Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8?" With the series, the pair further investigate the case of the "Jeff Davis 8," which refers to eight women who were found murdered in Louisiana's Jefferson Davis Parish over a four-year period.

Unlike more sensationalist true crime documentaries, "Murder in the Bayou" goes to great lengths to establish the victims as people. We also get to know several of the victims' relatives and other members of the community, many of whom feel like they've come from the pages of Southern Gothic literature. With Galkin and cinematographer Jeff Hutchens' stylized approach to the photography, "Murder in the Bayou" has a certain prestige drama feel to it, which, when coupled with the small-town Louisiana setting, evokes the spirit of "True Detective" Season 1.

Paramount+/Showtime

"True Detective" Season 1 mixed cosmic and folk horror with a Southern Gothic tone and existentialist themes. It was a masterpiece, and nothing has lived up to it ever since. But "Murder in the Bayou" certainly feels like somewhat of a spiritual successor, even though it's factual entertainment. In that first season of Nic Pizzolatto's crime anthology series, Matthew McConaughey's detective Rustin Cohle describes one of the towns he visits as being "like someone's memory of a town, and the memory is fading." That's a perfect way to describe Jennings, the epic-center of the "Jeff Davis 8" mystery.

"Murder in the Bayou" establishes the murders in question with detailed backstories that introduce the victims and give a well-rounded sense of Jennings' criminal underbelly, to which all eight women were connected. But it's the cast of eccentric oddball characters that really bring Jennings to life. In fact, the introduction of one of the story's main villains at the end of one episode recalls the way in which "True Detective" Season 1, Episode 3 ended with a slow-motion shot of Charles Halford's Reggie Ledoux and the line, "Like a lot of dreams, there's a monster at the end of it."

But part of what makes "Murder in the Bayou" so compelling is that it contradicts local law enforcement's version of events, arguing that there isn't just one monster at the end of this nightmare, but potentially multiple. Ethan Brown appears throughout, guiding you through the increasingly complex and twisted tale to offer a counter-narrative to that of the authorities. It makes for one of the best recent true crime documentaries, challenging established narratives and offering intriguing evidence for something much more sinister beneath the surface of Jennings.

Paramount+/Showtime

"True Detective" Season 1 started as a novel and a stage play before it was a TV show. But even after it took its final, premium HBO form, there was a sense that so much of the debut season could have been a documentary. Back in 2014, creator Nic Pizzolatto told Entertainment Weekly, "You know, you can Google 'Satanism,' 'preschool,' and 'Louisiana' and you'll be surprised at what you get." Indeed, it seems "True Detective" Season 1 might be linked to a real Louisiana cult case.

"Murder in the Bayou" feels like the real-world equivalent of Pizzolatto's show. Director Matthew Galkin told Oxygen that he deliberately didn't try to mimic the style of any other show, but that "'True Detective' was about Calcasieu Parish, which is right next door to Jeff Davis Parish, so the landscape is the same. The oil refineries are the same." There's also the unmistakable similarity in tone. As Karl Quinn of The Age put it, the docu-series has "strong echoes of the Southern Gothic genre in filmed drama" — something that pervaded "True Detective" Season 1.

But beyond that, "Murder in the Bayou" has the most important aspect of any documentary. It's a story that needs to be told, and Galkin and Ethan Brown do an excellent job of doing so. The fact that the murders remain unsolved is upsetting enough, but by the end of the docu-series you'll wonder how any of the shocking goings-on in Jennings have been allowed to continue for so long. If you haven't signed up for a Paramount+ Premium membership, this documentary alone is worth it.