There’s possibly more than meets the eye with the first trailer for Netflix’s latest true-crime docuseries, The Devil Next Door. The streaming giant has become a reliable outlet for some of the most compelling true-crime stories around as of late. The success of such series as Making a Murderer, Conversations with a Killer, Wormwood, The Confession Tapes, and Wild Wild Country has made Netflix a go-to destination for those who can’t get enough real-life tales that are often stranger than fiction.
Though few series have conjured up as much media attention and viewer scrutiny as Making a Murderer — including its own ill-advised follow up — Netflix hasn’t stopped searching for the next true-crime series that may be as big a breakthrough. Much of what the streamer has produced has been fascinating, and at times controversial, though not necessarily as dominating as Making a Murderer. That may well change with the early November release of The Devil Next Door.
The new series is similar to many of Netflix’s previous efforts in the genre, in that the streamer only began marketing it a few weeks prior to its launch. While that will certainly help the series stay fresh in the minds of subscribers with a “My List” a mile long, it will be interesting to see if it’s enough advance notice for the series to have a big impact. Check out the trailer and synopsis below:
“THE DEVIL NEXT DOOR is the true story of John Demjanjuk, a retired Ukrainian-American autoworker living a peaceful life with his family in Cleveland, Ohio suburbs in the 1980s. When a group of Holocaust survivors identify Demjanjuk’s photograph as “Ivan the Terrible” - a notoriously cruel Nazi death camp guard who tortured and killed nearly one million Jewish prisoners during World War II - Demjanjuk’s American dream is shattered and he is extradited to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Israel is transfixed as a media frenzy erupts around the trial in Jerusalem, the nation plunged into trauma and fascination by “the trial of the century.” As the case uncovers dark corners of memory and the horrors of war, the Demjanjuk case becomes a race against time for the defendant and his alleged victims.”
It’s easy to see the appeal of the series, as it follows the story of an alleged Nazi war criminal who was handed the moniker of “Ivan the Terrible” during World War II, and then presumably took up a different identity and started his life anew in, of all places, Cleveland, Ohio. The idea of a person responsible for the deaths of millions living the American Dream is one of the more disturbing concepts for any story, let alone one that actually happened. As is the case with many of these true-crime series, there’s more going on than meets the eye, as the trial of the criminal in question may have been a ruse to serve some other purpose. There’re plenty of questions waiting to be answered when The Devil Next Door streams on in November.
The Devil Next Door streams exclusively on Netflix starting Monday, November 4.