American Murder: The Family Next Door

American Murder: The Family Next Door is a crime documentary about the 2018 disappearance in Colorado of Shanann Watts and her two young daughters. Built entirely from raw material, the film draws on police recordings, private videos and social media posts to trace how the case unfolded and the revelations that followed, as the family's story became international news. Chris Watts appears as himself, alongside archive footage of Shanann, the children, her friend Nickole Atkinson and her father Frank Rzucek.

The film was released in 2020 and runs 83 minutes. It was directed by Jenny Popplewell, the first of three documentaries she has made in chronological order, ahead of What Jennifer Did in 2024 and A Deadly American Marriage in 2025. It was produced by Knickerbockerglory TV in the United States.

Audience responses are consistent and positive: on IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 37,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.3 out of 10 from 778 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 23 reviews places it somewhat below those audience scores, indicating solid but not unanimous approval from reviewers while viewers rate it a little more warmly.