Fall down the rabbit hole of YouTube documentaries and you’ll find a goldmine of fascinating, heartwarming, and good documentaries available in their entirety for free. Clicking on one can lead to hours of binge-viewing, stumbling from one true story to the next, the subjects ranging from unsettling conspiracy theories to supernatural possibilities that will blow your mind. Some are scary, some are sweet. Either way, they’re epic time-wasters available for free online. Get the popcorn and check out these great flicks. Here are the best documentaries on YouTube.
The best YouTube documentaries
1) The Internet’s Own Boy
Aaron Schwartz lived a lifetime online. As an internet pioneer, activist, writer, and computer programmer (among various other hats he wore), Schwartz had a meteoric rise and fall, one that involves the creation of Reddit, RSS, and Creative Commons. The Internet’s Own Boy documents his life, primarily using interviews with Schwartz’s family, friends, and peers, as well as footage of Schwartz himself. Schwartz was a prodigy—he took his own life at age 26, after being indicted for alleged computer crimes—and his story is as compelling as you’ll see in any documentary. —Eddie Strait
2) The Family That Walks on All Fours
This documentary by an English psychologist named Nicholas Humphrey follows a Turkish family where most of the members walk on all fours. The debate sparks a conversation about the possibility of human devolution. —Gaby Dunn
3) 3D Printed Guns
This Vice documentary follows Cody Wilson, the man at the center of the 3D-printed gun revolution. With the advent and popularization of 3D printers, gun control may be moot. Wilson, then a college student, shows how he can “print” illegal firearms right in his home. The government has no way of stopping or regulating this practice. In the wake of the Newtown and other school shootings, this documentary is particularly poignant and scary. —G.D.
4) Child of Rage
This chilling 1989 documentary follows Beth Thomas, a young girl who, as a result of sexual abuse when she was 1 year old, wants to kill her brother and adoptive parents. She’s interviewed by researchers who ask her about snapping baby birds’ necks, stealing knives from her mother, and excessively masturbating until her vagina bled. Today, Thomas is a nurse and an advocate for abused children. She’s gone through a lot of therapy and purports to be healed. But in this documentary, she coldly describes wanting to murder her family by stabbing them at night. It’s very unnerving. —G.D.
5) The Scariest Drug in the World
Vice reporter Ryan Duffy travels to Colombia to find the world’s scariest drug, scopolamine. The drug keeps the person lucid but makes them amenable to doing whatever you say. It’s been used to convince people to rob themselves and hand the money to strangers, as a rape drug, and as a way to humiliate people. It’s essentially “chemical hypnosis,” where you lose total control of your actions, despite being completely awake. The stories from people who’ve been drugged with scopolamine are harrowing. —G.D.
6) Too Ugly For Love
This is a multipart documentary about average people who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. The pain these people feel over their looks may seem surreal given a lot of them are normal to attractive. But they really do not see in the mirror the reality of their appearance. You’ll never think of your own “fat days” the same way again. —G.D.
7) Real Sports: Tyson Fury
Some people are compelling because they’re interesting, and some people are compelling because they’re repellent. Heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury is absolutely in the latter category. He grew up an outcast because of his gypsy heritage—this part of his story is informative. But he’s a man with antiquated views regarding sexuality and gender roles, and neither Real Sports or Fury are shy about showing the uglier aspects of his upbringing. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating and intimate look into Fury’s life.
8) The Extraordinary Genius of Albert Einstein
This History Channel documentary provides an informative look at Albert Einstein. It’s like watching a book report on a genius with other geniuses, such as Twitter’s master of “Actually…” Neil Degrasse Tyson, offering annotations. It’s a bit stuffy at points, but otherwise moves along at the pace you expect of more TV documentaries. With this much intelligence on display, you are guaranteed to leave Extraordinary Genius relatively wiser than you went in. —E.S.
9) This Is the Zodiac Speaking
The story of the Zodiac serial killer is riveting but terrifying—especially since he was never officially caught after terrorizing San Francisco for years. Not only did the Zodiac kill, he taunted the police openly for years and they still weren’t able to apprehend him. —G.D.
10) Just Melvin, Just Evil
This YouTube documentary follows years of sexual and physical abuse across multiple families by their shared step-father, Melvin. It’s made by one of the families’ sons, who confronts Melvin about what he did. Melvin denies he hurt any of his step-children, but they all have memories of being abused by him for over a decade. Some accuse him of marrying their mother only because she already had young daughters for him to prey on. It’s one of the most manipulative and expansive stories of child abuse ever told on film, and you’ll be outraged by what happens in the end. —G.D.
11) Inside North Korea
This three-part Vice documentary on YouTube takes founder Shane Smith on a trip to North Korea that unveils some of the most confounding facts about the company and its relationship to foreign travelers. There have been several follow-ups on the situation in North Korea by Vice and other outlets since, but this take on the restrictions, pageantry, and strife in the hermit country is a must-watch. —Rae Votta
12) The Men Who Killed Kennedy
For a crash-course on how to get censured by the British Parliament and draw the ire of two former presidents, look no further than The Men Who Killed Kennedy. Multiple conspiracy theories surround the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (“theories” being the operative word), and this nine-part British documentary series covers many of them, in a way that some criticized as blurring the line between facts and speculation.
The most troubling theory—that President Lyndon B. Johnson was behind Kennedy’s assassination—surfaces in the ninth episode. After “The Guilty Men” aired in 2003 on the History Channel, the network and its parent companies got in a whole heap of trouble with Johnson’s former aides, including former Johnson press secretary Bill Moyer, along with former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. In a letter to network executives, President Ford called the charges made in the documentary, “’the most damaging accusations ever made against a former vice president and president in American history.”
The controversy behind The Men Who Killed Kennedy didn’t begin stateside; the series’ questionable research ethics resulted in documentarian Nigel Turner getting censured by the British Parliament after the initial two-part series aired in 1988. Watch The Men Who Killed Kennedy with the discerning eye it deserves, and you’ll give your critical thinking skills a real workout. —Amrita Khalid
13) Real Sports: John Urschel
This Real Sports profile of football player and bona fide math genius has taken on new weight in light of events that happened after the profile aired. The feature highlights Urschel’s playful personality and the counterintuitive nature of a man whose passion for sports puts his passion for mathematics in jeopardy on every play. Urschel ended up retiring prior to the start of the 2017 NFL season in large part due to the latest findings regarding football, CTE, concussions, and other brain trauma.
14) The Trial: A Murder in the Family
This BBC documentary on YouTube starts off in typical fashion, introducing us to the crime: a husband stands accused of murdering his wife. The doc tracks the husband’s trial, but there’s a wrinkle: the defendant, victim, and even some of the police involved are actually actors, but the jury is comprised of real people. It’s a fascinating premise. Part documentary, part drama, and part social experiment, A Murder in the Family is must-see.
15) A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity
If you’ve ever considered freeing yourself from the rigors of modern living or making changes to help the environment, watch A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity. It’s about an Australian community out to lighten Mother Earth’s load by living… simpler. Tiny houses, gardens—it’s all covered. Watching a group of people work together makes A Simpler Way more interesting because there’s more discussion about what’s going on, compared to watching a single person working toward a goal. That discussion and the interviews with various experts help form a compelling case.
16) Fentanyl: The Drug Deadlier Than Heroin
The rise of opioids in America is getting more and more attention, especially as it pertains to potential changes to the healthcare system. Fentanyl is an extremely potent opiate, one that can cause an overdose simply by touching your skin (according to a recent episode of the New York Times podcast The Daily). The drug gets the deep dive treatment from Vice, and the results are about as harrowing as you can imagine. Hard as it is to watch, it’s an important topic and more people should know about it.
17) Craig Sager: Real Sports
This HBO documentary on YouTube goes inside the closet of Craig Sager, the longtime NBA sideline reporter whose colorful suits never ceased to raise eyebrows, and gives you an up-close look at his life as he battled cancer. The segment only runs 12 minutes, but it’s powerful all the same. And you might want to bring some tissues.
18) Charlottesville: Race and Terror
Vice News had a front row seat at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that culminated in an act of domestic terrorism that left one person dead. The 22-minute doc takes viewers behind the scenes to detail some of the planning that went into the rally. Then it takes you to the front lines where the tension and danger is palpable. The doc immediately went viral and Vice and HBO made it available for all online, making it one of the most essential YouTube documentaries available. In trying times, Race and Terror is important for how it exposes the toxic mindset that spurs division and propagates dangerous rhetoric.
19) Psychopaths (No Longer Available on YouTube)
This documentary looks at psychopathy and the quest, led by American and British researchers, to understand what makes a psychopath. Psychopaths offers a crash course on the stigma and fascination with psychopaths, so some of the information will be familiar to anyone who has already looked into the subject. Still, the science offers a new angle that is undeniably compelling and could lead to new information and understanding of something most of us are only familiar with through movies and books. —Eddie Strait
20) Steroids in Sports
Steroids in Sports takes a clinical look at the use of steroids (in sports, of course). It explains what the substances are and how they affect the body. The doc also shows why they’re effective in sports. It features interviews with people on various sides of the matter. Between the players and doctors, a comprehensive picture is presented. There’s more nuance to the conversation than you would think, as the issue is much more complex than some players wanting to cheat. Despite whatever you think you know about steroids, the documentary will teach you some new things. All in under an hour, no less.
Still not sure what to watch tonight? Here’s our guide to the best free movies on YouTube and classic YouTube movies to rent.
Editor’s note: This article is regularly updated for relevance.
