Netflix documentary on killer Luka Magnotta leaves viewers in a mess of emotions (2024)

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Netflix has released its docu-series on Canadian killer Luka Magnotta and the reviews are already rolling in. With some calling it “triggering,” “sick” but “absolutely brilliant,” it’s clear the series has left its viewers in a chaotic mess of emotions.

The three-episode show, ‘Dont F**** With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer’ was released on December 18, and follows the story of Magnotta, a former adult entertainer and online sleuth who first shot to prominence for uploading videos of himself brutally torturing and killing kittens. His actions immediately sparked an online furor, and many people attempted to track down his location with little success, fearing that his animal killing might lead on to the killing of humans.

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Over the months after the first video was uploaded, an online group, dubbed the Animal Beta Project, traced Magnotta’s identity using clues from the clothing and jewellery he wore in his videos. Magnotta was careful to keep his face hidden from the camera, but the information they gathered, along with an anonymous tip, let the group match what they had to publicly available photos of Magnotta.

Ultimately, of course, the worst would happen — Magnotta uploaded a final video of himself murdering and dismembering foreign exchange student Lin Jun, before mailing the body parts to different political parties and schools around the country. The online group were the first to draw a connection between the man in a video titled “1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick” and the person they had been chasing for months — a connection that became key to the ensuing police investigation.

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Eventually, Magnotta was apprehended in Berlin and extradited to Canada. He was charged with first-degree murder, committing an indignity to a dead body, publishing obscene material, mailing obscene material and criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament.

He is currently imprisoned at Archambault Institution in Quebec. For more details on the investigation that led to the arrest of Magnotta, you can read Tristin Hopper’s story here.

The series pulls no punches, although it focuses in large part on the earlier, digital manhunt for Magnotta. Series producers also included clips of Magnotta’s kitten torture videos, inclusions which received a barrage of criticism from viewers who argued that Netflix should have included a warning about the use of graphic images. Many condemned the show for exploiting the grisly nature of Magnotta’s crimes, and criticized it for giving attention to such a killer.

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However, the series has been highly praised for its true-crime approach, with one reviewer calling it the “most prolific and poetic piece of cinema” to ever bear witness. Most people who liked the show commended its methods, while at the same time expressing shock and disgust at the nature of the crimes committed by Magnotta.

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