Credit: Netflix

All eyes are on the fifth and final instalment of the hit Netflix true-crime docuseries Conversations with a Killer, titled The Charles Manson Tapes, this week. But the real question is: then, what?

Directed by Joe Berlinger, the three-part documentary chronicles the complex background and rise of the titular American criminal cult leader in late-1890s California at the peak of the hippie movement.

Through never-before-heard prison call recordings, archival footage, and firsthand interviews, the documentary details how the infamous cult named the Manson Family was born and was responsible for a string of brutal killings in 1969, simultaneously deconstructing the myths vs facts behind the crimes and their architect.

So, if you want something equally gripping to watch next, here are five Netflix documentaries to stream after Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes.

Five documentaries to stream after The Charles Manson Tapes:

CHAOS: The Manson Murders (Errol Morris, 2025)

Adapted from Tom O’Neill’s 2019 investigative book CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, CHAOS: The Manson Murders is a 96-minute documentary that serves as the exact spiritual successor of Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes on Netflix. Directed by iconic documentarian Errol Morris, the film meticulously challenges and deconstructs the conventional “Helter Skelter” narrative.

CHAOS: The Manson Murders doesn’t practice linear storytelling. Instead, it tries to explore the conspiracies surrounding the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, shedding light on potential bureaucratic blind spots, examining loose ends and cover-ups, while also diving deep into O’Neill’s decades-long investigation into whether Manson had ties with covert government research projects.

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness (Joshua Zeman, 2021)

If you are mind-blown with how Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes sparks a feeling of unravelling a multi-layered conspiracy, you cannot skip The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness. The four-part true-crime documentary follows Maury Terry, an investigative journalist who spent decades convinced and trying to convince that David Berkowitz, AKA the Son of Sam, didn’t act alone.

According to Terry, the string of murders and Berkowitz’s streak of crimes were supposedly linked to a satanic cult called The Children, on behalf of whom, he believed the Son of Sam operated. But that’s not all. Terry also insisted that the cult was allegedly connected to Charles Manson, around whom the Manson Family was formed. The Sons of Sam: Descent into Darkness explores the cult theory and the subsequent obsession that consumes Terry.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (Rachel Dretzin and Grace McNally, 2022)

Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes revisits the Manson Family murders and the cult at the centre of the killings. So, if you’re looking for a Netflix documentary that illuminates the dark side of intense institutional cult control, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is a must-watch. The four-part true-crime docu-series explores the rise and fall of Warren Jeffs in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey details how Warren Jeffs took control of the church following his father’s death, upending the faith-based institution with strict control and turning the sect into a polygamist cult. The project highlights how his powerful leadership weaponised fear, surveillance, and social isolation to ensure obedience, capturing the psychological horror of living inside an insular cult, like the Manson Family.

Trust Me: The False Prophet (Rachel Dretzin, 2026)

Speaking of dangerous cults like the Manson Family and the FLDS community, Trust Me: The False Prophet is inevitably the ultimate companion to The Charles Manson Tapes and Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. The four-part series follows cult expert Christine Marie and her videographer husband Tolga Katas, who infiltrate a vulnerable, exploited FLDS community in Utah following Warren Jeffs’ imprisonment.

Marie and Katas move to Short Creek to document the state of the fractured community left after Jeffs went to prison, which led to the rise of a new self-proclaimed heir and prophet, Samuel Bateman. Originally a low-level member of the community under Jeffs, Marie and Katas expose Bateman in Trust Me: The False Prophet, who followed in the footsteps of the notorious FLDS leader.

Wild Wild Country (Chapman Way and Maclain Way, 2018)

If you’re fascinated by how ordinary people fall under the spell of a charismatic figure, irrespective of the nature of their intentions, like the Manson family in Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes, end the follow-up marathon with Wild Wild Country on Netflix. The jaw-dropping documentary series tells the story of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, his personal secretary Anand Sheela, and their followers as they build a massive utopian city in the Oregon desert.

They relocated their “spiritual” movement from India to Wasco County, Oregon, prompting thousands of red-and-orange-clad followers to flock and anger the conservative, close-knit residents of nearby Antelope, Oregon. Wild Wild Country explores how their arrival and usage of land ultimately led to a massive cultural clash, resulting in bioterrorism and wiretapping conspiracies.