Warning: spoilers for Netflix's The Perfect Neighbor ahead
Some of you might be fed up with Netflix thanks to price hikes and AI overhauls, but we've got to admit, those execs still know how to churn out a great true crime documentary. Whether it be reliving the crimes of Luka Magnotta in Don't F**k with Cats, sympathizing with Simon Leviev's victims in The Tinder Swindler, or struggling not to fall in love with the weird and wonderful cast of Tiger King, the streaming giant likes to deliver a documentary where we never really know what's going to happen next.
Despite all your complaints about the Netflix business model, the streaming giant is having a bumper 2025. We've been fascinated by 'poop' cruises, warned not to believe the fanciful exaggerations of Ryan Murphy's fictionalized accounts of Ed Gein, and tried to understand the motives of Kendra Licari.
Our latest obsession is The Perfect Neighbor, which follows the tragic story of Ajike "AJ" Owens, who was gunned down by her neighbor and tragically lost her life. Geeta Gandbhir's 2025 documentary is told through bodycam footage, chronicling the events that led up to Owen's death on June 2, 2023.
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The documentary shows tensions rising between Susan Louise Lorincz and the kids in the neighborhood, with a disgruntled Lorincz repeatedly phoning the police with complaints of trespassing and harassment.
Owens only features briefly toward the start of the documentary, although as The Perfect Neighbor opens in the aftermath of someone being shot before jumping back in time, it led many to fear the worst before they even learned Owens' fate.
The documentary doesn't hold back, even showing the harrowing moment the father of Owens' children has to tell them that their mother has passed. The Perfect Neighbor might be a brutal watch, but it's part of what's made it soar to the top of the charts in the USA. It could've been a very different story, and the only reason we've been able to watch the documentary is thanks to AJ's mother, Pamela Dias.
Dias permitted the distressing footage to be screened to the public, and now, she's shared her own gut-wrenching response to having to relive this trauma. Gandbhir has relayed Dias' reaction to The Guardian, explaining what the grieving mother thought when she saw The Perfect Neighbour: "I showed Pam the film when it was completed, and I said, 'Is this what you want?' She said, ‘Yes – the world needs to know what happened to my baby.’"
Apparently, the documentary took a major shift when Dias' lawyers lobbied to use the Freedom of Information Act to force authorities to release all materials related to the case. This included a mass of police body cam footage, security cameras, phone calls made by Lorincz, and mobile phone footage.
If not for all of this, The Perfect Neighbor would've likely been a very different project.
Even though Gandbhir admitted it was a 'mess' of raw footage, she used her skills as a filmmaker to make it into something more. She says she approached Dias and pitched a film that would honor her daughter, seek justice, and be licensed or sold to provide financial support for the family while still having a 'broader societal impact'. With Dias' blessing, The Perfect Neighbor has more than earned its 'perfect' 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic score.