All Charlie Shackleton had to do was give the Sundance Film Festival a 90-second video introducing himself and his documentary Zodiac Killer Project, which premiered at the festival on Monday. Instead,

Watch enough true-crime documentaries and patterns begin to emerge—a situation that speaks to the genre’s embrace of a cookie-cutter formula defined by a host of recurring narrative and formal tropes.

The twisted tale of a high-society murder in India, filled with secrets, lies, and the shocking truth about a mother’s dark side. A chilling documentary on the Yorkshire Ripper, showcasing the fear he brought to England and the relentless hunt to bring him to justice.

N one of us talk about the inherent predatory nature of true crime documentaries. They pick over the bones of cold cases and unspeakable crimes, retraumatize survivors, dramatize

The Zodiac Killer Project by Charlie Shackleton masterfully exposes the tricks and tropes of true crime. It just debuted at Sundance.

Two titles in the non-fiction category play with real-life expectations as well as filmmaking conventions. While Zodiac Killer Project is a meta-examination of the true crime show, The Dating Game looks at Chinese men hunting for romantic partners.