'Abducted in Plain Sight' is Netflix's latest true-crime hit to get traction on social media
- Netflix's latest true-crime hit is "Abducted in Plain Sight," about a young girl who was abducted twice in the 1970s.
- The documentary originally made its way through film festivals in 2017, but recently landed on Netflix.
"Abducted in Plain Sight" was first seen by audiences in 2017, but based on internet reactions, it's brand new. Call it the Netflix Effect.
The true-crime documentary first made its way through the film festival circuit in 2017 under the title "Forever 'B'," but many viewers are just discovering it thanks to the streaming giant adding the doc to its library this month.
The hour-and-a-half film tells the true story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped twice by the same 40-year-old child molester in the 1970s when she was 12. The documentary has provoked many reactions on the internet since landing on Netflix due to its shocking twists and turns:
Netflix recommended it on Twitter on Wednesday for those who liked its original "Fyre" documentary and the doc series, "Conversation with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes," both of which have entered prominently into the pop-culture conversation recently, as Business Insider's Nathan McAlone noted.
READ MORE: Netflix is nearing a deal for Zac Efron's Ted Bundy movie, and could drop up to $9 million for it
Both "Abducted in Plain Sight" and "The Ted Bundy Tapes" show Netflix's focus on the true-crime genre, which began in earnest with its series "Making a Murderer."
On Twitter Wednesday, Netflix suggested some of its other true-crime hits, including "Evil Genius," "The Keepers," and "Wild Wild Country."
Beyond documentary, Netflix is also closing in on a deal for the Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy movie, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," out of Sundance.
Critics have been mixed on "Abducted in Plain Sight." It currently has a 70% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote, "It unpacks too many bizarre events in a short time frame to allow for much additional analysis."
"While it's easy to think that no one alive could be as naive as the Brobergs, the documentary is a sobering reminder of the power of manipulation, the failures of the justice system," Emma Stefansky wrote for Thrillist.