My Father the BTK Killer Review
Director: Skye Borgman
Date Created: 2025-10-10 20:44
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My Father the BTK Killer Review: Directed by Skye Borgman, known for her sharp and emotional storytelling in true-crime documentaries like Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, Girl in the Picture and more, the Netflix documentary is approximately 90 minutes long and it revolves around Kerri Rawson, the daughter of Dennis Rader, who went on to become one of America’s most feared serial killers, the “BTK Killer” (short for Bind, Torture, Kill). Using interviews, personal recollections, as well as archive footage, the documentary delves not only into the crimes themselves but also the resultant emotional devastation they caused, particularly to the daughter, who had to carry the reality that her protective father was secretly a killer.
My Father the BTK Killer Review
Most true-crime documentaries dwell much on the crimes themselves—the evidence, the investigation, the killer’s psychology. But My Father the BTK Killer, is the exception by dwelling on the left-behind family. This is not one more story about the killer’s worst nightmares, but the individuals who didn’t even know they lived next to them, whom they loved, and are still left to inherit their legacy.
Director Skye Borgman brings her signature calm yet unsettling style. The rhythm is slow but steady, not frantic, but powerful enough to sustain tension. The narrative rests alternatively on police investigation footage and extremely intimate observations from Kerri Rawson. The filmmaker does not over-dramatise; she instead leaves the silent anguish and bewilderment of Kerri unspoken.
As someone who watches a lot of crime documentaries, I found Netflix’s My Father the BTK Killer refreshingly human. It does not make Dennis Rader an idol. It actually sidelines him nearly so the spotlight is all on Kerri as she attempts to uncover what made her father capable of living the kind of double life.
What is so effective is Kerri’s honesty. She explains the typical childhood she led, her father teaching her how to ride her bike, cheering her on during school events, and basically a typical protective father. Hearing her talk about those recollections, knowing what he actually was, gives the film an eerie sense of tension.
It’s what makes this Netflix documentary My Father the BTK Killer so compelling, I believe. It compels us to confront an uncomfortable question: how well do we know the people we love? The scenes where Kerri is reminiscing about the day she learned her father’s identity are particularly poignant. Her denial turns to shock and then to an agonising acceptance.
The documentaries allow room to breathe for Kerri. We are never presented with her solely as the victim of her father’s crimes but also as an emotionally wounded survivor. The film never makes her some kind of hero, nor does she become some kind of tragedy, but is instead presented as an actual person attempting to put her shattered existence back together by someone she loved so much.
What particularly caught me was the absence of sensationalism in the My Father the BTK Killer documentary. There are no gratuitous re-creation scenes, nor is there any lurking, eerie background score trying to make you yell. Borgman uses silence, pauses, and the rattling voice of Kerri to offer the horror. The presentation is based on sympathy, not shock.
The editing is tight, focusing the attention on the experience of Kerri but never robbing us of the scope of the crimes committed by Dennis Rader. There is an excellent balance between information and emotion, sufficient information to make you understand the BTK case, but not so much that it overshadows Kerri’s story.
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One of the film’s most powerful moments comes when Kerri questions whether her father ever harmed her directly, an unacceptable reality she will have to endure the rest of her existence. The film does not disprove nor prove the point but leaves an indelible sense of discomfort well beyond the credits roll.
The vulnerability by Kerri makes the plot both personal and universal. I liked how it made me think about the cost of evil in human terms, the victims, yes, but the families also, who will have to live with the darkness of evil the rest of their lives. Kerri’s courage to tell her story publicly, knowing she’ll always be linked to her father’s crimes, is quietly inspiring.
More than a story about murder, the Netflix documentary My Father the BTK Killer is about survival, forgiveness, and very hard work untangling the person you loved from the monster they were. It will make you uncomfortable, make you think, but also a bit better able to recognise how tenuously the definition of “normal” is held together.
Netflix My Father the BTK Killer Review: Summing Up
If you’re tired of true-crime documentaries that just talk about killers, then this one will be different. It is gritty, graphic, uncomfortable to watch, not from bloodlust, but from the reality of what you’re observing. The movie doesn’t trace the crime story; it traces the family story corrupted by unimaginably gruesome horror.
