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Netflix’s ‘Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers’ Reopens the Wuornos Case With Rare Footage

The Netflix documentary uses rare interviews with courtroom footage to reframe the case’s facts through Wuornos’s own words.

Overview

  • Released October 30, the feature-length film from director Emily Turner revisits Wuornos’s 1989–1990 murders through archival materials and first-person recordings.
  • The documentary incorporates courtroom testimony, unused Dateline elements, and a 1997 interview in which Wuornos explains carrying a gun as a means of getting home safely to her partner.
  • Coverage contrasts the film with 2003’s Monster, noting a portrayal of Wuornos’s sexuality and her relationship with Tyria Moore that aligns more closely with the historical record.
  • Adoptive mother Arlene Pralle, who legally adopted Wuornos in 1991, appears in the film, renewing interest in figures tied to the original case.
  • Early reviews describe a collage-like, watchable style yet fault the film for sketching big questions about trauma, confessions, and capital punishment without fully probing them.