Netflix’s limited series Don’t F*ck with Cats is not f*cking around when it comes to feline abuse and this graphic, edge of your seat documentary will definitely keep you awake for its entire run because of its graphic nature and crazy twists and turns. And when I say crazy, feel free to assume the worst. 

Synopsis:  Don’t F*ck with Cats is a documentary about a group of computer nerds who band together to track down a serial cat killer and find themselves engaged in an 18-month hunt for a potential serial killer.

If you didn’t know that Don’t F*ck with Cats was a documentary, you would have easily believed that its a movie playing out with the number of revelations and bombshells that were present in this case. As data analyst Deanna Thompson and her partner John Greene investigate the case of a cat killer somewhere in North America, they find themselves obsessed with the clues he dangles in front of them to provoke panic and alarm. 

With each video uploaded, more clues surface, but the team of online sleuths faces brick wall after brick wall when each breakthrough they make is dismissed by authorities. As they watch the situation escalate and the suspect’s behavior grows increasingly more dangerous, they are forced to exhaust all efforts to be heard. 

Don’t F*ck with Cats was compelling because even though it was long, audiences feel in the moment with John Greene and Deanna Thompson and well as their internet alter egos. They got to know the killer because of the endless hours they poured into getting to know his communication patterns, his interests, his obsessions. They spent hours and days on end searching for clues that may lead to the cat killer who had a strong tendency to kill a human being. It was amazing to learn how much data could actually be harvested from a single photo and how a person could be tracked down even remotely by a truly determined pursuer. Wow. 

I admired their tenacity in the face of adversity. Their efforts were way ahead of law enforcement officials who were investigating the case. It was frustrating to see how police investigators dismissed the leads that they received from Deana and John’s team compared to the way the online sleuths treated each lead when they received leads on the cat killer at the beginning of the chase. The amateur detectives explored all of the leads that were given to them, no matter how farfetched, but detectives sat on an entire dossier of information on Luka Margotta the entire time they were investigating the Jun Lin case. 

The detective even mistakenly assumed that Luka Margotta was the victim without following up on the clues that she gathered from the crime scene. And what the heck kind of investigator admits that she left in the middle of watching the murder video because it was so graphic? Is it not the job of an investigator to pore through every possible lead and soldier through every disgusting moment of a murder case, no matter how gory it may be? 

Canadian police also seemed too relaxed about the investigation and seemed to wait for evidence to fall into their laps. When the evidence was confirmed in the apartment, it was like, can we move on? This was already confirmed in the video. And they were too nice to the suspect. Too polite, too accommodating, too gullible.

There would have been a possibility that they fell for the Manny alibi too, and that was a scary thought.

The fact that the killer orchestrated everything so smoothly and without remorse a year before the actual murder was terrifying. I seriously had to calm myself down before going to bed because I was afraid that the documentary would haunt me in my dreams. 

Kudos to the filmmakers for excellent storytelling. The editing and the music also added to the sense of menace and evil that followed the story. The cruelty, the madness, the psychosis that started from an unimaginable act of killing and filming multiple cats, the interweaving of the actual CCTV videos with re-enactments and current footage, it made audiences feel in the moment.

I hid under the blanket for the cat and murder videos. I didn’t have the stomach for it knowing what was going to happen. Don’t F*ck with Cats unfolded just like a real-life movie and it was terrifying to realize that such people truly exist in this world and that people relish notoriety for evil acts. Poor innocent animals. Poor Jun Lin.