The Octopus Murders creators set record straight on “frustrating” ending

The creators of the latest Netflix true crime saga, American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, have set the record straight following backlash to what’s been described as a “frustratingly ambiguous” ending. 

Directed by Zachary Treitz and from the producers of Netflix’s Wild Wild Country, The Octopus Murders is a fascinating deep dive into conspiracies, crime, and cover-ups. The story begins with Danny Casolaro, a journalist who was digging into a multi-tentacled conspiracy he named “The Octopus.”

As he ventured further into the rabbit hole, Danny went to meet a lead in Virginia. But before the meet-up, he was found dead in his hotel room bathtub. Though police ruled it a suicide, his family and friends are convinced he was murdered before he could get to the truth. 

The Netflix true crime docu-series sees Zachary following his friend, photojournalist Christian Hansen, who jumped into the rabbit hole after becoming aware of the case and essentially picked up where Danny left off. Now, the duo have opened up about their show’s divisive ending. 

The Octopus Murders creators address “frustrating” ending

The American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders ending has been described as “frustratingly ambiguous,” with some viewers upset it doesn’t provide definitive answers – however, the filmmaker has described why he finds this “annoying.”

In a conversation with GQ, Zachary explained: “I try to avoid reading reviews or whatever, but when people are like ‘these guys didn’t land on a [definitive] place, therefore this documentary is invalid’ – I find that so annoying. Like, you want us to be Godlike, or go out on a crazy whim and say ‘this happened’? Does that invalidate all of the other stuff that we found, that nobody’s seen or heard before?”

Ultimately, there was no other direction the documentary could have taken. It was deliberately open-ended to reflect the very nature of conspiracy theories such as the one Danny and Hansen were chasing. With so many sources and so much information, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction – especially when motives and misinformation are thrown into the mix. 

A perfect example of this is the JFK scene. In The Octopus Murders, investigative journalist Cheri Seymour recalls being shown what she was told was the “real” Zapruder film, the footage of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kenney. In this version, the driver appears to be the shooter. However, Seymour suggests this was doctored in order to generate confusion and jeopardize her credibility. 

“That’s my favorite scene in the movie,” added Zachary. “It’s emblematic of so many things that are going on in this story. I was asking Cheri continually, ‘Were you afraid?’ And eventually, hours into the interview, she was like, ‘You keep on asking me if I was afraid… I don’t feel fear.’ I was like, ‘Whoa…’ I’d be freaking the hell out. 

“Just because we don’t know everything, it bears telling that crazy story about the JFK tape and [Cheri] trying to be preemptively discredited. You do sound crazy if you tell somebody, ‘I watched an alternative history of the JFK assassination where the driver shoots him.’”

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Another aspect of the Netflix doc is essentially the red pill vs blue pill debate – those who became engrossed in the conspiracy are led down a never-ending rabbit hole. You can either get lost in it or forget about it and live your life. 

When asked about whether he’s been able to settle with the latter, Hansen replied: “I can tell you that, with the show coming out, and with it being a success, some of the people watching it are people that know certain things related to the story and they’ve been contacting me and we’ve been trying to vet them. And no, it’s not been relaxing, it’s been intense. It’s been fascinating. And like I say in Episode 3, it never ends. It never will end.

“But I’m focussing on having balance in my life. I’m exercising. I’m eating healthily. I want to find a girlfriend. I think you can work eight hours a day on an investigation and [still] go out for dinner with your friends.”

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is available to stream on Netflix now – head here to find out more on what it’s about, and here for all of the true crime and documentaries heading to streaming this month.