The phrase in the title was enunciated in 2019 simply by then-17-year-old Anthony Templet, who had just shot his dad in their home within Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
More than three episodes, movie director Skye Borgman (also responsible for Netflix’s “Girl In The Picture”) teases out the events that preceded all those actions, including accusations of abuse and child abduction, and also the decision by Anthony’s father, Burt, to home school him and demand that he understand the boy’s whereabouts at all times.
“I Just Killed The Dad” thus slowly peels back layers on this sordid tale — “sordid” becoming the operative phrase for almost everything that Netflix does in the true-crime space, including the recent entries “The Most Hated Man on the Internet” and “Our Father. inch
What makes it all vaguely chilling is Anthony’s numb, unemotional response — seemingly persuaded he hasn’t accomplished anything wrong — and his overall manner, which indicates not all has been right within the home.
After the initial flurry associated with twists, the tale does bog down in the middle, giving way to Anthony’s lawyer as well as the prosecutor in the case looking for a path that feels like justice provided all the extenuating circumstances. As the latter information, there’s understandable worry about appearing to sanction murder, and exactly how letting the child go might be recognized. (The case has been resolved in 2021 , but not knowing how increases the viewing experience. )
Honestly, “I Just Wiped out My Dad” seems to exist largely due to that attention-getting name, which weds old-fashioned exploitation movies with the fare normally available on channels like Analysis Discovery.
Netflix has gone a bit overboard with these type of docuseries in terms of sheer volume, but to be fair, so has everyone else. Moreover, these projects reliably light up social media for a lot less money than venturing out and hiring an all-star cast .
While something similar to “I Just Wiped out My Dad” might not be the kind of material absolutely fun for the whole family, it’s the sort of formulation that usually ensures a visit right to the top of the service’s most-watched tier.
“I Just Killed My Dad” premieres Aug. 9 on Netflix.