Stream It Or Skip It: ‘American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders’ On Netflix, About The Death Of A Reporter Who Was About To Blow Open A Massive Conspiracy

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is a four-part docuseries, directed by Zachary Treitz (Mark and Jay Duplass are among the series’ executive producers), that tries to unravel the 1991 death of journalist Danny Casolaro in a West Virginia hotel. At the time, the death was ruled a suicide, but given the fact that Casolaro was on the verge of blowing open a conspiracy he called “The Octopus”, which reached the highest levels of the federal government, that ruling seemed suspicious. Hansen, a friend of Treitz’, took up the case about a decade ago and it has more or less taken over his life.

AMERICAN CONSPIRACY: THE OCTOPUS MURDERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The tone of a phone ringing. A retired police detective answers; on the other side of the phone is photojournalist Christian Hansen.

The Gist: Through archival footage, reenactments and interviews with paramedics and law enforcement, as well as family members like Casolaro’s brother, Dr. Tony Casolaro, Treitz starts to tell the story of how Casolaro, who was the editor of a 1980s-era computer magazine, found this story. It starts with a company called INSLAW, which created software called PROMIS, which ran on a mainframe and allowed the Department of Justice to search and cross-reference evidence files that were previously only on paper. When the DOJ stopped paying INSLAW and its founder, Bill Hamilton, for the license for the software, not only did it send the company hurtling towards bankruptcy, but it led Hamilton to think the DOJ was stealing the code.

With Hamilton as a source, Casolaro started to uncover just who was involved in this decision, and when one avenue led to another, the tentacles of the aforementioned octopus became apparent. He even told his brother that, before he went to West Virginia to investigate an aspect of the case, if anything happened to him there, it won’t be an accident.

When Casolaro was found in a hotel bathtub filled with bloody water, his wrists cut multiple times, the local law enforcement and the coroner deemed it a suicide. But an observant paramedic realized he couldn’t make some of the cuts that were on his wrists.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The far-reaching implications of American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders gives off the same vibe as a docuseries like The Family.

Our Take: Treitz does not fool around with a lot of storytelling gadgetry when it comes to telling the story of American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders. He doesn’t need to. Firstly, his way into the story is Hansen, who has more or less dedicated his journalistic career to this case over the last decade, to the detriment of his mental and physical health. Because Hansen and Treitz are friends, it certainly gives the director an inside look at how this case can become all-consuming.

But the series takes two tacks: How the pursuit of the case in the present is affecting Hansen as well as just what led to the murders of Casolaro and the others who were killed in relation to this case. Treitz combines those two tacks well, especially when Hansen gets in touch with Michael Riconosciuto, a software genius that Hamilton found out had the PROMIS code and was so dangerous, an NSA rep said that a person “could get killed just by mentioning that name.”

So the series is going to go down parallel but related paths, showing where Casolaro was going with his investigation at the same time as showing where Hansen is going with what he’s been able to look into based on Casolaro’s notes, recordings and other material. It’s a fascinating peek into how people who are trained to uncover the truth can get so far in the weeds on a story that has so many pathways and rocks to turn over, but at the same time it’s a fascinating look at just how the U.S. government — or any government for that matter — is doing things on a level that 99.9 percent of the people of the citizens aren’t even aware of.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: In 2021, Riconosciuto gets in touch with Hansen and leaves him a message to call him back.

Sleeper Star: Dr. Tony Casolaro, Danny’s brother, is a key figure in getting law enforcement to see that his brother’s death was a homicide, not a suicide, and his clear-as-day recollections of the case in the present are among the most compelling interview segments in the first episode.

Most Pilot-y Line: There’s really not much we can think of here. Even the reenactments are done in a sparing and unobtrusive manner.

Our Call: STREAM IT. American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is a fascinating look at a case that not only has huge implications about how the U.S. government ran in the 1980s and ’90s, but it’s also gives a lot of insight into how journalists can get so deep into stories that sometimes have pretty humble beginnings.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.