This New-to-Streaming True Crime Doc Will Make You Reconsider One of the Worst Reality Trends
Can something that brings justified damnation upon society’s most vilified wrongdoers be questioned, or should it even be? Predators raises that very question, with an insightful look at the popular To Catch a Predator series. Hosted by Chris Hansen, To Catch a Predator documented the process of luring pedophiles to a sting house, where their arrest is captured on camera. No one will ever sympathize with these perpetrators, of course, and Predators doesn’t. But what it does is give one pause about the process, and its legacy, and reconsider what the drive behind the trend truly is.
‘Predators’ Questions What Was Learned from ‘To Catch a Predator’
To Catch a Predator premiered in 2004 as a series of segments on Dateline, and it quickly became the flagship series’ most popular segment. It positioned itself as a public service announcement of sorts, alerting parents and guardians of the dangers that await their children on the internet. To do so, the production team turned to actors who would enter online chat rooms, posing as young teenage boys or girls, and, once someone took the bait, steer the conversation toward a promise to meet in person at a home in the area. Once initiated, the team would wait out in the sting house until their mark showed up, at which point Hansen would come out and interrogate the individual. Once done, he would allow the individual to leave; only the police would be waiting on the other side for them, placing them under arrest. All of it, from the point of contact to the point of their arrest, captured on camera. The show earned plaudits from those who simply wanted to see these sick men captured and kept away from innocent children, regardless of the process. Yet it also stirred controversy from critics who questioned the ethics and motivations behind the production. No one had a problem if the series was genuine about protecting children, but it was a different story if the intent was simply to create a circus show around exposing these men, generating both money and ratings. Unfortunately, evidence suggested the latter, with Brian Montopoli of CBS News among the first to claim that To Catch a Predator lacked journalistic integrity. Predators makes a case that the legacy of the show leans towards the latter as well, with those who have taken the trend started by To Catch a Predator and utilized it for likes and shares over a true desire to do something noble. To that end, the documentary highlights the work of a Chris Hansen YouTube copycat (per Collider), who lured a man to a cheap motel room, saying, “You’ve been Skeeted,” as the man sits in the corner, crying about being suicidal over his sexual desires. It’s a testament to the deft skill of documentarian David Osit, who made the film, that he isn’t creating sympathy for the wrongdoer, but rather questioning the staged nature of the event, replete with his own catchphrase.
‘Predators’ Exposes the Truth Behind ‘To Catch a Predator,’ But Misses an Opportunity
To Catch a Predator came to an end shortly after the suicide of one Bill Conradt, an assistant district attorney in Texas. He was a target of the team, but never showed up at the sting house, leading the team to make the questionable decision to confront Conradt in his own home, only for Conradt to shoot himself in the head when a SWAT team entered. The outfall of that tragedy stands as one of Predators’ strongest examples of how the show scarred those involved. Dan Schrack was an actor for the show, and the one who posed as the decoy that lured Conradt, and it haunts him to this day. “You could offer me $10 million to film that episode in Texas again,” Schrack said of the episode that led to Bill Conradt’s death. “I wouldn’t take it. I would not take it and be happy about that decision.” Former detective Walt Weiss, who participated in the sting, has even harsher words for Hansen’s show, and himself, saying: “They went over there and did that at that house because it would do something for the show, not something for society, not something in the interest of law enforcement. And the role that I played in it. That’s a stain on my soul that I’m gonna live with if I’m any kind of a human being at all.”
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The Truth Behind NBC’s ‘To Catch A Predator’ Is a Lot Darker Than You Think
The predators on the show weren’t the only sketchy things about it.
Coupled with outtakes from To Catch a Predator that show captured men asking for help, knowing that life as they know it is over, thanks to impulses they don’t understand why they have, the documentary points to the forgotten part of these stings. There is a human element, and these men are still people, Predators shows, and as sick as they are, they still need help. And while it’s easy to have little empathy for them – and, again, Predators doesn’t manufacture it – an interview with the mother of an 18-year-old, who was caught engaging with a girl he believed was only three years younger (legal in most states), highlights the dangers of these stings, placing entertainment above due process, and ruining a life in the process. To be fair, Predators does devote time to those who believe in the likes of To Catch a Predator, who believe the ends justify the means, allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusions without providing a clear answer. But the documentary does miss out on an opportunity to make a deeper statement by neglecting if these stings even work. Per the previously cited Collider, there’s an instance in Murphy, Texas where 24 men were caught, but never charged, with the district attorney and the Mayor refusing to prosecute, feeling the situation had been tainted with the involvement of cameras. And in another instance, a twenty-six-year-old man, accused of trying to have sex with an actor on the show playing a 13-year-old girl, was acquitted outright, with the judge throwing out the case and accusing To Catch a Predator of entrapment. Predators doesn’t give viewers the answer, nor does it condemn those on either side of the argument, but it does pose the questions, asking us to look at the gray of a black and white issue before cementing one’s position. Predators is now available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
Release Date
September 19, 2025
Runtime
96 Minutes
Director
David Osit
Chris Hansen
Self (archive footage)
已发布: 2025-12-14 01:00:00
来源: collider.com
