On a June afternoon in 2019, a Baton Rouge 17-year-old named Anthony Templet called 911 and recited the line that makes up this new Netflix true crime documentary’s title: “I Just Killed My Dad”. From Skye Borgman, the director of The Girl in the Picture – the hit show that dropped last month inciting shock in its viewers – what follows is another example of a compelling American true crime story so strange you wouldn’t believe it was real if it wasn’t being told to you by the people involved in it.
In June 2019, Burt Templet aggressively attacked his son. As an act of self defence, Anthony Templet shot him three times, killing him. He called the police himself shortly after, admitting to the crime, ending up in prison and, later, court, for his actions. The documentary then proceeds to unpack the court case in minute detail, bringing forth evidence that gets progressively more and more shocking. It points towards Anthony’s state of mind in the lead up to the killing, and more importantly, showcases how Burt put him in that space.
It dropped on Netflix yesterday, but already folks on the internet have started swarming towards it. On Reddit, the user @Driew27 commented: “Holy shit….the ending to that first episode gave me shivers down my spine. I knew nothing about this case but my god.” @Mimimeme2 called it “One of the saddest [documentaries] I have ever watched.”
This seems to round out Skye Borgman’s trilogy of true crime tales for Netflix. It started with the shocking Abducted in Plain Sight, about a brainwashed 12-year-old girl Jan Broberg, who was abducted by her next door neighbour, a close family friend – who wound up being a paedophile – twice. Then came The Girl in the Picture, about a young woman’s mysterious death, and the history of the relationship with the man who adopted her, and later falsified papers to marry her. I Just Killed My Dad is now her most recent directorial credit, but she’s a consulting producer on an in-the-works, dramatised version of the Broberg case, titled A Friend of the Family, from the creator of The Act.
Critics have responded well to the documentary too. The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan said it would “sweep away your faith in humanity” in a four star review.
You can stream I Just Killed My Dad on Netflix now.