Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels

The first part of The JinxThe JinxThe Jinx released in 2015 gained attention after clips went viral on TikTok.

The clips focused on Robert Durst, the documentary's subject. Durst was a real estate heir who had several people disappear or get murdered during his life, including his wife, friend, and neighbor.

Police could not link Durst to any of the disappearances or deaths, yet many people suspected him.The JinxDirector Andrew Jarecki follows Durst, who previously refused to talk about these matters, by getting access to him.

The viral scene happened when Durst went to the bathroom during filming, forgetting his microphone was on. Thinking he was alone, he said to himself,

I killed them all. What did I do?

The Jinx: Part Two, released in April 2024, detailedwhat happened afterthe crew found the confession, including Durst's 2015 arrest. The documentary also features law enforcement officers reopening cases and Durst's 2021 conviction for his friend's murder and his 2022 prison death (which happened before his trial for his wife's murder).

Documentaries take years to film. But theUpseries likely has the most scope.

The first film in the seriesSeven Up!, aired in 1964. The documentary interviewed 20 British children from different backgrounds and social classes.

The filmmakers planned a single film but followed up seven years later by releasing7 Plus Seven. Audiences now watch these children grow and live, with a new film every seven years.

The latest film came out in 2019. Its title is?63 Up.

Another food documentary that took the world by storm wasSuper Size Me. The 2004 film showed Morgan Spurlock eating only McDonald's for 30 days and tracking the results. Doctors were shocked: the 33-year-old gained nearly 25 pounds and now had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and depression.

The 2019 follow-up to the originalSuper Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, followed Spurlock opening his ownfast food restaurant, letting him see secrets of the fast food industry. He found out how hard it was to buy chicken from a small farm.

This was Spurlock's final film before he died fromcancer complications in 2024.in 2024.

BeforeBig Riverthere wasKing Corn.

King Corntold the story of Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, who moved to Iowa to spend a year planting, harvesting, and selling an acre of corn.

After filming their first documentary, the men felt they had more to tell about their story.Ellis said:

Farmers spent only two hours farming that year. Most time involved spraying, injecting anhydrous ammonia, or spraying herbicides on corn genetically modified to handle direct spraying. A chemical process mixed with a biological one occurred.

Big River., released in 2010, examines farming's ecological effect. It shows how pesticides used ran off into the Mississippi River.

In 1993, most people lacked a good grasp of a politician's campaign details.

The War Room.The War Room showed all campaign aspects. It covered greeting crowds and long stretches where staffers did nothing. The campaign spotlighted Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

In 2012.Return of the War Room.This film interviewed main figures from the first documentary to see their current status. It included key strategist George Stephanopoulos. Filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker also discussed how they made the film and how they managed to do it.They were lucky to do so.They were lucky to do so.

The Look of Silence. Look of Silence.The film came after Adi Rukun, an Indonesian optometrist. Rukun's brother died in the 1965 Indonesian Communist Purge, and he watched filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer's film.The Act of Killing.. The 2012 documentary featured dozens of people who willingly took part in the '65 mass killings. Oppenheimer interviewed them, and they openly talked—even boasted—about their role in the murders.

The follow-up film.The Look of Silence., follows Rukun. He speaks to some of these men, interviewing them and asking about their motives while giving them eye exams. The film earned a nomination for the best documentary feature Academy Award in 2016.

Much has been written about Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein faced charges for commanding a massive sex trafficking ring. He died in prison in 2019 before facing those charges.

Maxwell came into the spotlight after Epstein's death. His former girlfriend, Maxwell, was accused of grooming and preying on young girls for Epstein.She was convicted of sex trafficking.A minor was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The 2022 documentary.Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich.This film shows Maxwell's past. It covers her unhealthy relationship with her super-rich father and the image she presented to those in high society. It is the sequel to the 2020Filthy Rich.The documentary centered around Epstein.

Food, Inc.Food, Inc. made waves in 2008. It showed the conditions of animals in big production facilities. It also investigated the foods normal Americans ate daily and how some ingredients were harmful.

In the sequel.Food, Inc. 2.Robert Kenner directed this documentary, released in 2023, and he returned to examine the worrying habits of food producers. Kenner showed a positive aspect: access to fresh, local produce grew because more people asked for it recently.

Glenn Kenny, a reviewer for Roger Ebert.com, saidThis concerns the film.Food, Inc. appears in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.

This activist documentary engages viewers and offers hope at the end, but it does not sugarcoat its message about changing eating habits: 'Not only can we do it, we have to.'

A sequel to a documentary usually tracks the original subject. In the case ofBig Boys Gone Bananas! is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.However, the filmmakers became the subjects of Big Boys Gone Bananas!

Rewind to 2009; Fredrik Gertten releasedBananas!This documentary explores the claim that Nicaraguan men became infertile after exposure to pesticides the Dole Food company used on their bananas.

Dole became upset after its release and sued the filmmakers for defamation. The 2012 sequel follows this court case and Gertten's fight to clear his name.

In 2000, Big Boys Gone Bananas! was ranked in Documentaries With Great Sequels.cochlear implants were only available to adults for fifteen years; children had only had access for ten years. That is not long for a medical device, especially one that involves surgically implanting it into the skull.to adults for fifteen years; and children had only had access to it for ten years. That is not long for a medical device, especially one that involves surgically implanting it into the skull.

This was why the subjects of theSound and Fury is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.documentary, the Artinian family hesitated about getting cochlear implants for their deaf children. Another issue involved losing parts of deaf culture, like sign language.

The sequel, Sound and Fury, is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.Sound and Fury: 6 Years Later is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.This revisited the family to see their decisions. Almost all family members who considered the device got it, and the film shows Heather, a student who thrived and kept her connection to the deaf community.

The 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.This followed the tragic story of three eight-year-old boys murdered in Arkansas and the three teen boys (the West Memphis Three) convicted of killing them during a supposed Satanic ritual.

The 2000 sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.Paradise Lost 2: Revelations is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.This follows one of the West Memphis Three as he seeks to appeal his death sentence.

In a turn of events, the three men were freed from prison in 2011 after new DNA evidence emerged. The men were released after signingAlford pleas is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.which meant they still claimed innocence but admitted the evidence showed they were guilty.

When Making a Murderer, it was ranked in Documentaries With Great Sequels.Making a Murderer is in the list Ranked: Documentaries With Great Sequels.was released on Netflix in 2015, true crime fans enjoyed it. The series followed Steven Avery's story. Avery served 18 years for attempted murder and sexual assault, but DNA evidence cleared him. Soon after, he faced charges for the 2005 murder of another woman, Teresa Halbach.

The docuseries gained popularity. It questioned the U.S. justice system, leaving viewers asking if more wrongful convictions happen nationwide.

Season two aired in 2018. It covered Avery's new charges and the charges against his nephew, Brendan Dassey, for being an accessory in Halbach's murder. This season questioned if Avery's rights were respected and if the legal process was fair.

Before Gasland Released in 2010, few outside the oil industry knew what “fracking” meant. Josh Fox took viewers deep into the consequences of fracking, showing interviews with scientists and local community members whose land suffered from the practice.

The 2013 sequelGasland Part IIGasland Part II shifts focus to the money in the oil and gas industry. The film also shows how gas entered people's homes' water. One scene shows a man lighting his garden hose on fire.

An Inconvenient TruthThis documentary is one of the most known about climate change. Released in 2005, it became one of the first major media pieces to highlight global warming.

The documentary followed former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to raise awareness about planet dangers. The film won the best documentary feature Academy Award and sold well at the box office.

The sequel, released fifteen years later in 2017, looked at global events since the first documentary. It showed Gore's work educating world leaders and the average person about climate change.

One success the film shows is the2016 Paris AgreementA treaty signed by 196 countries to address climate change.

The docuseries The VowThe series debuted in 2020. It focused on followers (both past and current) of the self-improvement group NXIVM.

NXIVM led Keith Raniere, who later faced a sex trafficking conviction.Keith Raniere, who was later convicted of sex trafficking.He faced racketeering and other crimes linked to the group. The series also discussed how actress Allison Mack, who was in Smallville, helped recruit members.Smallvillehad helped recruit members.

The second part of the series aired in 2022. It focused on Raniere's court case, other founding members, and their current situation.

In 2006, electric cars were just starting to break onto the market. Most people could not picture a car without gasoline; this, plus the 2008 recession, hurt the electric car industry badly.

The documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?Explores the mid-'90s period when car companies began making electric cars. They did this mainly to meet California's new law requiring an electric option to keep selling gas models.

However, the mandate failed significantly, and GM went as far as toTake back the electric cars they sold; crush them.And crush them.

The film's sequel.Revenge of the Electric CarRevenge of the Electric Car takes place in 2011. A new era of electric cars takes over. Elon Musk is a main subject; he desperately tries to keep Tesla's dreams alive.