Netflix review: ‘Don’t F**k With Cats’ internet killer limited series. Was it too disturbing?

When Michael messaged me about a PoC article posted in late 2010 receiving more than 63,000 views in one day, it stuck my curiosity because it’s rare for such an old post the make a comeback. The original post, titled Warning: Video of Boy Killing Two Kittens, can be found here and has more than 103,000 hits to the page in only two days.

Warning: VERY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

We quickly learned the article had been resurrected following the December 18, 2019 Netflix release of Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer. The three-part limited series details the detective work of Deanna Thompson and John Green, two concerned cat lovers, as they attempt to hunt down Luka Magnotta, who was 28 when he posted “1 boy, 2 kittens,” a snuff video showing two kittens being suffocated inside a vacuum-sealed bag. A later video posted online showed a python eating a kitten.

Netflix was careful about how much they showed and how much they didn’t show. To me, the toughest part of the video Magnotta posted (and the documentary showed) was when he was playing with the two kittens after their death. You never see the kittens as they died inside the bag. The python video wasn’t clear enough on the documentary to really tell what was happening.

Thompson and Green were key players in a global manhunt for Magnotta. They knew his crimes against kittens would escalate to a crime involving a person. Their prediction came true with the murder of 33-year-old student  Lin Jun from China,on May 24/25, 2012. That video was uploaded under the title 1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick.

I won’t give away too many spoilers or go into the gory details. Magnotta was tracked from Canada to France to an internet cafe in Belgium where the owner recognized him and alerted police. Magnotta had left information as to his intent to create a whole new identity and start life anew. His vanity is one vice that contributed to his being captured.

Magnotta’s mother stood firm that her son was innocent. She compared those hunting Magnotta to stalkers and internet trolls. He referred to a person named Manny who made him do terrible things and did terrible things to him and his mom totally believed in her son. It turns out Manny was a character’s name in the 1992 movie Basic Instinct, one of Magnotta’s favorite films. There was also a second set of hands in the kitten vacuumer video. It was later discovered they belonged to someone Magnotta videoed to throw police off track that he acted alone in his crimes.

Thompson stated at the end of the documentary

Maybe I did exactly what he wanted. Did we feed his narcissism to the point where he had to go forward? Did we feed the monster or did we create it?

And you at home watching a whole fucking documentary about Luka Magnotta. Are you complicit?

There are several points the viewer, as well as the animal advocates out there should remember.

• Evil doesn’t always look evil. Magnotta was frail and polite
• Police often refuse to move forward when they’re informed of animal cruelty
• The majority of serial killers began by harming or killing small animals
• Tracking an abuser can prove dangerous. Death threats can be expected

After a 10-week jury trial in Montreal in 2014, Magnotta was found guilty, which carries an automatic life sentence for first-degree murder, with no possibility of parole for 25 years. He was sentenced to another 19 years after being convicted for the four other charges. News media reported Magnotta showed no emotion upon sentencing.

According to a 2018 article by The Toronto Sun, Magnotta admitted lawyer Luc Leclair argued that his client was suffering from schizophrenia and hearing voices in his head.

I have no mental illness whatsoever. I had to go with it, even though I didn’t want to, but my lawyers pressured me into it. I told the doctors I had no mental illness. Even now in prison I take no medications, but the lawyers said our only chance was to go with the NCR defence.

I wish I didn’t do it, I wish I testified and told the story my way.

Magnotta admitted to the jury that he’d been planning for months to kill someone.

Cat advocates believe this case is what got the ball rolling to punish those who posted ‘crush’ videos of cats. President Trump signed a bill into law making felony animal cruelty a crime. Click here to read that update.

I’m in awe of those who decided to do whatever was necessary to bring justice to these poor cats. Tracking down a killer is dangerous any way you look at it.

I would imagine there are perverts out there who think they’ll see plenty of blood and gore in the documentary. Thankfully, Netflix was extremely cautious in not only what was shown but how it was shown. If you choose to watch the production, once you make it through the first half of part one you’ll be dealing more with descriptions of violence (which are pretty bad). You’re not going to view Lin Chun being stabbed to death.

The production is very interesting. If you enjoy true crime you’ll likely enjoy Don’t F**k With Cats. For those who say Netflix should never have made the documentary, there’s no one forcing you to watch it. It does make me wonder how many pet killers will eventually move on to harming or killing a person.

For those who did watch the series, was it too much?