Stream It Or Skip It: ‘I Survived A Crime’ On Netflix, Where Dashcam Footage Is Turned Into Content

So much of the news in 2022 features images of hard-to-watch crimes caught on amateur video. While many of these videos can lead to movements and protests, some are just terrible or unfortunate events where innocent people are victimized. Netflix’s I Survived A Crime is a show built on the idea that the latter would make for good entertainment. But its it worth your time to watch victims of disturbing crimes re-live their trauma?

I SURVIVED A CRIME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As the show opens, we watch dashcam footage of a driver getting beaten, and doorbell camera footage of a bag being snatched. “Danger strikes when you least expect it,” host Gio Benitez says as this kind of scene plays out over and over. “It can happen at any time. ANYWHERE. TO ANYONE.” Geez, not ever gonna leave my house again with that intro, Gio, but please, go on. “Now, survivors will come forward. To tell their emotional stories. Taking us back. To the moment of attack. And how they survived.”

The Gist: I Survived A Crime, which originally aired on A&E and has been on Netflix since 2021, has been trending recently on the streaming platform. The show’s 20-minute episodes mix security footage of crimes being committed with the stories of what really happened in the moment, but there is no formula to it. Some, but not all, of the stories feature interviews with the victims. Some, but not all, mention whether or not anyone was arrested in the aftermath. One story in the first episode showed footage of a home invasion and – too casually, for my taste – mentioned that one of the intruders was shot and killed in the footage we just watched, before quickly moving on to the next story with no other information. I mean, we just watched a guy get shot, only to learn he bled out in the driveway and we’re already cutting away? I thought we were living in an age of storytelling?

Other segments that appear in the first episode include dashcam footage of a ride share driver who was attacked by a drunk man while his car was still moving. At the same time, another man in the backseat dragged a small, screaming child from the car. Is the child safe? Whose child was it? If there’s one thing this show cares not a whit for, it’s details.

Another incident featured a father and his two teen children as their car was surrounded by a group of people who were claiming they stole the car from another woman. As the father, Lee Allen, tries to explain to the mob that he owns the car, teenage daughter Lexi films the incident, as the car is surrounded and people start smashing it with the family inside. Lexi films as she cries, terrified. As the family recounts the incident, Lexi, clearly still traumatized, breaks down and they need to stop filming. I have to assume the people like the Allens were compensated for their participation but the vibe the show gives is, “Here’s a tissue, sorry ’bout yer trauma.”

The show moves at a bizarre, rapid pace, churning out footage from crime after crime. While, in the Allen’s case, the victims are interviewed, in most cases, Benitez just narrates what’s happening before moving on to the next crime.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The real-life footage of criminals being caught on tape definitely has a Cops feel to it, but with a modern twist since so much of the footage is caught by phones and other, more modern video equipment.

Our Take: Writer Nora Ephron (a phrase that definitely has NO PLACE IN A REVIEW FOR THIS SHOW AT ALL but bear with me) once said that everything is copy. She said this before print was dead, obviously. But nowadays, I think we can safely say that the new version of this is “Everything is content.” From Tik Tok to Instagram comments to the nightly news, every little thing that happens in the world is now something we can turn into watchable/readable content. In the case of I Survived A Crime, this content falls into the category of “terrible things.” I want to write “terrible things that happen to good people,” but in so many of the videos, we never even meet the “I” who survived the crime, so who am I to judge if they’re good or not? The show gives me no context for that. I feel betrayed by the broken promise of this show’s title!

I can usually find something to like, something of value in most shows I watch, but I can unequivocally say that I hate I Survived A Crime. This could be because I don’t want to watch real footage of children in peril. It might be because I don’t want to watch real people having the shit beaten out of them. This could also be because I don’t want to see people weep in terror that they might die. The show announces right at the top that danger lurks everywhere, at all times, and while that may be true, there is nothing redeeming about the way this show positions that danger. The criminals don’t get theirs, and the victims all have PTSD. For real, why am I watching this? No matter what season it is, this is the feel-bad show of the summer.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As the first episode wraps up, clips of everything we just watched are replayed and Benitez says in voice over, “So there you have it. Survival and strength, caught on camera.”

“So there you have it”? The regular people are capturing the content and the bots are writing the shows. I think an actual green light greenlit this show, too.

Sleeper Star: Gio Benitez is the host of I Survived A Crime and is the only person who appears in every episode. An investigative reporter, Benitez contributes to ABC News and Good Morning America, and now look, here he is hosting The Soup But With Crime.

Most Pilot-y Line: “The cranky old man stereotype can often elicit laughs, but what happened to our next survivor at the hands of an irate elderly man is far from funny.” (This single line is 100% the best thing about this show.)

Our Call: SKIP IT. Caps lock on, bold, italics, SKIP IT. I’m not going to get all preachy (oops, that’s exactly what I’m about to do, actually) but just because someone caught a terrifying moment in their life on tape doesn’t mean a million people need to watch it. I’m not saying that we should turn a blind eye to abuses of power or hate crimes caught on tape, but this show isn’t that. It is, however, coasting off of that. To turn people’s harrowing trauma into entertainment isn’t exciting or titillating, honestly it’s just too fucking much.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.