Catfishing, aka taking on a fake digital identity with the intent of deceiving others, has been a common element in the true crime genre. Hell, there’s an entire decade-plus reality series about the phenomenon (hi, “Catfish!”)
But that kind of online fraudulence takes a particularly shocking turn in Netflix’s new documentary, “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish,” which has been in the top 10 movies ranking on the streaming service since its premiere on Friday, August 29 and recently ascended to No. 1.
From Skye Borgman, the director of similarly buzzy docs including “Abducted in Plain Sight,” “Girl in the Picture” and this year’s “Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser,” “Unknown Number” is as harrowing as a horror movie, centered on two Michigan teens who were cruelly cyberbullied via text message for two years, only to horrifically discover the perpetrator of the harassment.
Need more convincing? Here’s why you should add “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” to your next Netflix-doc watch list.
What is ‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ about?
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“Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” centers on the real-life horror tale of Michigan-based teen couple Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, who, shortly after they begin dating, start to receive relentless text messages from an unknown number, with the mystery sender curiously knowing personal and intimate details about the adolescents’ lives.
As law enforcement delves into the cyberbullying investigation, however, both the authorities and Licari and McKenny themselves make a shocking discovery about the true identity of the texter, a reveal that rocks the close community of Beal City, MI.
What are people saying about ‘Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’?
“Unknown Number” has clearly resonated with Netflix viewers, as it joins other streaming juggernauts including “KPop Demon Hunters” and “The Thursday Murder Club” as the platform’s top-performing titles of last week, August 25 through 31. And over on Rotten Tomatoes, the doc has a solid 84% Popcornmeter audience approval rating, based on 50-plus reviews.
Over at Decider, Johnny Loftus praises how Borgman smartly knows when to step back and pause the reenactments and contextualization to simply let this stranger-than-fiction narrative play out for viewers: “Once this doc reveals the identity of its titular texter, whether you sussed it out or not, you’ll be struck by the candid, first-person access of what follows. And to its credit, during these moments – some of its best – Unknown Number gets out of the way entirely.”
Carly Hay at Culture Mix echoes those sentiments and also applauds the doc’s economic-but-still-enthralling use of screentime. “Many true crime documentaries are stretched out to three or more episodes when they could have been the length of a feature film that’s less than two hours,” she writes. “’Unknown Number: The High School Catfish’ (which is 94 minutes) uses its time wisely by presenting a fascinating but disturbing story with clearly explained details about the investigation, how the perpetrator was caught, and what the legal consequences were.”
Watch “Unknown Number: The high School Catfish” on Netflix now
