Murder by the Coast (2021) User Reviews

An engaging true-crime documentary that stays focused on the facts! [+71%]

[arungeorge13 · 7/10 · 23 June 2021]

Murder by the Coast is a Netflix true-crime documentary that is part-Spanish-part-English. It qualifies as a whodunnit, a case of wrongful conviction, and yet another instance of multiple women being mistreated. Writer-director Tània Balló approaches the murder case(s) objectively, never taking sides or focusing on wild theories surrounding it. The individuals picked for the interviews shed further light on two separate incidents of murder in a very direct, factual manner. Any text that appears within the film is shown first in Spanish, followed by English. This style encapsulates the Spanish-British story overlap in a perfect way. With a run-time of under 90 minutes, Murder by the Coast makes for crisp viewing.

Coming to the incidents themselves, the documentary makes you feel for its central characters and questions the unfair nature of media trials. The trauma inflicted upon the women - ranging from the mothers of the murder victims, the lesbian who was convicted because she easily "fit the profile" (are you serious?), the woman who was attacked and left severely injured by the offender, the ex-wife of the offender - are all showcased without distorting facts or overplaying emotions. I'd have loved to see a short interview of Dolores Vázquez where she could speak against the miscarriage of justice meted out to her. The authorities who allowed Tony Alexander King to commit more murders and the media which resorted to feeding frenzy should both be ashamed of themselves.

Another interesting crime documentary from Netflix.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 26 June 2021]

A very interesting documentary from Netflix, it focuses on the murder of two young women, and a quick conviction.

It's an interesting case of crime and murder across Britain and Spain, you will hear some harrowing testimonies and some shocking facts.

I feel a little awkward commenting on cases such as these, as the events are clearly still raw for so many concerned.

The initial conviction, gives you an idea of how powerful prejudices can be, and how a jury can clearly be influenced by a passionate case. I do hope she got a settlement for the misery they caused her.

I vaguely remember something about The Holloway Strangler, it amazes me how someone can live a virtually normal life, and function like an ordinary person, but love with the horror of his crimes, baffling.

Very interesting, 7/10.

Justice Mijas

[Lejink · 7/10 · 19 July 2021]

I had a particular interest in watching this new Netflix documentary, firstly because I live adjacent to Mijas and recognise it and other filmed neighbouring locations, but also because coincidentally I live next to a Spanish husband and wife who are actually judges in Malaga where much of the court action took place. The next time I see them I'll be asking them of their recollections of this case which is notorious for being a miscarriage of justice which saw an innocent woman convicted and serve over a year in prison before the true killer of two teenage Andalusian girls was finally revealed and convicted.

In 1999, a young Spanish woman Rocio Wanninkhof disappears on her way home from her boyfriend's house. Her body is later found some distance away, stabbed to death. A media frenzy ensues and a woman named Dolores Vasquez, who had been the lesbian lover of the deceased girl's mother, is charged, tried and convicted despite having no apparent motive or linking DNA evidence and indeed had an alibi the day of the victim's disappearance. In what seems a case of trial by media, this woman is convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, the inference being strongly made that her sexuality has in some way contributed to her guilt.

Four years later in a nearby town to the first murder location, another 17 year old girl is abducted from practically outside her parents' front door and afterwards found brutally killed close by. This time however the DNA under the slain girl's fingernails is processed and found to match that found at the first crime scene and it's definitely not Vasquez's.. As this news breaks to the general public, a woman living in the area who was once married to an immigrant Londoner called Tony King, formerly known as Tony Bromwich, who after she married him learned he had a criminal history of sexual attacks, including jail-time, reports her suspicions to the police. This leads to King / Bromwich, who still lives in the area, being at last convicted of the double murder. Ms Vasquez is naturally released from prison but receives no apology from the Spanish government or legal system and certainly no compensation for the travesty of justice she has undergone.

It was shocking to see how the Spanish legal system got this case so wrong from the start and how complicit the media was in getting the quick conviction of a clearly innocent woman. It was also disappointing to see Rocio's mother so unrepentant about the wrongful imprisonment of a woman with whom she once had a relationship. Perhaps the most telling indictment came from the mouth of the second victim's mother who pointedly asks if her daughter might be alive today if the Spanish authorities had more fully investigated the first crime and indeed responded more fully to warnings from Interpol about the newly emigrated King / Bromwich being a danger to society, especially women.

Very interesting to watch for me for a number of reasons, this film proved that there are certainly no national boundaries to things like police incompetence, shallow journalism and miscarriages of justice.. Nearly twenty years on from the events retold here, I have to hope that the Spanish law enforcement agencies learned from this infamous case and operates far more robustly and correctly today, not that I ever wish to experience this at first hand any time soon.

Critical Thinking Needed

[MeadtheMan · 24 June 2021]

Not surprised a wrong conviction was initially reached in an environment where there's endless talking and impassioned feelings but very little reasoning. In many societies, people wouldn't hesitate to judge, self-express, give opinions, and react, but very few are willing to reason, listen, analyze, question, and look at things from multiple perspectives.

Concise documentary

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 24 June 2021]

A concise documentary covering the murders of two young girls in Andalusia; and one botched trial. The doc gave a good overview of events, interviewed relevant people, and had a lot of archival news footage. The English dubbing worked well, knowing when to leave it in Spanish for the news footage.

Your generic true crime doc, but also not...?

[TreeFiddy53 · 7/10 · 25 June 2021]

What starts off as a generic true crime doc takes a few turns here and there that you may not see coming. The show has a lot of original interviews and some GOOD new shots of the coast of Malaga.

As it is the case with crime docs, it shows the dark side of an individual, but also that of the society along with its selfishness and greed.

It's a quick short watch. Check it out!

Entertaining, tense, and interesting... but I did miss a lot of information

[Guanche48 · 6/10 · 28 June 2021]

Pointing each other guilty without knowing the facts!! Without proof or even any useful Dna. A complete desaster.

I missed a lot of testimonies, and it feels like the police don't even admit their mistakes, only talk about their hard work!, This is not even close to hard work.

Very frustrating that the society falls for this, and is not able to form their own opinions any more about serious things, you are sending someone to jail!! %%$$##@@

The only nice images in this documentary are the ones from beatiful Spain.

THE MOST PAINFUL IS TO REALISE THAT THIS STILL HAPPENS TODAY!! INCREDIBLE!

I am from Spain, and yes.. it is still like that now, and of course worldwide.

Interesting watch

[gallagherkellie · 7/10 · 29 June 2021]

Very sad story. People who are wrongly committed and them not even compensated after - it makes me so angry!

Easy to watch and enough information.

I feel very sorry for the ex wife of the guilty man, especially his kids!! Imagine growing up knowing your dad is a rapist and murderer.

The victim's mother....

[dfqzwjxmn · 9/10 · 29 April 2022]

The victim's mother, Alicia, I found her to be a very surprising character. I understand her pain of losing her daughter, but to discover who the real killer was and to still insist to pin it on your ex lover, out of pure vengeance and hatred, is something that just shows how evil she is. She even expressed feelings of sympathy for the killer, describing him in a positive manner at some point in the documentary, how he was tall, good looking, good manners when they met in the past. This is appalling, your own daughter's killer... no remorse for what the poor woman (Dolores) had to go through, still being delusional that, even when there is clear proof who the real killer was, she still wants to believe that the killer was Dolores, out of pure evil and hatred and resentment in your heart.... I found her a terrible woman, vindictive. I had the feeling that she enjoyed being in the spotlight, talking to reporters, years after the crime, she loved being a little star, just mean spirited, terrible woman.

More than just a true crime documentary

[Billiam-4 · 6/10 · 7 April 2022]

More than just a true crime documentary this film presents the case of an outrageous injustice and analyzes the prejudices and media hysteria that caused it.

Average true crime doc that ticks the boxes

[tradeoutsdaviddb · 5/10 · 4 May 2023]

Crimes like this are nothing new, nor sadly are the travesties of injustice that see people wrongfully imprisoned. The reason this was commissioned by Netflix over all the other cases is the LGBT angle. Unfortunately statistics show that female same-sex relationships are more violent than any others, Netflix chose not to tell us this. Why ? Instead it accused the police of being homophobic. Profiling exists for a reason, and has helped solve many crimes, or at least narrow down the list of suspects. Netflix chose to portray the investigation as biased when it was simply working on the probability, opportunity and motive. Please do better next time Netflix.

Disgracful Miscarriage of Justice

[rbrb · 8/10 · 19 August 2022]

This is an excellent documentary.

A true account so it seems how an innocent woman is wrongly convicted of a crime she did not commit.

It shows the prejudiced suffered by someone simply because she is gay and a woman.

The film is about a child who is murdered and how ignorant town folk and a warped judicial system convicted a woman based mainly on the fact she is a lesbian.

There was never enough proper evidence even to create a case to answer.

And the investigating authorites shown again to be totally incompetent, biased against gays and useless.

This movie and these events deserves more coverage and outrage in the gay community:

8/10.

Apparently justice systems are horrible close to everywhere

[ajbarm · 7/10 · 15 September 2023]

If you have enough patience this documentary has some sort of payoff.

It handles every case in the relative perceivable detail that you could expect, mainly with the most important highlights which point to the result that was achieved for every case.

I think it's important to recognize that it paints a picture of how the system takes the pain in people and tries to arrive at an outcome that will satisfy the victims, but not specifically to make sure justice is served and that is a big flaw. Since i have never been involved in any criminal case directly or indirectly i don't have first hand accounts to how the justic systems operate around the world, but i wouldn't be surprised this type of outcomes happen considerably often in many countries.

It's absolutely despicable that the justice and legal systems are as rotten as shown here, and how the media as well is to blame for this making people angry and thirsty for vengeance more than justice and then the legal and judicial system just caves in to the pressure the media helped propagate. Really for shame. Things must change for the better or more innocent people will pay and will suffer because of these ways of handling cases by the media and the system.

Same old

[PacmanKO88 · 5/10 · 18 July 2021]

This is basically like a long dateline. Nothing new or especially great here if you know the story. If you don't, there's nothing perplexing if you like crazy plot twists and a good whodunnit. Emotionally it has its moments but overall was lacking. Hearing from the survivor (the British woman) was really the only aspect which affected me greatly.

it's really triggering (for me)

[billahassya · 8/10 · 26 June 2021]

Alur pelaku mirip sama unlimited series 'Unbelievable'. Feel sorry for Delores who have to struggling after she was released and no one came to her to say sorry.

For more documentaries like movies with one episode

[alesilvacastro · 10/10 · 23 July 2021]

It's given an appropriate amount of time to make it interesting without being tiring. There should be more series like these instead of exploring irrelevant details.

With reference to the story itself, it's sad and shameful to know that a woman in a developed county suffers a miscarriage of justice and she is not even compensated after spending almost 2 years of her life in jail. Not even a formal apology from the responsibles for the institutions. Where is the justice about that?

A true eye-opener

[GomezAddams666 · 10/10 · 23 June 2021]

Not only is this documentary very well-structured, but it is also an eye-opener to the archaic and unjust legal procedures that still permeate our modern era.

It gives us a look at how the media demands someone is punished for a crime, whether they committed it or not, and the very real consequences of the wrong person being convicted, after all, if the wrong person is imprisoned then there is a murderer out there.

Should tragedy strike twice due to an unjust criminal system, and a relentless blood thirsty media, who is to blame? Even more important, who should be held accountable?

Excellent Murder Mystery Documentary

[FilmHaiku · 10/10 · 25 October 2021]

Great true crime documentary that isn't overly long or drawn out to say, 3-4 "suspenseful" episodes.

Awful miscarriage of justice based on the flimsiest of evidence and innuendo...The media plays a role in all of this too.

Then another murder occurs...

Prejudice

[avindugunasinghe · 9/10 · 23 July 2021]

A vicious murder ! A community stolen of it's sense of familiarity and the feel at home coming together. A nation seeking justice for the lost lives. Misconceptions and prejudice misleading all and allowing the predator strike once more. If it's not for the vigilance of a one lady and the last victim who put up a fight , would this mystery have gone unsolved?

Concise and engaging

[tommygorman-07488 · 10/10 · 1 April 2023]

This documentary has a short run time, but covers quite a bit. It uses concise storytelling to focus on the important issues **spoilers** such as wrongful conviction. It's a good watch and highly recommended!

Spoilers***

How could a woman be convicted for a murder when her fingerprints didn't match the ones on the scene? In fact, the tire tracks from the crime scene matched none of the cars she owned; no DNA was a match and she had an alibi. There was literally NO physical evidence against her.

She was convicted because she was a lesbian?! I mean seriously? 1999 and they're pointing fingers like they're in Salem, accusing people of being witches. It's quite unbelievable.