Netflix’s new gut-churner of a true crime documentary is A Toxic Love Story, a wild and twisty saga boasting multiple layers of deception and subterfuge. Some may recognize it as one of many news headlines about creepy Craigslist stalking and catfishing crimes. Depressingly, there’ve been so many of them they start to blur together, but this one stands out for its fistful of jaw-dropping moments that are all but tailor-made for docs like this. Twister: Caught in the Storm’s Alexandra Lacey directs, and thankfully toes the line of sensationalism without crossing it — not that that really matters, because these juicy true-crimers are big hits on Netflix whether they’re journalistically rigorous or trashy and manipulative.
A TOXIC LOVE STORY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: “I wish that everyone would just tell the truth about the events of this story.” So says Leslie in the opening lines of this documentary. She’s close friends with Ian Diaz, and insists their relationship is purely platonic. They live in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, and met while working at Disneyland. They bonded over their unofficial membership in the Disney Adults cult, er, subculture, and maintained their friendship after Ian became a U.S. Marshal and got engaged to Angela. The engagement happened quickly, within months of a meet-cute at a Starbucks. Angela moved into Ian’s condo, and before you know it, she was pregnant with twins. Leslie says she was thrilled that her friend was happy and in love. This all happened in 2016.
But the bliss was shattered when Angela started receiving bizarre emails from someone identified as “LilithIsTruth,” threats of violence and death with a righteous Biblical tone, sometimes with gruesome pictures attached. It soon became obvious that the emails were from Ian’s ex-fiancee Michelle; they had bought the condo together prior their breakup, four months before Angela entered the picture. Ian and Angela called the cops multiple times, and filed a restraining order; Leslie happily served Michelle the legal papers. We see police bodycam footage in which Ian asks what it’s going to take to get Michelle arrested.
But the emails kept coming, one of which detailed how a man would come to the condo and rape Angela. Michelle had allegedly put an ad on Craigslist impersonating Angela, inviting a strange man to invade the home and act out a rape fantasy. We even hear commentary by a man identified as “Rick,” who says he responded to the ad and drove to the condo but didn’t follow through. (He speaks anonymously so he won’t be judged for his “sexual fetishes.”) Angela and Ian called the cops again, and we see more bodycam footage of Ian guarding his front door with his service gun unholstered. Soon after, a man showed up at the condo when Ian wasn’t home and roughed up Angela. That was enough. The cops picked up Michelle, who found herself in jail with a $1 million bond, facing a potential life sentence.
Case closed! Wow, that sure was cut-and-dried, wasn’t it? Except Michelle is appearing on camera, obviously having consented to be interviewed. Same with her father and his angry WTF tone. And there’s still an hour left in the doc. Hmm. We rewind to 2013, and dig into Angela’s story pre-Ian, which is rife with strange and manipulative behavior. NO SPOILERS. We also meet a Department of Justice investigator specializing in digital forensics, who, as a matter of procedure, took a second look at the criminal case surrounding Michelle, because it involved Ian, a government law enforcement agent. Things weren’t quite adding up. NO SPOILERS. Michelle is still talking. Her father is still talking. Leslie is still talking. Even this “Rick” guy is still talking. But I’m going to stop talking now because, you know, NO SPOILERS.
Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Thirty-nine days have passed since Maternal Instinct deeply disturbed us (that’s an even more upsetting saga than Toxic Love Story), which is an eternity in Netflix true-crime time.
Performance Worth Watching: That DOJ agent, Jason Higley, saw things that even other cops missed during investigations. That’s why he’s a pro and not just a podcasting true-crime hobbyist.
Sex And Skin: None.
Photo: Netflix
Our Take: Lacey’s approach to this Toxic Love Story is a little bit manipulative, getting fudgy with some sourcing of the commentary, blurring the line between what’s real-life footage and reenactments and holding back a tidbit or two of information in order to preserve the plot twists. But for the most part, this is a relatively straightforward retelling of a story that’s by its very nature sensationalist. She allows the jaw-dropping turns to play out in a manner that’s more logical than scheming — a key element that maintains some of the doc’s journalistic credibility in a world riddled with exploitative true-crime garbage.
Which is to say, there’s enough salaciousness to the story that it’s ripe for the typical Netflix treatment: an assemblage of talking heads, reliable narrators, unreliable narrators, reenactments, FOIA’d police video and audio, TV news clips, and the occasional title card explaining what happened to various participants in the drama. Although the deviant behavior exposed here is primarily psychological, Lacey doesn’t play armchair therapist or interview psychologists, which is a wise move that allows the audience to search for their own conclusions. We’re left wrestling with the big fat WHY of the situation, and ponder not just the motives of the various players here, but the narrow-but-navigable legal margins in which anonymous internet creeps operate, whether they’re emailing threats or seeking out violent roleplaying fantasies.
The result is a documentary that outlines familiar stories about revenge and extreme narcissism, within the thoroughly modern context of the internet age. The digital realm enabled these crimes, and it took a digital detective to unravel the schemes. The human condition is as fragile and corrupt as ever, regardless of setting. Where do we go from here? Minority Report thought-crime legislation aimed at guys like “Rick”? Intrusive digital identification methods that compromise personal privacy? Toxic Love Story fully intends to make us shake our heads in disbelief at the behavior on display here, but the questions simmering in the subtext reveal that it has more on its mind than just dropping shocking twists.
Our Call: Toxic Love Story is a reasonably responsible true crime doc that’s more substantial than you might expect. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.
