Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer’ On Netflix, A Docuseries About An Attention-Seeking Murderer Who Ticked Off The Wrong People

We had no idea that there was such a thing as “Rule Zero” of the Internet. It makes sense, especially because cute cat videos have been the best thing the Internet has brought us. The rule says, “Don’t fuck with cats, or we’ll find you.” As a new Netflix docuseries shows, that rule rings true, and it can get pretty damned serious. Read on for more…

DON’T F**K WITH CATS: HUNTING AN INTERNET KILLER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A director claps a slate, while a woman being interviewed says, “You’re ready?” We see her Facebook login, ‘deanna.tl43’, and she talks about all the great parts of the Internet, plus all the dark corners. Then she mentions what is called “Rule Zero” of the Internet: “Don’t fuck with cats.”

The Gist: Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer, a three-part docuseries written and directed by Mark Lewis, is a look at how a murderer named Luke Magnotta was tracked down and arrested in 2012, thanks to some very internet-savvy people who were horrified at videos he posted in 2010 of him killing various cats and kittens.

In the first episode, we hear mostly from Deanna Thompson, a data analyst for a Las Vegas casino, and John Green, who is based in Los Angeles. In 2010, they both saw the horrifying viral video of a man taking two kittens, putting them in a plastic bag, and vacuuming all the air out of the bag until both kittens suffocated. They were both in a Facebook group that wanted to figure out who this lowlife is. But while most of the users spewed threats and emotion, both Thompson and Green wanted to follow the facts.

The first episode is how the two of them, along with people like Joe Panz of the 2009 series Rescue Ink Unleashed, scoured the video for clues as to where the video might be shot, and followed the trail of who liked it and other crumbs of clues. The killer, obviously looking for attention, kept taunting them with videos of the dead kittens along with other cat kills, and then created a fake Facebook account that led the group, out for blood, to a person in Africa who later killed himself due to depression. This was not the person they were looking for.

Eventually, they’re alerted to Luke Magnotta, who auditioned for a reality modeling show in Canada. He tried to get attention in 2007 by claiming people were saying he was dating notorious Canadian serial killer Karla Homolka. It became evident that Magnotta, who looked like the person in the original video, was an attention seeker, and both Green and Thompson were aware that many serial killers started by killing and torturing animals before moving on to people.  Then things got really serious.

Our Take: While Don’t F**k With Cats feels like it tries a bit too hard to make Facebook groups and internet searches into a fast-moving docuseries, it’s still a fascinating look at how ordinary people can root out a killer using the same internet tools that are available to everyone. What the difference is between folks like Thompson and Green and the overly-emotional people you see in Facebook groups and other social media leaving “let’s get him/her!” comments is that they stayed calm and followed the facts.

And even though Lewis takes some time to show raw footage of slates and the interview subjects trying to get comfortable in front of the camera, he gives plenty of respect to them, showing that even though they started as people who were horrified at the initial video, their dedication to finding out just who would do such a despicable thing, and the digital forensic methods they used to find him made them into fine detectives.

It was fascinating to watch Thompson and Green follow the digital trail, being able dig through thousands of online photos, both faked and real, as well as frames from the various videos, to pinpoint where Magnotta was shortly before posting the first video. The fact that they narrowed it down to a building in suburban Toronto was remarkable, but it just speaks to how violating Rule Zero gets people so angry that they’ll dedicate their lives to finding you.

What’s also fascinating is that this is only the beginning of the story, as we know that Magnotta did turn to killing people, and putting videos of those killings online. So it’ll be interesting to see how Thompson, Green and others chased him down, under threat from Magnotta himself and with the knowledge that the longer they take, the more people will be killed.

Just a warning: While the series doesn’t show the worst parts of this sicko’s videos, it does show one where he manipulates the dead kittens’ bodies as well as the fear on one cat’s eyes right before he feeds it to a cobra. Yes, he’s that sick. Just hearing the descriptions made us look away, so if you’re particularly sensitive to this sort of thing, you may want to find something else to watch.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: Green gets a link to a video, and he says “What the fuck? Fuckin’ told ’em he was gonna kill somebody,” and we see a shadow of someone stabbing someone just off-camera.

Sleeper Star: We like the reporter from the Sun in London who went to the inn where Magnotta was staying after getting a tip, and secretly recorded his conversation with the killer.

Most Pilot-y Line: Like we said above, the first part utilizes a ton of mock Facebook screens, a technique that can be useful but feels overused here.

Our Call: STREAM IT. We might not have known about Rule Zero before watching Don’t F**k With Cats, but we sure know it now, and know that even a serial killer can be brought down by the right pissed off animal lovers.

 Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer On Netflix