The thing that’s even creepier and skeevier than the re-enactments in this fairly decent documentary is that it’s produced by Blumhouse. They have the right to make whatever kind of movies they want, but seeing the name of a low budget but dedicated horror movie house on a doc that was already eliciting a creepy mood felt exploitative.

Not half as exploitative as the scumbag fertility doctor who’s the subject of this film, to be clear. Maybe his despicable acts deserve the horror movie treatment.

This Netflix doc is about a fertility doctor who used his own “samples” to artificially inseminate many, many women. The resulting children only found out after at-home DNA genealogy tests like 23 and Me became available. And if there’s ever been a case study for the phrase, “there aught to be a law” it’s this one.

The most interesting thing about this somewhat repetitive doc is just finding out that, yeah, there isn’t a law. And watching the doc, I did find the situation very thoughtful, complex, and maddening. But the doc could have been better served being a short film and being more clear what were re-enactments vs. archival footage.

On the other hand, the more minutes, the more Dr. Crane’s name gets dragged through the Netflix mud.

So… it’s a decent documentary with a noble aim. There aught to be a law, indeed. Until then, a little social embarrassment will have to do.

Score: 76