The Octopus Murders

The film follows director Zachary Treitz and his friend, journalist Christian Hansen, as they investigate the Casolaro case.

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders
Official poster
Genre	Documentary True crime
Directed by	Zachary Treitz
Music by	Jose Parody
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Jay Duplass Mark Duplass Mel Eslyn Christian Hansen Juliana Lembi Zachary Treitz Chapman Way Maclain Way
Producers	Maggie Ambrose Shuli Harel
Cinematography	Christopher Messina Brett Jutkiewicz
Running time	48–67 minutes
Production companies	Duplass Brothers Productions Stardust Frames Productions
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	February 28, 2024 (2024-02-28)

The film was released on Netflix as a four-part docuseries on February 28, 2024.

The documentary explores an investigation led by Danny Casolaro into what he termed "The Octopus," a supposed conspiracy involving the US government and its covert operations, and the circumstances around him being found deceased in a hotel room. The film discusses the Inslaw/PROMIS software conspiracy theories, the Iran–Contra affair and the 1980 October Surprise theory. Researcher Christian Hansen revisits Casolaro's work and questions whether Casolaro actually died by suicide. Hansen plays Casolaro in the film's re-enactments.

The film features interviews with Michael Riconosciuto, described by Rolling Stone as a "tech prodigy-turned-drug manufacturer and government operative who drops kernels of truth between what sound like madman ravings". Also interviewed is journalist Cheri Seymour, who reported being shown a doctored version of the Zapruder film in which John F. Kennedy appears to be assassinated by the Secret Service agent driving the car; Seymour interpreted this as an attempt to preemptively discredit her.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 12 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A handsomely produced delve into a truly far-out true crime tale, this American Conspiracy hooks its tentacles into viewers and doesn't let go." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.