There are countless life stories, but this one transcends horror within a family that is far from normal. Meet Dee Dee and Gypsy, mother and daughter, the protagonists of "Mommy Dead and Dearest", the most terrifying documentary of 2017.
A year ago, our friend Ferzzola recommended Tickled, a documentary about tickling, madness, and extortion, which explores human miseries and the less conventional side of the Internet. This year, following tradition, director Erin Lee Carr presents "Mommy Dead and Dearest", the most terrifying documentary of 2017, which investigates the murder of Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard by her daughter Gypsy Rose Blanchard in 2015. It all began with a Facebook post from Dee Dee that sparked controversy: That Bitch is Dead! With that starting point, Carr, a crime enthusiast fascinated by the case, takes us back in time, specifically to Springfield, in the southwest of Missouri, where mother and daughter lived, to show us the following story:
From a very young age, Gypsy spent her entire childhood and part of her adolescence in a wheelchair. She had leukemia, suffered from seizures, and had to use a feeding tube. One might feel sympathy for a child in such conditions, but things are not always what they seem. Clauddine manipulated her own daughter by lying about her age and about being sick, to the point of shaving her head in an attempt to fake cancer and forcing her to live in a wheelchair, among other horrors detailed in the documentary. Gypsy was a victim of what is known as Munchausen syndrome, a rare disorder in which parents fake or induce symptoms of illness in their children for mere emotional satisfaction.
In this case, the mother exploited her daughter for sympathy, as well as for donations, free trips, and other fraudulent means to earn money. Gypsy lived locked up, without friends, and only went out accompanied by her mother. Over the years, the young woman secretly befriends Nicholas Godejohn, to whom she confesses everything she has experienced with her mother. But Nicholas also has a dark and disturbing history that gradually opens up with Gypsy until they finally become a couple. This forbidden love culminates in the murder of Clauddine Blanchard on the night of June 12, 2015. Although the couple fled the scene, they were arrested a few days later in Wisconsin and charged with murder.
The documentary explores child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden relationships, using home videos, medical records, text messages, interrogation room clips, and interviews with Gypsy, who was sentenced to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. On the other hand, Nicholas Godejohn has been charged with first-degree murder and must wait until next year to learn the courts' verdict. Directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr, Mommy Dead and Dearest premiered on HBO on May 16, 2017, as part of its documentary catalog. If you don't have the channel's service, you can find other ways to watch this terrifying documentary that is circulating around the web.
Official site: Mommy Dead and Dearest
