Amanda Taylor: The Selfie Killer in Her Own Words

Jonathan Doe leaves his emetophilia fetish films (if you don't know what that is, you're better off) to interview the infamous "Selfie Killer" in this compelling documentary.

Amanda was leading a troubled life when she married Rex Taylor. They bonded over grindcore music, "Natural Born Killers," and writing serial killers in prison. Amanda gave birth to two children, one was Rex's, and they tried to create a family as they suffered the throes of addiction. Rex eventually committed suicide, and Amanda tried to grieve without really knowing how. She blamed Rex's father Charles for Rex's death, and stabbed him thirty-one times, taking a selfie with the body and posting it online afterward. She then went on the run with her new boyfriend, shooting him too, before being arrested and thrown in prison for the rest of her life.

The entire film is the video call interview between Doe and Taylor, with some footage of the locations that the Taylors would be at, and the outside of the house where the murder took place. Doe is a very calm, complacent, almost monotone interviewer, and he lets Amanda tell her story with few interruptions- and what a story it is.

I empathized, but did not sympathize, with Amanda. This is a deeply troubled woman suffering from mental illness. To say that she blames everyone but herself for her crimes and problems would be an understatement. I felt bad for everyone involved in this situation, especially Amanda's two children, as well as the victims of her crimes. This is not a jazzy "Dateline" episode, the production is bare bones to the detriment of the viewer. Doe gives Amanda a platform to speak, and Amanda contradicts herself again and again- not factually, she admits what she did, but about her feelings and thoughts of what she put people through. Amanda is photogenic and it's easy to see why some men would be attracted to her, but it seems she had three strikes against her before she got a chance to start living her life....