Because you should be. Netflix’s new true-crime mini-series exposes the not-so-fuzzy-wuzzy underbelly of the US big cat scene. With bonus mullets, Facebook drama, corruption and scams, questionable pizza, scandals, meth, egos, prosthetics, conspiracies, polygamy, yoga sex cults, fraud, dubious business deals, arson, two failed political election campaigns, and murder-for-hire.
And people getting dragged by tigers, duh.
Like the This is Spinal Tap of actual for-reals documentaries, Tiger King features an ensemble cast of actual for-reals Florida Man memes and Mugshot Monthly pinup contenders, including eccentric big cat entrepreneur Joe Exotic and his arch-nemesis, animal rights activist and possible psycho Carol Baskin, whose increasingly bizarre allegations about each other add up to one of the most compelling, instant binge-o-matic shows ever.
Originally started as an investigative film project by director and animal conservation advocate Eric Goode about controversial big cat zoos, it soon turned into something else entirely.
“It was also recognising just how colourful this subculture is, whether it’s people that own tigers or reptiles, or Monkey Moms or whatever exotic pet subculture you’re talking about. They’re almost unbelievable,” Goode tells IndieWire. “So we first dove into that, really looking at the pathology of people that keep these animals in much the way ‘Best in Show’ does it with dog shows. Then of course, we stumbled onto this story that led us in a whole other direction.”
What are the ethics of breeding big cats in captivity for profit? Is the body of missing millionaire Don Lewis liquifying in a septic tank at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa? What the fuck is even up with Bhagavan Antle and his creepy harem of slaves wives? Goode’s “whole other direction” is not an adequate description of this absurd series of events.
Tiger King is out now on Netflix.