Netflix just added one of the most frustrating thrillers of all time

Two years ago, Netflix released a chilling and extremely frustrating documentary series titled Don't Pick up the Phone, leaving viewers horrified. The doc detailed the true story of a series of scam calls that took place across a decade starting in 1994.

The caller in question would contact places, usually fast-food restaurants, pretending to be a police officer and then convince employers to perform strip searches on their employees and other humiliating acts. Most discussed is the 2004 incident at Kentucky McDonald's. The victim, 18-year-old Louise Ogborn, was ultimately sexually assaulted because of the impersonator on the phone call and everyone who willingly believed him without seeking further proof.

This case has been covered in several documentaries and by a few podcasts. Then, in 2012, Craig Zobel adapted the story into a feature film titled Compliance, which was just added to Netflix.

Compliance features a strong cast, including Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Bill Camp, and Pat Healy. It received praise at that year's Sundance Film Festival, with Dowd winning a National Board of Review Award for her performance.

Viewers were in disbelief that the events of Compliance could ever happen in real life

But while critics praised the movie, general audiences were more skeptical, primarily because people had such a hard time believing that anyone would fall for a scam of this nature and allow things to progress as far as they did.

The irony is that while many "based on a true story" films change many events for the purpose of dramatization, Compliance barely does so, meaning just about everything that happened in the movie is allegedly true to the 2004 case, with the characters in the film inspired by the real people involved in the incident.

When the controversial film premiered at Sundance, it received significant pushback from the audience. Several filmgoers were upset by Becky's drawn-out torment.

According to an old article from The Hollywood Reporter, things became even more disturbing when actress Dreama Walker, who played Becky and had to be naked for a significant portion of the movie, walked onstage to a heckler shouting, "Your body is pretty appealing."

Marti actress Ashlie Atkinson came to her defense, saying, “My immediate reaction upon seeing the film is that a girl as cute as Dreama feels so robbed of any agency and thereby any effort at beauty. If you can see beauty and find it appealing when all of her agency and her power is taken from her, then I don’t know what to say to you."

The sexual assault itself is not shown on-screen, but Compliance is still very much a disturbing film and one that is hard to watch. That's a testament to the chilling subject matter and the cast's gripping performances.

Knowing the movie is based on a true story doesn't necessarily make it an easy or pleasant watch, but it might help viewers to understand why things play out the way they do because the horrible truth is that is what happened in real life. Like the results of Stanley Milgram's shock experiment, Compliance depicts an unsettling inclination for people to submit to authority no matter what, even just the perception of it.

Compliance and the docuseries Don't Pick Up the Phone are now on Netflix.