Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan 

Written by Olivier Megaton and Brice Lambert

Directed by Oliver Megaton

Season 1 released in 2021 – Available on Netflix

An interesting look at dissociative identity disorder (a.k.a multiple personality disorder) via the life and death of Billy Milligan, a rapist and (probably) murderer who evaded the criminal justice system and jail time by claiming to have multiple personalities.

Through interviews with him, his parents, his siblings, and the many people that prosecuted, defended, and treated him, the documentary asks two questions:

1. Did he have dissociative identity disorder or was he faking it?
2. Is dissociative identity disorder a legitimate mental disorder at all?

To the director’s credit, no definitive answers are given. But this limited series does manage to shed light on the corruption and bullshit of the psychiatry industry in the US and the effect of media-inspired hysteria.

What I Liked About It 

* The video footage of Milligan was riveting.

* The probing into the psychiatry industry was thought-provoking.

What I Didn’t Like So Much

* The directing and editing were a bit too artsy for my taste.

* It could have been an hour shorter.

Critical Reception 

* “Billy Milligan is an interesting character…. The mistake, and it is a massive one, was the endless repetition of interviews that had already proven their point, whatever it might have been.” (Easy Reader News)

* “At the center of this overlong, occasionally fascinating four-part documentary series is the question of whether you can be a dangerous, sociopathic narcissist and not be harboring a boatload of stowaways inside your head.” (Wall Street Journal)

You can watch the trailer here.