Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

The hatchet-wielding hitchhiker (Netflix documentary film)

27 replies

porpy · 13/01/2023 22:47

Did anyone watch this on Netflix?

Wow, I’d never heard of him or this story before.

interesting watch and I really liked that it was compressed into one 90 min documentary film, so many Netflix documentary series drag a topic out through 5 hours of episodes with too much filler and boring bits.

OP posts:
SmellsLikeMiddleAgeSpirit · 13/01/2023 22:58

Yes, I saw it. What a disturbed individual Kai was. Something definitely wrong there. Such bizarre behaviour ...

DriveInSaturday · 13/01/2023 23:07

I watched it the other day. One thing that struck me was the naivete of the media people, expecting Kai to be just a cuddly surfer dude that they could use as a reality TV show character. It showed the bubble that they exist in, and.their lack of awareness of an

DriveInSaturday · 13/01/2023 23:08

Anything outside it.

DriveInSaturday · 13/01/2023 23:11

Anyway it was worth watching and I hadn't heard of him before either.

Sorry about the breaks. Mumsnet is playing up for me.

VirginiaQ · 13/01/2023 23:15

Yes I've just watched it and never heard of it before. I was more shocked that all these people thought he was some cuddly lovable hero. He made me feel really uncomfortable from the outset. Even if what he did was 'justified' in the circumstances he genuinely seemed to relish and enjoy the violence involved. Should have been a huge red flag for all those media people.

I couldn't believe the media lot they were allowing men and women to ferry him around and some cases stay in their homes on their own. Bizarre and scary.

RoRosmama · 13/01/2023 23:48

Yes! Just watched it. I too had never heard of him before. It made me feel uncomfortable and I cringed a lot!
The murders were absolutely awful and the attacks on the two ladies but for some reason I just couldn't get over him pissing over the Hollywood stars walk of fame and and him skateboarding through the hotel 🤦🏼‍♀️

Spirini · 14/01/2023 00:00

I also watched it. Poor Kai is a very disturbed man, but I do believe he was raped. That man seemed like a dodgy fucker.

EndlessTea · 14/01/2023 00:08

Something about it reminds me of Aileen Wuornos. I wonder if he has been a rent boy and would get triggered? Both known victims were a similar older, grey-haired, paunchy, white-man type. Maybe there are more unsolved murders out there that were assumed to be robberies gone wrong?

Scrapper142 · 14/01/2023 00:30

I'd not heard about him before. I spent most of it thinking why/what's going on, assume something will happen to have a reason to make this. But had lost interest by the end.

It was a poorly made true crime doc, not paced right, didn't explore background enough, weighted towards the fame part too much.

However I write that aware true crime docs being 'good' compared to not feels distasteful as crimes remain.

SunshineAndFizz · 14/01/2023 00:54

I also had never heard of this 'viral' sensation.

Was very surprised it came as a shock to everyone that he had mental health issues/a darker side, surely that initial clip of him had a few spoiler alerts in that sense.

thisusernameisnotavailablepleasetryanother · 14/01/2023 01:03

At the beginning I found him quite amusing smash smmmash ser mash lol.
But as it went on it was plain as day he had mental health issues

Original poster
porpy · 14/01/2023 08:38

Maybe it was only really a ‘viral sensation’ in America/parts of America, nobody I know here has heard of it!

It was definitely clear to me even from the initial clip of him that something was ‘off’. It did seem very naive of all the TV/media people, especially the woman allowing him to stay alone at her house (and this was AFTER a lot of the insane behaviour they witnessed)

OP posts:
Original poster
porpy · 14/01/2023 08:43

Spirini · 14/01/2023 00:00

I also watched it. Poor Kai is a very disturbed man, but I do believe he was raped. That man seemed like a dodgy fucker.

There was something off about a 70+ old wealthy man randomly inviting a young homeless guy back to stay and his house and giving him food and beers etc.

I agree with PP that the documentary seemed to weight a bit too much on the initial fame/viral thing rather than the subsequent murder and the trial.

OP posts:
HPLikecraft · 14/01/2023 09:55

There was something off about a 70+ old wealthy man randomly inviting a young homeless guy back to stay and his house and giving him food and beers etc.

Yes, there was. Why was he there? The whole thing is very odd.

VirginiaQ · 14/01/2023 10:33

HPLikecraft · 14/01/2023 09:55

There was something off about a 70+ old wealthy man randomly inviting a young homeless guy back to stay and his house and giving him food and beers etc.

Yes, there was. Why was he there? The whole thing is very odd.

They didn't explore it much but I assumed that Kai engaged in prostitution to get by and that's why he went home with the victim. The Police said the sex was consensual but his defence was something along the lines that since his viral video he no longer needed to have sex with men like the the victim (who he described as 'not a looker') which suggested that previously he did have sex with men for money.

Original poster
porpy · 14/01/2023 17:28

I’m surprised they didn’t mention any of that on the film!

Had a look through Twitter and there seems to be a lot of people saying Kai was failed.

OP posts:
harrassedmumto3 · 15/01/2023 14:47

Have just finished this. I was hooked.
My impressions, for what they are worth:

  • it's clear he was mentally unwell from the start. Look at his eyes when he describes what he did to the driver - they are absolutely wild.
  • his mother seems like a very cold and unfeeling bitch. I daresay Kai did have ADHD and was a handful, but his cousin backs up the claims that he was locked in a room.
  • prostitution was likely. The money for his weed doesn't just grow on trees. I think he was raped by the creepy old lawyer - and probably by others - and so it triggered something in him.
  • the media people exploited him totally. They knew he was vulnerable and a loose cannon, albeit not the full extent. The only reason the woman had him stay in her home was because they didn't want to lose him before the TV interview.
  • I actually feel sorry for him. It's not like he went around killing people indiscriminately. Or at least we think/hope not! Would be very interesting to see what his fellow homeless had to say about him. Usually I complain that Netflix series are too long ... but this one was too short and there was too much left unanswered!
LowbrowVictoriana · 15/01/2023 15:19

I actually feel sorry for him. It's not like he went around killing people indiscriminately. Or at least we think/hope not!

I feel the same. If he was someone who just got off on murdering people for no reason, or 'had a taste for blood' then surely he'd have killed more people? Something made him flip. Whether it was due to mental ill health, being triggered by some earlier trauma or ill treatment from this man, who knows... but Kai's unusual and dysfunction behaviour during his period of 'fame' I think went against him in court.

Izzabellasasperella · 15/01/2023 15:35

I watched it. I vaguely remember the video at the time but I didn't know what happened after.
He definitely had mental health issues and an abusive childhood.
Didn't the documentary say that he went back to the old guys house to stay a second night the day after the rape and that's when he killed him? Also he claimed self defence when the police could find no evidence of that. I don't think he was the hero that many thought him to be.

HRTQueen · 16/01/2023 20:26

I watched this yesterday

Kai was obviously an unwell man that the media exploited while claiming they were trying to help him. Shame on them I hope they are embarrassed by themselves if they watch the documentary. The couple at the end spoke more sense and honesty

A horrific crime (no 70 year old man picks up homeless young men just to be nice so I don’t doubt that he took advantage of Kai but that is no way excusing any violence). Sadly this could have been prevented this is the result of such poor mh care in the US. He never stood a chance

LikeTearsInRain · 16/01/2023 20:50

I fell upon this seeing it at the top of my Netflix and his image giving me a sense of deja vu. When the little snippet/trailer started playing I recognised seeing the video and meme autotune songs in my final year of university.

It presented everyone really badly I think. Everyone just wanted to use his viral success for their gain. Overlooked his issues and kept just trying to milk him. The media lady who had worked with the Kardashians is awful.

I read some posts on Reddit with people giving their reactions to what they thought of it. There was also some decent discussion about how the investigation and his prosecution is very questionable and his defence was really botched.

JemimaTab · 16/01/2023 22:55

I felt that the documentary was focused too much on the viewpoint of the journalists (who wanted to exploit and monetise Caleb), and as such the tone was a bit off. It was pretty clear that Caleb had some very significant mental health issues, but they seemed to want to present him at first as a charming eccentric, and later as some kind of dangerous predator. Neither were quite right.
I remember reading some interview with his dad a few years back, and he clearly had some big issues with the trial - apparently there were some problems with evidence, and he felt that the odds were stacked against Caleb due to his being Canadian and indigenous, and that his mental health issues were not fully addressed. But the documentary really rushed through the trial and didn’t really go into any detail about the controversies surrounding it.

EightMonthsScared · 17/01/2023 15:48

"There was something off about a 70+ old wealthy man randomly inviting a young homeless guy back to stay and his house and giving him food and beers etc."

Agreed. I suspect the old man wasn't being charitable but in my head I debate whether what went on was consensual or not.

Either way, I could see the rage beneath the surface right from the off. I wonder if Kai was a born psychopath (given his notes 'charisma' and lack of concern about consequences)? I do believe what he says about his bad childhood too so that wouldn't have helped.

EndlessTea · 17/01/2023 19:53

Agreed. I suspect the old man wasn't being charitable but in my head I debate whether what went on was consensual or not.

Isn’t it possible for someone in prostitution to have a sudden awareness of what is happening- basically an awareness that they are being sexually abused by a stranger and be put into fight or flight mode? Especially if they are already mentally unstable.
The agreement, the money exchanged for consent, would evaporate in the visceral horror of it, especially if you are a prior victim of rape/abuse. ‘Consent/consensual’ has a very different meaning when money/drugs/etc have exchanged hands as part of the bargain.

The old man probably just saw a cute young rent boy he fancied a piece of, and either didn’t pick up on his mental instability, or thought it was worth the risk.

EightMonthsScared · 18/01/2023 11:24

@EndlessTea I agree with you and I was thinking that but it didn't come across in my comment.

I think somebody as damaged as Kai could have an intense and unpredictable response in a situation like that. My gut feeling is that that is what happened.

Swipe left for the next trending thread