What is Netflix true crime documentary The Anthrax Attacks about?

Netflix has produced quite a few popular documentaries in 2022, including The Tinder Swindler, Bad Vegan, and White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch. On top of rom-coms and fantasy series, their documentaries and docuseries are one of the reasons people keep coming back to the streaming service. And that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, especially with their latest documentary, The Anthrax Attacks.

Just one week after the September 11 attacks in 2001, several letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to news media offices, including one to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw, though it never made it to him. If you weren’t around during that time, you can probably still imagine how it made an already scary time even more so. The new documentary takes a deep dive into exactly what happened.

The documentary tells the story through reenactments from actors, including Agents of SHIELD star Clark Gregg. The documentary is directed by Dan Krauss, the Oscar-nominated director of the documentary short Extremis, which tells the story of doctors, patients, and families who have to make end-of-life decisions in the ICU.

What is The Anthrax Attacks about?

More specifically, The Anthrax Attacks tells the story of the week after Sept. 11, when five Americans were killed, and at least 17 people fell ill from anthrax that was sent through the mail.

The doc shows the panic and paranoia of the time. No one knew who was responsible or who would be the next person to receive a letter with anthrax inside. It also didn’t help that the fear of deadly poison was piled on top of the fear from the massive terror attack that had occurred a week prior to the letters appearing.

The film covers the FBI investigation of what has become known as one of the worst biological attacks in American history.

The Anthrax Attacks streams on Netflix on Thursday, Sept 8. Will you be watching The Anthrax Attacks when it comes to Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!