Critic Reviews

"Paranormal Rangers" probably freaked me out the most of all the episodes in Volume 3. ... "The Ghost in Apartment 14" starts out as the story of a haunting, but somewhere in the middle, it becomes an unsolved murder mystery as well. Even if you don't believe in ghosts, this story will captivate you — and probably make you squirm a little, honestly.

While there might be no Robert Stack replacement to guide us, but the stories within “Unsolved Mysteries” will likely grip you just how the original show did. In the first six episodes that were screened for press, the series offers plenty for true crime fans to satisfy their fix.

The mysteries this new version discusses are fascinating and the episodes are well-researched with good storytelling. We just wish they named it something else.

It would have been interesting for Unsolved Mysteries to get the authorities on record. But according to a postscript, those agencies denied a request to speak.

The types of cases profiled on the new Unsolved Mysteries are also consistent with its ’80s and ’90s incarnation, albeit leaning more toward mysterious disappearances than paranormal phenomena. And the stories told by the victims’ loved ones are indeed compelling. ... Some of the cases are less mysterious. ... The alien episodes are still fun.

Unsolved Mysteries manages to satisfy both its old and new audiences and deliver at least one case that’s as unique as it is baffling. The rest of the half-season is weaker, but “Thirteen Minutes” gives fans plenty to work with.

The lack of a host also leads to a feeling of repetition. Stack and Farina’s narration not only kept things moving, but were able to fill in blanks that didn’t need to be prodded from the subjects. Here, the emphasis is on having the family members lay out the story in its entirety, and what isn’t verbally explicated is presented in on-screen timelines. ... It leaves “Unsolved Mysteries” feeling generic.

Bloated and still inconclusive, the new “Unsolved Mysteries” benefits from Netflix’s usual high production values for nonfiction programming, but there’s no reason for these episodes to drone on as they do; there’s not enough story to support their running time.

The biggest unsolved mystery behind Netflix's reboot of Unsolved Mysteries is, "Why bother?" This new incarnation has almost none of what made the original memorable, substituting generic cases and limited style in stories (episodes run less than an hour) that are too dull for a miniseries and too meekly investigated for a newsmagazine.