A new documentary just came out February 27th on Hulu, and it has everyone on the edge of their seats. The documentary is about a former YouTube star, Ruby Franke, who turned her home and family’s life into a horror movie. As someone who grew up watching the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, I was extremely intrigued to watch this documentary the day it came out.
The 8 Passengers YouTube channel was created by Mormon mother, Ruby Franke, in 2015. It started as a fun, family channel with Ruby Franke herself starring as the picture-perfect motherly guide. Ruby Franke was married to Kevin Franke, and they went on to have six kids. The two oldest, Shari and Chad, were featured throughout the entire documentary. The youngest four kids were not featured due to privacy concerns. Their faces were covered in YouTube clips and their names were not mentioned in the documentary.
However, being a part of the Mormon religion, mothers are supposed to be as abundantly visible as possible; the more people who follow their preachings, the more status they have in the Mormon church. In this case, Ruby found her most status and popularity by sharing her “preachings” and parenting advice on YouTube.
The channel was the beginning of the family’s downfall, including the removal of many family members as well as the addition of a new one: Jodi Hildebrandt. Jodi was the founder of a Mormon counseling group called “Connexions” that focused mainly on marriage counseling but also in family therapy. As a trusted “psychologist,” Jodi heavily influenced both Ruby and her husband, Kevin, and the relationship ultimately led to Ruby’s decline in parenting.
Jodi and Ruby’s relationship has always been suspicious to me. I always saw clips of their podcast, or even them in the vlogs together and have been skeptical of their “friendship” for a while. Ruby’s family members mention their own skepticism about Ruby and Jodi’s relationship in the documentary, like the fact that they eventually shared a room together instead of Ruby sleeping with her own husband, which confirmed my own theories about the relationship.
Much more chilling evidence is revealed throughout the documentary that I was completely shocked to see – from behind-the-scenes footage of the YouTube channel to even Ring Camera footage from a neighbor. After seeing the vlogs as a kid, thinking the family was picture-perfect, it was nothing less than surreal seeing the truth.
As a documentary enthusiast, this was absolutely chilling and horrifying, but I couldn’t shut it off. The little kid in me, who watched this YouTube family on her iPad, is heartbroken.
The documentary does an amazing job of painting a timeline that is accurate and easy to understand. Shari and Chad Franke’s interviews were so important to the story and added more detail than I thought possible while watching. Shari mentioned how hard it was being isolated from the family while she was away at school, and we also learn more about Chad’s experience after being one of the family members kicked out of the house. Furthermore, we can also see how helpless the family members were in their situation. It is not only heartbreaking, but crucial to the court case against Ruby.
Kevin Franke’s side of the story is confusing at times, and makes him hard to like and sympathize with, but towards the end of the documentary, we see how his perspective completes the story. His side of the story is very controversial for many reasons: some say he could have stepped in and helped by divorced Ruby or attempted to take the kids after getting kicked out. But others, including Kevin himself, say he was hopelessly in love with Ruby, and that blinded him to seeing what was really going on. I believe that Kevin could’ve done more than just move out and instead of not looking back at his family until Ruby gave him the “OK” he could’ve taken action to keep his family safe. His attempt to “clear his name,” to me, makes him look more incriminated in this situation.
If you’re interested in or are trying to start getting into documentaries, I 100% recommend this one. It’s intriguing, disturbing, and leaves you still wanting to know more about the behind-the-scenes of this family and their vlogs. With the documentary only being three episodes, it’s short but definitely worth watching.
