Netflix’s new documentary follows fugitive-turned-antivirus founder John McAfee and his life on the run after he was suspected in the 2012 murder of his neighbor in Belize (via Deadline). McAfee asked a film crew to document his experiences as he evaded authorities — and apparently the Mexican cartel.
The documentary, titled Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, immerses video journalists in the whirlwind of McAfee’s life. With guns, drugs and alcohol in tow, the group crosses Belize and Guatemala and somehow ends up on a boat bound for the Bahamas.
To say McAfee had an interesting history would be an understatement. After making his name as the creator of antivirus software company McAfee — which Intel acquired in 2021 — things began to go downhill when Belize police identified him as someone interested in the murder of his neighbor Gregory Faull. From there, McAfee’s actions became increasingly bizarre: He got into crypto; tried to run for president; and even developed a “hackproof” phone. In 2020 he was arrested in Spain for tax evasion and later found dead in his prison cell before being extradited to the US. His death was ruled a suicide.
Running with the Devil arrives on Netflix on August 24th. It is being produced by British studio Curious Films, whose co-founder Dov Freedman told Deadline the film is “10 years in the making”. This isn’t the first time John McAfee has been the subject of a documentary; In 2016, Showtime produced Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee.