The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened To Ty And Brynn? is a two-part docuseries, directed by Henry Roosevelt and Caitlin Keating, that examines how Ty and Brynnlee Larson barracaded themselves in an upper room of their house in Provo, Utah for 54 days.

THE NIGHTMARE UPSTAIRS: WHAT HAPPENED TO TY AND BRYNN?: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: Scenes of a neighborhood at night. We hear the voice of a then-12-year-old Ty Larson tell his father, Brent “BJ” Larson, that “I’ve had nightmares about you” and “you just don’t want to get in trouble with the judge.”

The Gist:  Ty and Brynn Larson barricaded themselves because they refused to go to “reunification camp” with their father, BJ Larson, as part of a custody battle their mother, Jessica Zhart, was having with Larson.

Back in 2018, both Brynn and Ty had accused their father of sexual abuse, a charge that BJ has always denied — his mother, Jolleen Larson, is interviewed and consistently comes to his defense. Brynn’s accusations were first, setting off a series of events, starting with Zhart getting an order of protection against Larson. Then, when Zhart out therapy for Ty, a therapist named John Paul “JP” Lilly got Ty to realize that he was also abused by his father.

On Larson’s side, though, is the assertion that Zhart essentially “poisoned the well” against Larson with Ty and Brynn. The term for this is “parental alienation,” which is a topic discussed by Michelle Jones, a court-ordered therapist who was the one who has studied parental alienation and recommended reunificaiton camp for Ty and Brynn.

Authorities were allowed to use moderate force to get kids to comply with attendance, which is why Ty and Brynn barricaded themselves in that upper room. Ty even cut a hole in the closet so they could use the bathroom, and he livestreamed the entire time they were in that room, gaining thousands of supporters.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened To Ty And Brynn? is similar to other unwieldly-titled ABC News Studios true crime series, like Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?.

Our Take: By the time you finish watching the relatively short runtime of the docuseries (83 total minutes between the two episodes), you realize that The Nightmare Upstairs is more about how the family court system and the parents involved in the custody cases that go through the system often don’t really consider how the tug of war affects the kids in the middle of it. Ty and Brynn barricading themselves in a spare bedroom for almost two months was an extreme reaction to that notion, but it certainly points out how kids have to go to extremes to take back at least some power.

By interviewing Larson’s mother, Roosevelt and Keating tried to keep things balanced, acknowedging that there was never enough evidence against Larson to get a conviction. But in reality Jolleen Larson comes off more as someone making excuses for BJ because he’s her son, not because she has any real evidence that the kids were being brainwashed by their mother and therapists like Lilly.

The more powerful images come from the footage from the bodycam that Larson wore during his visitations with his kids; he wore the bodycam to prove that nothing happened during those visitations. That’s where the opening scene’s dialogue comes from, with Ty confronting his father about why he doesn’t want to see him anymore.

There is no way you can see that footage, or the documentarians’ footage from the post-barricading visits with their father they were ordered to do, and not feel for them and their mother. Was that the intention of the filmmakers? Perhaps. But if they’re going to present Larson’s side, they would have needed to show more than just his mother calling his ex-wife “toxic.”

Performance Worth Watching: Ty is an especially insightful kid (now young adult). He was the one who came up with the barricading plan, and he filed for emancipation when he was 17 because he figured it was the only way he could remove himself from this chaotic situation.

Sex And Skin: The descriptions of what Larson allegedly did to his son and daughter aren’t sugarcoated.

Parting Shot: At the end of the first episode, we see Larson sit down to do a video, with someone behind the camera asking him if he’s ready to do it.

Sleeper Star: It’s too bad that JP Lilly died in 2024; he was the founder of an orgainization called Bikers Against Child Abuse, and it would have been interesting to hear how he was able to get Ty to discover the abuse incidents he had supposedly buried.

Most Pilot-y Line: There was a disclaimer for Michelle Jones saying that she couldn’t discuss the particular case so they just had to speak in general terms. That makes sense, but we’re not sure why the police detective who investigated Brynn’s initial claims is shown on camera saying she couldn’t speak to the specifics of the case. That’s not the norm for true crime documentaries, but it makes us wonder if the case was still open at the time of her interview. We never really find out.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The footage in The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened To Ty And Brynn? is the most compelling reason to watch this brief docuseries, given how painful both Ty and Brynn Larson’s experiences around their father are, and how the system prompted them to make such an extreme choice to protect themselves.

How To Watch The Nightmare Upstairs

If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $10.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.