Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

disaia-1 As far as the film goes, it is well made and keeps you interested.**SPOILER** I watched this movie thinking that three innocent boys were found guilty of murder and was interested in finding out how that happened. By the end of the movie I was convinced these boys actually DID commit these crimes. First of all there was a confession, even though one or two details were not clear. Second, one of the boys admitted it to a fellow jail mate. Third, at the end of the movie, when they are found guilty, there is no emotion from them. As if they knew it was going to be a guilty verdict. Not the reaction of an innocent person, who would show some emotion. Asked one of the boys, "what will you do if you are found innocent?" and he said "found innocent???" as if that thought didn't cross his mind, as he had confessed to the crime and he in fact WAS GUILTY.It's also despicable how they try to blame the father of one of the murdered children. They believe one man could overpower and control three eight year olds, rather than three teenagers doing it? If there is a flaw in our justice system, it's not that they were found guilty, but that they were set free.

Michael_Elliott Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) **** (out of 4) Heartbreaking, shocking and at times disturbing documentary about three teens (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.) put on trial for the murder of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The documentary, running 150-minutes, digs into the pre-trial hype surrounding the case and goes all through the trial up to the conviction of the teens. PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS is a film that got a lot of attention when it was first released but I missed out on it. In fact, I really hadn't paid too much attention to the case, although I had certainly heard about it. Going into watching this I was unaware of any of the evidence or lack thereof and I also wasn't certain about anything in the story. I'm not going to sit here and say the boys did or didn't commit the crimes but you really do have to wonder about the motives for them being found guilty. I do think the word evidence is very loosely used here and for the life of me I can't help but think things like heavy metal music and black clothes got them convicted. People are so terrified of those who dress in black yet I'm sure this redneck town had heard of Johnny Cash and I don't think they'd look at his clothes and see Satan worshipper. What impressed me most about the documentary is how open they are to all of the families involved. This includes the family of the three kids who were murdered as well as the families of the three teens convicted. The filmmakers did the right thing by not placing one over the other. While it's clear that they do paint that there's a lot of strange things going on throughout the trial, not once do they take away from the victim's families and this here is very important. The entire backwoods world is probably going to strike many as weird. The families say some pretty strange things. They act or say things that some might object to but I think what's so fascinating is that we're really seeing these people as they try to get on with their lives after losing their kids. Some of the victim's parents talk about killing the teens themselves and we even hear one guy talking about what he wants to do to them. Some might be turned off by this but I think it's an honest reaction to having your kid stolen from you and you wanting revenge. Even some of the teen's families come across saying bad things but it's good they're in the movie because it's an honest reaction to hearing your loved ones have been found guilty of something you don't think they did.Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have taken a truly grisly triple murder and turned it into some of the greatest drama you're going to witness. The events of the murders are just so chilling that you want to see justice done but at the same time the evidence on which the three were convicted is so questionable that you can't help but think that more crimes have been committed. Again, I don't know the truth. Perhaps the three teens did have something to do with it but there just wasn't any evidence. Perhaps they're innocent and have been found guilty because of the way they look. Either way, PARADISE LOST shows the pain of families who have had their children taken away from them in one way or another and the human drama here is something painful to watch but at the same time fascinating. The movie certainly gives one a lot to think about and discuss.

Michael Fargo Throughout the course of this documentary (and the one that was compiled afterwards) we watch interviews where individuals are led to give a particular answer, either by another person, by an attorney during a trial, in conversations with media representatives or simply addressing the filmmakers' camera. Answers are always ones, the subject believes, what the listener wants to hear. It's true of the grief and rage expressed by the victims' families as well as the indignation and fear by friends and family members of those accused. No one seems authentic; everything appears calculated.And that very phenomenon winds up convicting 3 young men of murder and in one instance to death row. We're not told what led investigators to interview a young man who winds up confessing—unconvincingly—to the crime and implicating two of his friends. But once investigators focus on these three young men, very few facts (some flimsy fiber evidence and a knife found in a pond in proximity to one of the accused which isn't even tied to the killings) stand in the way of their conviction.While the cameras are rolling before the convictions, we can see that the accused stand very little chance of being acquitted. We don't see the jury nor are they interviewed, but there is so much hysteria within the community of West Memphis about the case, that we assume the jury is ready to convict even before they're seated. While there is no glaring misrepresentation by the defense attorneys, their efforts to combat the stigma of the horrible nature of the crime and the oddness of the accused are all in vain.I became uncomfortable with the focus placed on one of the family members of the victims, John Mark Byers. His neediness to be the center of attention may only be a combination of his grief, his mental limitations and a life where he most likely was marginalized and his son's death gives him a stage to perform on. And that's very much what happens with the accused. The community condemns them in the same way the filmmaker's allow us to condemn John Mark Byers, who has enough in his background to raise a thousand red flags. And we're left to wonder why the authorities never pursue him. My first thought is that the filmmaker's aren't letting us see all of his story. At one point (in the second installment of the documentary), Byers blurts out that his wife was murdered, when in fact the coroner has ruled the cause of death "undetermined." But his "slip of the tongue" may only be that he's convinced his wife's death was due to the aftereffects of his child's murder, and he holds the 3 accused as if they not only are responsible for his son's death but also for his wife's through her grief (she apparently had a long history of drug abuse).Nevertheless, the film holds you. I watched parts I & II back to back. And while I was left wanting answers to very simple questions (what was the time between when the boys were missing and when their bodies were found, who located the bodies, were there any footprints, did they drown?…on and on), I did witness how people can be manipulated while at the same time feeling manipulated by these very powerful films.

lastliberal The trouble with documentaries these days is that cable news covers stories so thoroughly that there is nothing left to tell. Fortunately, I have not seen coverage of this story, so it is perfect for me. It also occurs in Arkansas, a state I lived in for many years, so I am familiar with the people, even if I did not live in this part of the state. I believe the nuns who taught me in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade were from Jonesboro.The story barely stated when I heard Satanic worship mentioned. I usually get ready to dismiss anyone that brings that up. It is too easy to use to rile up the yokels. Of course, homosexual orgies are mentioned also as part of the work of Satan's minions.The trials were the main focus of the film and it was interesting to see, in one case, that there was absolutely no evidence against one and he was convicted just because he hung out with another who was condemned because he wore black, listened to heavy metal, and read books on Wicca.I can't wait for the followup.