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Special Features
- 45 Minutes of Previously Unreleased Footage
- Timeline of Events
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Amazon.com
On May 6, 1993, the mutilated bodies of three 8-year-old boys were found in a shallow creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. A short time later police arrested three local teenagers, linking the boys' killings to a satanic ritual. One of the boys confessed. The intriguing court case was about to unfold as filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ventured forth to make this documentary. They captured footage of not only courtroom proceedings but also interviews with the major players in trial--parents, suspects, lawyers. The documentary filmmakers, whose previous film, Brother's Keeper, is as intriguing of a crime story you'll ever see, tells this story without re-creations or flashbacks. The film makes a clear argument that the court trial may not be about witchcraft but a witch hunt. As with any great drama, the faces and situations are etched upon the viewer; however, we are dealing with real lives and real crimes (told gruesomely and necessarily by police photographs and videotape), and the impact is far greater. And so is the maddening ambivalence of the trial. Like the O.J. Simpson fiasco, a verdict is reached but the truth is questioned. Did police make fatal errors the night of the crime? Do last-minute clues lead to justice? Who's lying on the stand? As with Roger and Me and Hoop Dreams, we have a provocative single incident that holds a mirror to many of society's problems. The results are just more horrifying. The Emmy-winning film was followed four years later by Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. --Doug Thomas
Product Description
Product Description
One of the most influential documentaries in recent years, the Sundance favorite PARADISE LOST is an emotionally raw, must-see crime doc from two of today's most exciting filmmakers--Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the team behind Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Brother's Keeper).
This dark odyssey began with the tragic murders of three 8-year-old boys, whose bodies were discovered in a shallow creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. The community demanded justice, and one month later the police delivered: three local teenagers accused of sacrificing the boys as part of a Satanic ritual. Despite overwhelming public antipathy towards them, defendants Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley steadfastly maintained their innocence. Although the trial produced virtually no physical evidence connecting the defendants to the crime, the town, the jury, and the police felt that they had their killers, and used the young men s penchant for heavy metal music and black clothing and a fascination with the Wicca religion as evidence of their guilt.
With unprecedented access to all the players, Berlinger and Sinofsky captured the events as they unfolded before their cameras. From actual courtroom footage and clandestine jailhouse interviews to behind-the-scenes strategy meetings and intimate portraits of grief-stricken families, PARADISE LOST is a shocking yet uniquely American real-life drama.
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- Timeline of Events
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- Theatrical Trailer
- Filmmaker Biographies
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 91 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film motivated me to do my own research and I read as much material on the case as I could possibly find--especially arguments from those who maintained that the three teenagers are guilty. To be honest, I had a natural skepticism about the West Memphis Three's claims of innocence. A coworker of mine was brutally murdered some years ago and two of her "friends" who were also coworkers were arrested for the murder. I refused to believe it at first. But it became clear over time that the evidence was overwhelming and conclusive. Still there were those who refused to believe the facts and zealously argued their friends' innocence. When all is done and said - it does come down to facts and whether or not one chooses to face reality and believe facts.
First, please allow me to correct a few misconceptions from some of the other reviewers.
The Michael Moore mentioned in the credits refers to one of the little eight-year-old child murder victims, not the filmmaker.
A couple of reviewers mentioned a necklace worn by Damien Echols which supposedly had blood on it from some of the victims. Actually, nothing more determinable than common blood types was found. One almost microscopic spot on the pendant was consistent with the blood type of Damien Echols (one of the accused), the other micro-spot was consistent with the blood type shared by both Jason Baldwin (one of the accused) and Steven Branch (one of the eight-year-old victims) -- as well as 11% of the rest of the Caucasian population of the United States. All experts agree that tiny micro-spots of blood can be transferred by a number of ways--especially a teenage boy wearing the necklace against their bare skin. Police photos verify that Jason Baldwin had also worn Damien's necklace. Police photos taken two days after the crime--show Damien without his shirt and reveal absolutely no cuts, abrasions or scratches whatsoever.
The closest thing to credible evidence the prosecution could manage to produce were four very tiny fibers found in the houses of Damien's family and Jason's family which were deemed by the prosecution to be microscopically similar to fibers from two of the victims. But even the prosecution's expert witness, Lisa Sakevicius a criminologist from the State's Crime Laboratory acknowledged that this was inconclusive and could have just as well come from mass-produced products obtained off the shelves of the local Wal-Mart. Furthermore, Charles Linch of the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas refuted the claims of microscopic similarities in his testimony. No fibers whatsoever were found in the home of Jessie's family.
During the appeal process forensic scientists examining the crime scene photos and autopsy photos identified human bite marks on two of the victims. This was confirmed by a forensic odontologist. Teeth impressions were taken from the three young men in prison. None of these teeth impressions from Damien, Jason and Jessie matched these bite marks found on the victims.
The highly coerced "confession" from Jessie Misskelly Jr. (a 17-year-old borderline retarded boy with an IQ of 71) was so filled with obvious errors that it is an obscenity that it was treated as the basis for making these arrest. I should mention that this so-called "confession" came after submitting this boy to a 12 hour grueling without lawyers, parents or counsel of any kind and included a polygraph test which he had passed but was told by the police that he had failed. Judge Burnett would not allow the jury to hear about these interrogation techniques.
Jessie Misskelly Jr. refused to testify in court against Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols stating that he simply "was not going to get up there and tell a bunch of lies". This was in spite of an offer to remove his life sentence.
Read Dan Stidham's (Jessie's lawyer) case synopsis by copying and pasting the web address below:
http://www.wm3.org/live/caseintroduction/synopsis_dan.php
The scenario painted by the police and the prosecutors against the three teenagers is simply a scientific impossibility. How on earth could there have been the massive blood loss caused by ceremonial satanic cult killings of three persons in the middle of the night without leaving one single micro-speck of blood or any other body fluids at the scene? Did they sneak in the FBI Forensic Team to clean up after them when nobody was looking? Luminal testing could reveal blood presence only where the police had laid or transported the bodies. It should also be mentioned that none of the scarce shoe prints at the scene matched Jason, Jessie or Damien either. .
For a scientific view--see this crime scene analysis and profile by one of America's leading forensic scientist which also gives some insight on who might have actually committed the crime. I must warn you - it is a bit gruesome to say the least:
Copy and paste this web address:
http://www.arwar.org/wm6caseinformation/Turveyequivocaldeathanalysisandprofile.html
So let us briefly summarize. Much of the so-called evidence was based on the notion that Damien admitted an interest in the Wicca religion and the occult which many local people perceived as Satanism. This is not evidence of committing murder. You can go to any suburban shopping mall bookstore or small town library anywhere in Middle America and find plenty of books on such subjects. Furthermore, neither Jason nor Jessie had ever expressed any particular interest in Wicca or the occult.
Both Damien and Jason wore mostly black clothes and loved heavy metal music. So what? The police actually confiscated 15 black T-shirts from Jason's home as evidence to prove God knows what.
Damien was undoubtedly a troubled teenager from a troubled family. He was a bit of a wise-ass teenager. He wrote some morbid poetry. So what?
A couple of young girls claimed months after the fact that they had heard Damien say that he committed the murders. Any reasonable-objective person listening to those testimonies would have found them implausible to put it politely.
A young burglar/drug addict who was in the juvenile detention facility claimed that the shy and reserved 16-year-old Jason confessed to him the second time they ever met ghastly stories about drinking blood from the genitals of a murdered child while worshipping the devil. The counselor from that facility warned the prosecution that this young man was not credible and gave them detailed reasons. And there is no evidence that Jason and this young man ever met. Even if they did--the story is ridiculous. Still, Judge Burnett would not allow the jury to hear counter-testimony or information that could have challenged the credibility of this witness.
The so-called "confession" of Jessie and the scenario put forward by the police and prosecution would have involved massive amounts of blood left at the scene. There was not even one tiny micro-spec. That is a physical impossibility.
The simple fact is ALL FORENSICS were either exonerating or completely inconclusive.
"There was a lack of physical evidence to tie anyone or anything to the crime scene."
--John Fogleman, prosecutor of the West Memphis Three--
Sadly, the West Memphis Police would not do anything more than a cursory and disinterested investigation of the most obvious suspect. (See the forensic profile mentioned above) Probably because that obvious suspect who had a violent history including family violence and a lifetime as a penny-anny career criminal was also an undercover narcotic informant who was in a very tight relationship with the West Memphis Police.
Anyway, for God sakes--see this film along with Paradise Lost 2 and read Devils Knot. .
This is not a political film. This case has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, left or right or even whether you support or oppose the death penalty. I hope that we of all political persuasion agree that locking up the wrong people and letting the real killers get away is a very bad idea.
For an in-depth analysis of all details of this case-see these two websites. And if it touches your conscience please consider trying to help:
http://www.wm3.org/live/caseinfo/index.php
http://www.arwar.org/wm6.html
First, please allow me to correct a few misconceptions from some of the other reviewers.
The Michael Moore mentioned in the credits refers to one of the little eight-year-old child murder victims, not the filmmaker.
A couple of reviewers mentioned a necklace worn by Damien Echols which supposedly had blood on it from some of the victims. Actually, nothing more determinable than common blood types was found. One almost microscopic spot on the pendant was consistent with the blood type of Damien Echols (one of the accused), the other micro-spot was consistent with the blood type shared by both Jason Baldwin (one of the accused) and Steven Branch (one of the eight-year-old victims) -- as well as 11% of the rest of the Caucasian population of the United States. All experts agree that tiny micro-spots of blood can be transferred by a number of ways--especially a teenage boy wearing the necklace against their bare skin. Police photos verify that Jason Baldwin had also worn Damien's necklace. Police photos taken two days after the crime--show Damien without his shirt and reveal absolutely no cuts, abrasions or scratches whatsoever.
The closest thing to credible evidence the prosecution could manage to produce were four very tiny fibers found in the houses of Damien's family and Jason's family which were deemed by the prosecution to be microscopically similar to fibers from two of the victims. But even the prosecution's expert witness, Lisa Sakevicius a criminologist from the State's Crime Laboratory acknowledged that this was inconclusive and could have just as well come from mass-produced products obtained off the shelves of the local Wal-Mart. Furthermore, Charles Linch of the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas refuted the claims of microscopic similarities in his testimony. No fibers whatsoever were found in the home of Jessie's family.
During the appeal process forensic scientists examining the crime scene photos and autopsy photos identified human bite marks on two of the victims. This was confirmed by a forensic odontologist. Teeth impressions were taken from the three young men in prison. None of these teeth impressions from Damien, Jason and Jessie matched these bite marks found on the victims.
The highly coerced "confession" from Jessie Misskelly Jr. (a 17-year-old borderline retarded boy with an IQ of 71) was so filled with obvious errors that it is an obscenity that it was treated as the basis for making these arrest. I should mention that this so-called "confession" came after submitting this boy to a 12 hour grueling without lawyers, parents or counsel of any kind and included a polygraph test which he had passed but was told by the police that he had failed. Judge Burnett would not allow the jury to hear about these interrogation techniques.
Jessie Misskelly Jr. refused to testify in court against Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols stating that he simply "was not going to get up there and tell a bunch of lies". This was in spite of an offer to remove his life sentence.
Read Dan Stidham's (Jessie's lawyer) case synopsis by copying and pasting the web address below:
http://www.wm3.org/live/caseintroduction/synopsis_dan.php
The scenario painted by the police and the prosecutors against the three teenagers is simply a scientific impossibility. How on earth could there have been the massive blood loss caused by ceremonial satanic cult killings of three persons in the middle of the night without leaving one single micro-speck of blood or any other body fluids at the scene? Did they sneak in the FBI Forensic Team to clean up after them when nobody was looking? Luminal testing could reveal blood presence only where the police had laid or transported the bodies. It should also be mentioned that none of the scarce shoe prints at the scene matched Jason, Jessie or Damien either. .
For a scientific view--see this crime scene analysis and profile by one of America's leading forensic scientist which also gives some insight on who might have actually committed the crime. I must warn you - it is a bit gruesome to say the least:
Copy and paste this web address:
http://www.arwar.org/wm6caseinformation/Turveyequivocaldeathanalysisandprofile.html
So let us briefly summarize. Much of the so-called evidence was based on the notion that Damien admitted an interest in the Wicca religion and the occult which many local people perceived as Satanism. This is not evidence of committing murder. You can go to any suburban shopping mall bookstore or small town library anywhere in Middle America and find plenty of books on such subjects. Furthermore, neither Jason nor Jessie had ever expressed any particular interest in Wicca or the occult.
Both Damien and Jason wore mostly black clothes and loved heavy metal music. So what? The police actually confiscated 15 black T-shirts from Jason's home as evidence to prove God knows what.
Damien was undoubtedly a troubled teenager from a troubled family. He was a bit of a wise-ass teenager. He wrote some morbid poetry. So what?
A couple of young girls claimed months after the fact that they had heard Damien say that he committed the murders. Any reasonable-objective person listening to those testimonies would have found them implausible to put it politely.
A young burglar/drug addict who was in the juvenile detention facility claimed that the shy and reserved 16-year-old Jason confessed to him the second time they ever met ghastly stories about drinking blood from the genitals of a murdered child while worshipping the devil. The counselor from that facility warned the prosecution that this young man was not credible and gave them detailed reasons. And there is no evidence that Jason and this young man ever met. Even if they did--the story is ridiculous. Still, Judge Burnett would not allow the jury to hear counter-testimony or information that could have challenged the credibility of this witness.
The so-called "confession" of Jessie and the scenario put forward by the police and prosecution would have involved massive amounts of blood left at the scene. There was not even one tiny micro-spec. That is a physical impossibility.
The simple fact is ALL FORENSICS were either exonerating or completely inconclusive.
"There was a lack of physical evidence to tie anyone or anything to the crime scene."
--John Fogleman, prosecutor of the West Memphis Three--
Sadly, the West Memphis Police would not do anything more than a cursory and disinterested investigation of the most obvious suspect. (See the forensic profile mentioned above) Probably because that obvious suspect who had a violent history including family violence and a lifetime as a penny-anny career criminal was also an undercover narcotic informant who was in a very tight relationship with the West Memphis Police.
Anyway, for God sakes--see this film along with Paradise Lost 2 and read Devils Knot. .
This is not a political film. This case has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, left or right or even whether you support or oppose the death penalty. I hope that we of all political persuasion agree that locking up the wrong people and letting the real killers get away is a very bad idea.
For an in-depth analysis of all details of this case-see these two websites. And if it touches your conscience please consider trying to help:
http://www.wm3.org/live/caseinfo/index.php
http://www.arwar.org/wm6.html
39 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase
Paradise Lost is definitely one of the most mind-blowingest movies I've ever seen.
Not that it's in my list of all-time favorite films; it's just that this is the kind of film that really knocks you back: it'll change your mind about a few things and really make you think. You won't be able to forget it.
Have you ever been in a plane when, just for second, it abruptly loses some altitude, and your stomach seems like it dropped through the floor? You're gonna feel like that for a couple of days or so after seeing this movie.
Without telling you too much, here's what you need to know: there has been a murder in rural Arkansas, and some local boys who don't quite fit in (i.e., they have been dressing in black and listening to Metallica) are fingered for it. The film, a gut-wrenching documentary, follows them through their trial and analyzes the evidence for and against their innocence. The film is especially recommended if you enjoy documentaries that get into forensic evidence.
I'm sure this happens a lot, but in this particular case the three boys had the good fortune of having HBO make a documentary about the trials while they were happening. Ever since then, they've had a big following of people who -- while perhaps not saying the three are innocent -- at least insist they were given capital sentences on some rather flimsy evidence. If you love stories of where the American justice system really goes off the rails -- not in one aspect or incident but systematically -- this film will be hard to match.
But I would like to point out that those baying for the blood of Byers or Hobbs should stop to reflect that, if the tables were somehow turned and THOSE GUYS had wound up in the slammer, in theory the same outrage would obtain: man locked up on flimsy evidence. Yet something tells me that, since neither of those guys are Wiccans or listen to Metallica, there wouldn't have been such a brou-ha-ha about a horrendous miscarriage of justice.
What I'm saying is that one's anger should be directed at the justice system, not against those against whom there is still -- even now -- rather slender evidence. If Byers were thrown in prison on nothing more than what they currently have against him, would you be equally outraged? I doubt it.
I point this out to suggest that much of the outrage over this case is not actually outrage at the justice system malfunctioning, but rather a way of signalling support for a trio of young goth-dressing misfits.
There was, in addition, a direct-to-video followup film: Paradise Lost 2: Revelations.
No connection, incidentally, with the Milton epic.
UPDATE: These guys have finally been released. (Parenthetically, wouldn't it be funny if, years from now, one of them admitted that they actually did it?)
Not that it's in my list of all-time favorite films; it's just that this is the kind of film that really knocks you back: it'll change your mind about a few things and really make you think. You won't be able to forget it.
Have you ever been in a plane when, just for second, it abruptly loses some altitude, and your stomach seems like it dropped through the floor? You're gonna feel like that for a couple of days or so after seeing this movie.
Without telling you too much, here's what you need to know: there has been a murder in rural Arkansas, and some local boys who don't quite fit in (i.e., they have been dressing in black and listening to Metallica) are fingered for it. The film, a gut-wrenching documentary, follows them through their trial and analyzes the evidence for and against their innocence. The film is especially recommended if you enjoy documentaries that get into forensic evidence.
I'm sure this happens a lot, but in this particular case the three boys had the good fortune of having HBO make a documentary about the trials while they were happening. Ever since then, they've had a big following of people who -- while perhaps not saying the three are innocent -- at least insist they were given capital sentences on some rather flimsy evidence. If you love stories of where the American justice system really goes off the rails -- not in one aspect or incident but systematically -- this film will be hard to match.
But I would like to point out that those baying for the blood of Byers or Hobbs should stop to reflect that, if the tables were somehow turned and THOSE GUYS had wound up in the slammer, in theory the same outrage would obtain: man locked up on flimsy evidence. Yet something tells me that, since neither of those guys are Wiccans or listen to Metallica, there wouldn't have been such a brou-ha-ha about a horrendous miscarriage of justice.
What I'm saying is that one's anger should be directed at the justice system, not against those against whom there is still -- even now -- rather slender evidence. If Byers were thrown in prison on nothing more than what they currently have against him, would you be equally outraged? I doubt it.
I point this out to suggest that much of the outrage over this case is not actually outrage at the justice system malfunctioning, but rather a way of signalling support for a trio of young goth-dressing misfits.
There was, in addition, a direct-to-video followup film: Paradise Lost 2: Revelations.
No connection, incidentally, with the Milton epic.
UPDATE: These guys have finally been released. (Parenthetically, wouldn't it be funny if, years from now, one of them admitted that they actually did it?)
28 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
These docs are scarier than anything Hollywood could ever come up with. In West Memphis, Arkansas it is now a capital crime to be a teenage outcast. This is the story of six boys. Three were killed by an unknown perpetrator(s) the other three are being systematically murdered by the State of Arkansas. The total failure of the justice system should shock and anger any American who loves their country. Watch these docs and prepared to be angry.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Should have been better!
I wasn't all that impressed by the writing skills of this work and the investigation of this murder was a trainwreck and only proved to irritate me.
Published 11 days ago by Patricia E. Henderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provocative True Case
I admit I'm a little late to this case, but after hearing about it in John Douglas's new nonfiction "Law & Disorder," I began with Paradise Lost and continued through the entire... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Kelli N. Perkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paradise Lost
The law sometimes, you wonder.... Excellent documentary. Alrighty then, 11 more words required view tips and guideline says... Thanks, Dave
Published 1 month ago by Dave Michel
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must see!!
A must see!! This documentary and following documentaries still relavent today even 20 years after murders. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Steven Pool
5.0 out of 5 stars
:D
I was so excited when I was finally able to find this & then the third installment. It's a case I've always been fascinated by & have kept on since I was around 15.
Published 2 months ago by Kari
5.0 out of 5 stars
Candid and honest
This documentary doesn't try to solve a crime In as much as it just tries to give both sides of the story. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kimms67
5.0 out of 5 stars
WM3 are free
historical documentary of an unjust america as well as the struggles that ensue when you are "different" a very good reminder of society! Very good documentary. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Peter Litzinger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible story about typecasting, ignorance and the justice system.
Live footage taken of the trial of three young men, for three murders of little boys. The ignorance that still exists, of conviction because of the way a person looks, or social... Read more
Published 2 months ago by margaret ross
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good and chilling
This kept our attention. We did not get bored and fall asleep! It was quite riveting and interesting. It really makes you wonder. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D
5.0 out of 5 stars
paradise lost
this is a true account of the court system convicting 3 boys and putting them on death row because they were different, in this movie you get to watch from the beginning to the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by debbie newcomb
