Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky return to the scene of the crime with this urgent follow-up to their harrowing 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, a profoundly disturbing film that chronicled the tragic and twisted case of three young men--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley--who were convicted for the brutal murders of three 2nd graders in 1993. The original film suggested that perhaps their only crime was dressing in black and liking Metallica, which made them prime suspects in the eyes of the townspeople. Meanwhile, Mark Byars, the stepfather of one of the victims, emerged from the film as a "why isn't anyone following up on this?" suspect. For those who missed the first film, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations efficiently recaps the case, which, to quote Woody Allen in Bananas, seemed to be "a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham." Police, it is revealed, browbeat a "confession" out of Misskelley, who has an IQ of 71, after 12 hours of questioning, and still, numerous questions remain (such as: if the children were slaughtered in the woods, why was there no blood?). The sequel charts the trio's maddening appeals process as well as the tireless efforts of a group of Internet advocates to "Free the West Memphis Three." Byars is back as well, and he is infinitely more terrifying than anything in Berlinger's Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. A harrowing, yet undeniably gripping documentary, this is highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)