Who here has seen this movie? I saw it for the first time yesterday and I'm still thinking about it.

I knew very little about the West Memphis 3 before this in fact all I knew about it was when I was dragged to a Pearl Jam concert last year Damien Echol's wife was pulled on stage and Eddie Veder had a 10 min rant about the injustice of the american penal system at the time all I heard was...blah blah ..blah


What did you guys think of the film?

Is the second movie as good as the first?

Yeah, I saw this. Amazing documentary. No, I haven't seen part II yet. Hear it's good and that one of the kids' parents becomes a major suspect.

SnakePeel said:

Yeah I figured if the boys didn't do it it was that creepy stepdad.

I have no idea if the boys are innocent or guilty, but the fact they did not recieve fair trials kind of renders guilt moot for me.

I can't obsessing over the whole thing! I want to have faith in the court and I hope this situation is and an exception and not the rule...but who knows. The whole thing is just so sad.

SPOILERS

HBO showed it years ago.....don't know if anyone remembers. It made my skin crawl watching it.....scary stuff.

I just ordered the second movie and Damien's book from amazon.

AnckSuNamun said:

It was really creepy, I could have done without seeing the dead bodies of the little boys...let alone the photos of the mutilations.

Mach said:

You should see the movie Mach... it was an honest to God witch hunt.

This kid was (is?) a Wiccan so they pinned the murders on him claiming he was a satan worshipper.

He's still on death row...13 years later.

Sweeny79 said:

My initial reaction was that the stepdad was involved too. It's been a while since I've seen it, so details are kinda blurry. I need to check pt. 2 out.

FANTASTIC documentary, and one of my all time faves.

the second one is better on an informative level, but not quite as emotionally endearing as the first.

FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS 3!

Sweeny79 said:

Interesting I may have to take a look

Mach said:

It is very much worth it. Insane corruption of justice out of religious hysteria.

cborgman said:

Imagine that

Wait, this sounds familair. I think I saw this yrs ago.

Is it the one about the little boys that were killed and they were blaming it on some satanic ritual or something like that?

If it is, I vaguely remember it, but I remember how sad it was.

And weren't they by a creek on there bikes or something like that?

AnckSuNamun said:

Okay, yup thats it then. Thats when I saw it. When we had illegal cable at my moms. And that was atleast 6 yrs ago.

SureThing said:

that's the one.

Somebody please break it down for me.

I have no clue what you folks are talking about.

Imago said:

I remember it a little. It's been a long time since I saw it, but it was REALLY good.

Its a true story about these little boys that go out to play, and wind up dead.

And the investigation goes on and they think the boys were sacrificed by a satanic cult or something.

Really sad but intriguing.

Imago said:

basically, three preteen boys were raped and murdered in a gruesome killing in a small southern town, and the town falsely accused three pagan teen boys who everyone is convinced are satanists. they ended up being declared guilty though little to none of the evidence would stand up.

they have been appealing it ever since, and the more the evidence is cleared up, the more it is virtually ipossible for the teen boys to have had anything to do with the rape/murder.

it's tremendously well-made. one of the singel best documentaries i have ever seen, and so good and so popular, they did a folow up a few years later. it really examines the evidence even more than the first

'GO TO HELLLLL!!!!!'





creepy!

abierman said:

VERY much so. Like most people, i think he was the guilty one

cborgman said:

ok, it's been a long time since I've seen the documentary and I'm not even sure I saw the second one..... It was intriguing and confusing. Those Memphis 3 kids were a bit deranged though, with their Wiccan-shit.....but maybe I think that because I think Wiccan is .....
But this guy, John Mark Byers, scared the bejesus out of me.....is he still walking around free?????

abierman said:

Of course.


We let alot of our criminals walk around free.

abierman said:

yup.

the real shame is in the second one. the idiot forensics person who originally worked on the case sid the marks on christophers eye were from a belt. when a decent forenscs person looked at it, he saw it for what it really was - a bite mark. by the time they realized that, though, John Mark Byers (creepy step-dad) had already had all of his teeth removed.

Imago said:

no shit.

the bite mark also pretty much proves the innocence of the 3 kids who are serving time/on death row for the murders, as none of their dental records matched the bite mark.

yet, they still continue to serve for crimes it is virtually impossible they committed.

america.

abierman said:

Imago said:

really man, in the documentary he gets mad at the makers at one point and starts screaming that.....very freaky!

abierman said:

Axl, what are you talking about?

And more importantly.....why haven't you responded to my crisis thread yet?

SureThing said:

I haven't responded because it left me without words.....