Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Year: 2000

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: Berlinger/Sinofsky

Review

this follow-up documentary to the 1996 film comes 4 years later and (mostly) follows the people who are trying to free the west memphis 3. a lawyer and his new expert witness as well as a group of people who found out about the trial from the first film and have gone about trying to get a retrial. it also follows the stepdad (john byers) of one of the victims. he was accused of potentially being part of the murder, but none of the claims stuck. 4 years later his wife is now dead, bite marks are discovered on one of the victims, and john byers has artificial teeth all of a sudden. so the plot thickens. the other family members of the victims chose not to participate this time and the courts didn’t allow cameras in this time so the documentary has a much more external pov.

this one turns into a bit more of a media circus with these people who are like groupies trying to free damien echols, echols increasingly playing up his victimization, and byers looking more and more like the kind of guy capable of actually doing this unthinkable crime. this whole thing is just so bizarre. basically all the people involved are hillbillies or weirdos in some way. even some of the people who are trying to free the west memphis 3 come off as a few screws short of a hardware store. a total mess.