Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Image
Metascore
85 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 4 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 17 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: On May 5, 1993, the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were found next to a muddy creek in the wooded Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas. A month later, three teenagers, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, were arrested, accused and convicted of brutally raping, mutilating and killing the boys. Following trials fraught with innuendoes of satanic worship, emotionally charged statements and allegations of coerced confessions, the defendants were convicted, despite a lack of physical evidence linking them to the crime. (HBO Documentary Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Jan 12, 2012
    90
    Destined to rank as one of the major achievements in American documentary, the "Paradise Lost" project comes to a presumed end with Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.
  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    Jan 12, 2012
    90
    Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's final film about the West Memphis Three demonstrates how the first two docs played a role in galvanizing national support to free the wrongly convicted men.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Jan 12, 2012
    88
    This is one of the most fascinating of all true crime stories.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    Jan 12, 2012
    80
    The new film is more informational than resonant. But you can still sense a vacuum, a rat pit of stories waiting to be unearthed. The dark something that triggered the whole ordeal in West Memphis is still out there.

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. D-Slice
    9
    This is an engrossing, maddening, intriguing, and extremely well made documentary about a murder case that is easily comparable to the live action David Fincher film Zodiac in the way that it seamlessly moves through countless facts and interviews without losing the viewer. The documentary has a complex story to tell and does so effortlessly. The film is also has a very straightforward manner that works very well in a documentary setting. An incredible documentary, one of 2011's best.… Expand
  2. TheDRauch
    8
    The final film in the Paradise Lost series accomplishes what it seeks out to do - enrage at the injustice done upon these three men. Without having seen, or heard of, any of the previous installments in the series, Purgatory fills you in quickly, then gets right to business and envelops you in it's tale of wrongful conviction and invokes empathy almost immediately. It is made with a sense of urgency and keeps frustrating and frustrating until there is a final, if bittersweet resolution, to this stressing, important tale that deserves to be heard.… Expand
  3. ScrawnyPunk
    8
    Any of these by themselves are a 5 or a 6, but taken as a whole they are much more than the sum of their parts. Many scenes are hard to watch from a human interest perspective, but the sheer sociological impact is staggering. It is not every day that a series of documentaries builds enough awareness to reverse a miscarriage of justice.… Expand
  4. elbarto24
    0
    No absolutely not, this is the worst movie of all time. You must be smoking crack if you like this movie. I meanCman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand

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