Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Image
  • 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
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Jan 12, 2012
    88
    This is one of the most fascinating of all true crime stories.

See all 4 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. 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
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. No absolutely not, this is the worst movie of all time. You must be smoking crack if you like this movie. I meanCman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Expand
    • 0 of 3 users said yes