X
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
Summary The four-part documentary series from director Joe Berlinger looks into the 1993 disappearance of Elisa Lam from Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel.
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Season 1 Premiere: Feb 10, 2021
51
4.7
Where to Watch
Summary The four-part documentary series from director Joe Berlinger looks into the 1993 disappearance of Elisa Lam from Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel.
Where to Watch
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
51
30% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
70% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
51
30% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
70% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sophisticated, gripping, and full of perspectives usually absent in the genre, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is an expertly-paced mystery and a thought-provoking discussion on classism, mental health, and the ethics of true crime. It’s also remarkably cinematic in terms of aesthetics, thriving with atmospheric visuals and clever pacing that create a murky, engrossing atmosphere. You’ll finish it in one sitting.
There are times when “Crime Scene” leans too much into that mindset of salacious true crime obsessives, but I believe it’s for the greater good in the end, illustrating how many of the conspiracy theories around Elisa Lam were misguided at best.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 User Ratings
4.7
33% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
26% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
41% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 User Ratings
4.7
33% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
26% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
41% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Very well put together mystery tour. Fascinating and macabre. It has closure and there are twists and turns so don't google it in advance. One thing really struck me was just awful the LA city government was (and probably still is) by not just tolerating but encouraging the deprivation of the area and preventing hotels such as the Cecil from improving themselves. The talking heads are a very diverse and interesting bunch. My personal favorite was the former manager Ms. Price. Thank you for your grace under pressure.
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With too much crammed into even a relatively lengthy four-hour running time to drive home its most salient points, The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel ends up being a tragedy wrapped in a mystery shoehorned into paranormal nonsense.
What Crime Scene needs is much more of Doug Mungin, a Skid Row urban scholar, and much less of almost everything else. ... There's just a way to do a commentary on the corrosive effect of true-crime voyeurism without being so pervasively voyeuristic, and I wish Crime Scene had walked that tightrope more deftly.
We’re served an uncomfortable, crude murder mystery. There are some redeeming qualities, though you have to pay rather close attention to notice them. Contributors are wide-ranging and forthcoming, especially the hotel manager Amy Price, who comes across as bewildered, defensive and excited to be on Netflix all at the same time.
While there are essentially two stories here, neither is told in a terribly compelling way. ... “The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” falls in love with the crime lore aspects of the case, and feels more exploitative than revealing. ... The series makes a point of interviewing at least two guests from that time who recall the funny taste of the water when brushing their teeth, repeating much of what they’d already said in contemporaneous news clips included in the series.
The basic facts of Lam’s death are so upsetting, that Crime Scene’s various attempts to lighten the mood with historical detours and commentary from cutesy eccentrics such as the general manager with the Veronica Lake wave, feel, at best, in very poor taste. It is not spooky, it is just sad; desperately sad that a family have lost their beloved daughter and sad, too, that in Los Angeles, as in many other places around the world, the result of human beings in a mental health crisis is avoidable tragedy.
If you followed the Elisa Lam case this doc will not be very interesting. It's 4 hours with about 35 minutes of story stretched beyond credulity with padded interviews. Its a tragic story and the internet definitely blew it out of proportion. The case is officially closed so let's leave people in peace.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Take note all film makes and Doc watchers this is how you don't make a documentary. Bad pacing bad interviews bad choice of interviewees. the narration just seems disrespectful. That's what I dislike the most about this movie is that the director had no respect for the girl that lost her life. watch a A 14 min YouTube video about this and you will get everything and more about this story.
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Production Company:
- Imagine Documentaries
- RadicalMedia
- Third Eye Motion Picture Company
Initial Release Date: Feb 10, 2021
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Genres:
Awards
Telly Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA)
• 1 Nomination
Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards
• 1 Nomination
