When three eight-year-old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, the local townspeople desperately needed someone to blame. In service to that need, the police arrested three teenagers, accusing them of killing the boys as a part of a Satanic ritual. The accused steadfastly maintained their innocence, but the community nonetheless believed them guilty, even when law enforcement failed to turn up any compelling physical evidence tying the teens to the slayings. One of the most celebrated crime documentaries, PARADISE LOST provides an intimate look into the hearts and minds of everyone involved in this uniquely American tragedy.

DVD Features:

2-Disc Set
Region 1
Collectors Edition
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
(unspecified) - English
Additional Release Material:
Bonus Footage: Exclusive Trial Footage
Trailers: Theatrical Trailer
Featurette:
1. "Timeline of Events"
2. "Trial Updates"
Text/Photo Galleries:
Biographies: Filmaker Biography
Galleries: Photo Gallery

Distributor Notes: Hugely influential pioneers of the crime documentary genre, Emmy® Award-winning PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS (1996) and its multi award-winning sequel, PARADISE LOST 2: REVELATIONS (2000), investigate the gruesome murder of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993.

Intimate in their access to the malicious undercurrents triggered by the chilling crime, these films focus on the lingering uncertainty that surrounds the conviction of three local teens for the murders - a conviction backed by no physical evidence and a possibly forced confession. The question remains whether the "West Memphis Three" are truly guilty, or whether they are simply scapegoats - as obvious outcasts in their community - onto which the town can direct its confusion and anger. While the original PARADISE LOST traces the proceedings leading up to the conviction through police and courtroom footage and emotionally raw interviews with prosecutors, families, and the convicted teens themselves, PARADISE LOST 2: REVELATIONS revisits the notorious case four years later, concentrating on an advocacy group seeking to raise awareness about the possibly wrongful convictions and revealing disturbing new evidence that implicates the step-father of one of the slain boys.

Together for the first time in this special two-disc set, the thoroughly engrossing PARADISE LOST films cast unsettling doubt not only on the life sentences - and one death sentence - of the infamous "West Memphis Three," but also on the efficacy of the American judicial system in a culture of suspicion, hatred, and intolerance.

Source: New Video Group, Inc.

Joe Berlinger: 
Bruce Sinofsky: Editor/Documen. Director