Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is a 1996 American documentary film directed, produced, and edited by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The film dives into the harrowing events surrounding the West Memphis Three, three teenage boys accused of the May 1993 murders and sexual mutilation of three prepubescent boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The case gained notoriety due to its alleged connection to a satanic ritual.
The documentary meticulously follows the trials of the accused teenagers: Jessie Misskelley Jr., Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin. Their arrests came after the discovery of the naked, hogtied bodies of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch in a ditch in Robin Hood Hills. The victims’ parents, members of the West Memphis Police Department, and all the defendants involved in the trial are interviewed, providing a multifaceted perspective.
The community, deeply conservative and strongly Evangelical Christian, widely believed that the murders were part of a Satanic ritual. The film explores this prevailing sentiment and the impact it had on the trial. Notably, the accused teenagers were fans of the band Metallica, whose music is used in the documentary—the first time the band authorized their music for a film.
The trial of Jessie Misskelley is covered in the first half of the film. His confession to the police plays a pivotal role, leading to his separate trial from Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. The latter two are portrayed as intellectually curious, with Echols expressing an interest in Aleister Crowley’s belief system and enjoying books by Anton LaVey and Stephen King.
The documentary raises questions about coerced confessions, the influence of religious beliefs, and the impact of media sensationalism. It was well-received by critics and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming. Two sequels followed, continuing to explore the case: Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in 2000 and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory in 2011.
