Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)

Paradise Lost is a 1996 HBO documentary profiling the court trial of the West Memphis Three. This is the first film in the Paradise Lost trilogy, as well as a precursor to the 2012 documentary West of Memphis. Paradise Lost covers the original trial of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jason Misskelley, as they are tried for capital murder in the deaths of three young boys found hog-tied and sexually mutilated. This trial quickly became a sensational media event as prosecutors framed this crime as occult and satanic in nature. Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley, all teenagers at the time, served as the perfect patsies for this crime, all outsiders, "weirdos," or, in the case of Misskelley, mentally disabled. The appearance of Echols and Baldwin, who dress in black and listen to Metallica and Slayer, becomes a major factor in the case, prosecutors painting them as soulless, devil worshippers, even at one point bizarrely suggesting that Echols interest in Stephen King books suggested the capacity for murder. Despite strong evidence to suggest their innocence, all three are convicted. This conviction hinges largely on Misskelley's confession to police, despite large discrepancies in his story and the actual crime, as well as the fact that he is mentally disabled.

Watching Paradise Lost now, knowing that all three, finally, have been released from prison, makes the film no less terrifying. Echols comments quite accurately that West Memphis is "Salem 2," and indeed it is this draconian paranoia that makes West Memphis seem a lot like hell. The parents of the murdered children, as well as the prosecutors and narcoleptic judge, seem to have no doubt about the guilt of these three "weirdos." Mark Byers, step-father of Christopher Byers, is perhaps the most terrifying (though it is worth noting he later recants his belief in their guilt, as shown in West of Memphis). We watch him pretend to shoot Damien, Jason, and Jason Jr. with a large pistol, one he "likes" because no ballistics can be taken from it. It is hard to watch people who, having gone through such a horrific tragedy of violence, respond with a kind of horrifying violence of their own. The Robin Hood Hills murder case is fascinating for the excruciating emotions it produces; the community is torn asunder by the vicious killings and sadly the West Memphis Three fall victim to these inflamed passions. However, despite the terrible injustice that befell the West Memphis Three (something which can never be truly "righted") it is a testimony to justice and the American legal system that so many people took up their cause and for so long. Echols is right in his statement that people will never forget him in West Memphis, however it may prove that he is spoken about, not as the "boogeyman," as he predicts, but rather as a symbol for the perseverance of the truth, and a grave warning about the dangers of scapegoating.