Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)
Creative Thinking, Hand To Mouth Productions, HBO

Description

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations revisits the 1994 Arkansas murder of three 8-year-old boys and the three teenagers convicted of the crime. A follow up to Paradise Lost, Revelations features new interviews with the convicted men, as well as with the original judge and police investigators. While focusing on advocates who believe the young men are innocent, Revelations also includes footage of the stepfather of one of the victims, who some suspect might be involved in the crime.

Tags

1990s, Arkansas, Journalism, Court cases, Legal

Collected reviews and ratings

10 digitallyobsessed.com | Dan Lopez

Few films, documentary or otherwise, are capable of producing the roller-coaster of emotions Revelations does, especially for those following the case to any degree.
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9.5 DVD Verdict | Victor Valdivia

There are times during both films when even the most jaded viewers will be tempted to turn their heads away from the screen in horror, but Berlinger and Sinofsky's storytelling is so precise and unrelenting that you'll be unable to stop watching despite yourself. Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2 are both vitally important films and if you care anything at all about documentaries, you need to see them.
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9.0 Pixelsurgeon | Jason Arber

Taken together, the two [Paradise Lost] films present a riveting look at one of America's possible travesties of justice.
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8.3 Entertainment Weekly | Erin Richter

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky return to the murky scene of their award-winning HBO doc Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills with this equally engaging, if more frustrating, update.
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8.3 The Onion A.V. Club | Keith Phipps

Where the original Paradise Lost allowed viewers a sliver of doubt about its subjects' innocence, its sequel does not. Its directors may have forever crossed the line dividing journalism and activism, but the ongoing case, as presented here, seems to demand the shift.
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8.0 Amazon user reviews

Just like a good horror sequel, it shows us that the monster is even bigger and more powerful than previously guessed.
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8.0 DVD Talk | Adam Tyner

Paradise Lost 2 remains engaging for its entire two hour runtime, featuring compelling subject matter presented by a pair of exceptionally gifted directors.
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8.0 Eye For Film | Nick Jones

This sequel suffers from inherent narrative issues, making it a little repetitive. For the documentary to make sense to the uninitiated, it has to draw heavily on the first film.
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7.5 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

There is unlikely to be anything else on TV this week, or this month, more disturbing than this film. Watching it, you feel like an eyewitness to injustice.
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7.0 filmcritic.com | Christopher Null

Most curious is the introduction of the argument that making of the original film, documenting the trial, somehow tainted the trial itself. It's a fascinating, if less-realized follow-up.
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4.0 The Village Voice | Jessica Winter

Like its predecessor, the film fails to ask essential questions, and the directors' lack of interest in the habeas corpus violations that form the bedrock of the trio's petitions for retrial seems especially curious [...] As documentary filmmaking, it's cheap and suspect. As advocacy, it's necessary.
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