Devil's Knot

2014 • 114 minutes

About this movie

Three young boys playing in the nearby woods never come home for dinner. In the rush to find and convict the killers, police focus on a trio of teenagers suspected of devil worship. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth, Devil's Knot is based on the true story of the West Memphis 3.

Ratings and reviews

I was a bit disappointed in the fact that Mara Leveritt's book (from which this film was inspired) has so much interesting material outside of the three Paradise Lost documentaries. The film, however, seemed to focus instead on events/material already available in the documentaries. It seemed a bit silly to watch actors reinvent those scenes when the real ones are readily available. I think the film had a lot of potential, particularly now that the 3 are free, to delve into some territory that's not already in the public consciousness. The book went there... I wish the film had as well. If someone were to approach the film not knowing a thing about the cases or the people involved, this would serve as a decent primer as it's a fair representation of some of the true events. 3 stars as it was well acted and overall well conceived. More of Leveritt's book would have garnered more stars.

If you're interested in the case of the WM3, check out "West of Memphis" by Amy Berg, or any of the "Paradise Lost" docs by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.

This whole story is sad. But they did a good job with the movie and showed everyone how the police were more concerned about quickly closing the case instead of looking at the real facts and evidence.