Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior

I turned it off after the 76th hard cut and action movie trailer beat. It's absolutely unwatchable. I got a little over two minutes in. If you can watch more, you're better than me. I admit it. I'm a fan of true-crime stuff, absolutely. I don't have a tiktok attention span. But this made me feel like I was high on xtc at a german rave and talking about serial killers.

It'sjust absurdly badly made. I honestly doubt it 'll get better or you'll find a lot of substance in this documentary. The intro alone was enough to point that out. Something positive? Sure. The poster design is pretty awesome. Cool use of colors. But that's really all I've got. Maybe I'm too critical ... but maybe we should expect more? Now that I'm writing this, I wonder how the families feel about being in a transformer-style documentary.

Forensic Files covered Hadden Clark's case in under 30 minutes and still managed to share more info than this whole documentary season. The story is interesting but it could've been told in a single episode or short film. The documentary jumps between victims without clear structure and doesn't explain the evidence or forensics behind the convictions. It focuses too much on the killer's psychology and not enough on the crimes themselves. There are no interviews with Navy personnel to back up Clark's claims of killing while enlisted-even though one episode mentions him throwing someone off a ship. That should've been easy to verify. It also lacks the investigative depth of a show like The Jinx.

Not a cinephile, nor have any opinions about Michael Bay one way or another (which seems to be affecting some people's opinions...one way or another) I feel for another reviewer's experience with sexual assault. But as a survivor myself, I have no qualms with how this perpetrator was handled. Don't let someone who is more triggered by the actions of the police against a perpetrator of women and children dissuade you from watching a show about the people in law enforcement doing everything they can to bring said perpetrator to justice as well as peace and closure to their families. And if said reviewer considers this sexual assault, then maybe it needs to be redefined. Oh no! They sat next to him and put their arm around him and poked at his undies. He didn't like it and said stop. Gee. I wonder what his victims said to him. I didn't feel triggered, I felt vindicated. This ISN'T an impoverished kid with no family or education in the wrong place at the wrong time getting his ass kicked by rogue officers forcing him into a coerced confession. If I were to say more, than it'd be spoilers

As an 80's baby and the child of a true crime enthusiast, I've seen it and read it all way before what is probably acceptable today. Roots, In Cold Blood and Stephen King (books and movies) before middle school, probably not cool by today's standards. Hey Road House taught me real life. I'll always have a thing for Wade Garrett. Maybe I'll just always have faith in a good man whose done the wrong thing for the right reasons

Never heard of this "person" before in all my true crime watching (call me an amateur!) Whether it's novelty or just that the show wasn't super annoying and repetitive like so many documentary/crime shows. Coming up...from before the break...I ******* remember! It was 30 seconds ago!

But I really liked this documentary. I've always loved a good antihero. Even if it's a cold hard criminal himself who lives by a code where kids and women are off limits. He and the police admit to having bad thoughts of revenge and justice. But yet they all do the right thing.

Of all the goofball people to tell this story what in the world makes Bay believe he's the chosen one?

All we are missing here is some extraneous explosions and it definitely gives that 'Bay' feeling, and I mean that in the most profoundly ridiculous way. It's so disjointed, nonsensical, and incredibly obnoxious and I had hope, despite the incredibly obnoxious trailer, that this would be a meaningful story told in a thoughtful, intelligent manner, but yikes. I clung to hope through the first episode, despite the jumpy, shaken angles, despite portraying these LEOs like some sort of heroes/heroines, despite trying to eek out remote sympathies for the victims in the most insanely minuscule manner. But midway through the second episode that was the end.

I'm not sure what audience Bay thought he would appeal to, but given our very visceral reaction to this drivel, it absolutely does not feel like it was for anyone interested in the true crime genre, documentary genre or psychology genre.

What we witnessed was something like a grift, of sorts. Someone trying to capitalize on the genre(s) thinking he had a clearly better way to tell a provocative story but wound up with some weirdly macabre, morose and despicable portrayal.

The people you should feel empathy for are completely secondary, victims aren't important anyway, amirite? The family/friends seem oddly distant and more like a comic book rendition of what Bay told them to be (Hadden's brother wants so desperately to have so much attention and it's all we could do to keep from FF through his interviews) and then there are law enforcement. Good God almighty. The travesty these abominations perpetrated should be implicitly taught in academies as solid 'how-not-to-interrogate' material. That they pled him out to get the remains located tells you how well this nonsense worked and all four should have been immediately fired and barred from being in LEO ever again. But I'm sure they found employ until retirement, since God knows these idiots always fail upward. It was completely horrific to watch, and as grotesque as you think it could be, multiply that by 200.

What a waste, and the fact that this lunacy is drawn out for eight pointless episodes is the epitome of Bay's career- long past its shelf life and needs to be disposed of immediately. Stop funding these vapid vanity projects.

Everyone in my true crime groups are raving about the series as well. Many of us binged the whole 5 episodes already.

The interrogation interviews were interesting. The characters were captivating when telling their stories. Many of them are from the East Coast so they had that blunt and humorous aspect to them.

For a documentary about such a depraved and sick cat, the detectives and the savior were hilarious at times. I don't think I've ever laughed watching true crime, but the characters were so real and candid.

I also appreciate that this case hasn't been overly covered like most are. You have to wonder if producers, directors and networks are just lazy are trying to save a buck. Even though I had seen one show on this case, the content in this series was original. The evidence presented was interesting as well.