Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer

True crime documentaries are not really my cup of tea. They are often sensationalist and voyeurist, concentrating on the gruesome nature of murder to provide entertainment. Gone Girls offers a victim-focus that is a welcome perspective.

Since I knew nothing of this case I may be an outlier, however this limited-episode series was, to me at least, an interesting and engaging overview of these events. It would be disingenuous to claim that Gone Girls is enjoyable, however this is not to criticise the documentary's creators. It certainly stands above other entries in the genre that I have seen.

The facts of what happened are shocking enough on their own merits that sensationalism is not required; the conclusion (thus far) of the case raises many concerns, not least the manner in which authorities appear to have reinforced the wider presumption that there are members of society that they consider not deserving of justice. That these human beings are often amongst the most vulnerable is a damning irony.

It is clear that there remains much still to be uncovered; if a follow-up series was to maintain a victim-focussed narrative it would be worthwhile viewing.

The pointless, unhelpful commentary by the two journalists in the first episode made me want to just stop watching this series. Robert Kolker was especially annoying, using the purple prose from his silly articles, such as "A gigantic meteorite hit Long Island." I would suppose he was referring to the impact of the discovery of skeletons. He also had nothing to contribute in the way of factual information about the case.

The other journalist, reporter Jaclyn Gallucci, wasn't much better, making her comments center on herself: what she was thinking, etc. Maybe this was an attempt to avoid a narrator, but narration may have been better than having two self-important journalists making comment.

No pun intended - the show (documentary style) is really well done. But I should not have started it for my own sake. It was just something that was fitting from the run time and my own schedule ... now I do not want to make light of the real cases here. The show is doing them justice (again no pun intended and not giving anything away if you catch what I am saying) - but you have to be in the mood for this true crime stuff.

Which is why I am trying to tell everyone to watch out (and maybe in), to what you are about to get here. I reckon it had to be a few episodes to get everything in - so I wouldn't even say this is way too long (it isn't relatively speaking) ... but as you may have realized ... so much pain is tough to get through. There are some voices of reason (but do individuals who have lost someone really listen to those? And are they even able to?) ... so good interviews, a lot of uncovering ... as much as possible actually. So well done overall - if it is your cup of tea.

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer is a decent documentary about one of the most publicized serial killer investigations of all time. After years of sex workers going missing and remains being found in the Gilgo Beach area of upscale Long Island an arrest of Manhattan architect, Rex Huermann, was made. This movie takes place pre-trial phase of this investigation and arrest. The angle is very much based upon the Shannon Gilbert disappearance, which is the case that blew the case open; however, has not been linked to the other disappearances and murders. There is a lot of news footage. There are many press interviews. There are many questions still remaining, but this does a good job summarizing the case and investigation up until it was made.

Shannan Gilbert had been working as an escort, she vanishes, the eventual search unearths a series of bodies, it becomes apparent that a serial killer has been getting away with multiple murders without the alarm being raised.

Reading some of the reviews, I'll take one point on board, it is a story that has been explored multiple times, and there comes a point where you think, enough now, but for someone unaware of the ins and outs, it's a good documentary.

Episode one was pretty factual, it felt quite informative, procedural so to speak, I appreciated the way they told the story of the poor victims, the same couldn't be said of episodes two and three, they really did go for the gotcha moments, but the stork itself is so unbelievably shocking, it does actually work.

There were some really eye opening moments, including various interviews and some interesting footage.

The final episode felt a little ambiguous at times, but that's the nature of the story itself.

It's terrifying to think now many crimes Rex Heuermann got away with, The Police and Authorities really did fail the victims and their families in spectacular fashion.

7/10.