Novacain2006

As a longtime fan of the first Evil Lives Here and lesser fan of it's 1st spin off ELH Shadows Of Death I gave this one a go in hopes it could create some of the same vibe and pull me in like it's predecessors. Sadly it didn't even come close and left me a bit confused as to what it's intended purpose was in the end. Whereas the original ELH series itself descended from being so engaging by following the victim's stories to shamefully stooping way down and starting to follow the accomplishes and assisting perpetrators who committed various heinous acts on innocent victims themselves. This series seems intent on trying to get us to sympathize with the monsters right out of the gate. It seems the desperation to have stories for new episodes has sidelined the producer's better judgement giving us fragmented stories that don't play out in a progressive, linear fashion but rather bounce around and continue to manipulate the viewer to stay "neutral" in their judgement of the monsters who perpetrated the acts contained within. The insistence of showing the "behind the scenes" footage of the person being interviewed losing their cool and walking out of the interview has become cliche and downright callous. The constant ZOOMING in on every tear shed seems gratuitous and heartless. I never tuned into ELH to revel in the misery of these victims. I tuned in because I related to many of these stories myself after living through a very similar situation. But with this 3rd incarnation I feel the exploitation of these victimized people and the chance given to the antagonist to redeem themselves is just not entertainment. It's contradictory and leaves the viewer feeling soiled by the entire experience. I don't want to sympathize with a murderer. And I don't want to see victims poked and prodded to tears to satisfy the producer's lust for pain on camera. This show has lost the point of the original ELH completely. And I hope it doesn't last very long because it's complete waste of time that leaves the viewer wondering which side they're expected to stand on at the end. At least in the original the bad guy/girl was the villain and the antagonist was the survivor your heart went out to. That doesn't happen here at all.

There are standard guidelines when making a documentary for public consumption and this boring attempt misses every single one of them. Less an actual documentary and more just a series of lazily edited together clips that barely create a narrative this waste of 90 minutes can't even be called a film "experience" but rather an ingratiating, sleep inducing, time wasting series of clips that aren't half as interesting as watching paint dry. Long (and I mean LONG) periods of time go by with absolutely no narration, no information, explanation nor reason for being. They just expect you the viewer to know what's happening even though it becomes painfully obvious that the MAGA survivalists featured have no clue whatsoever themselves. When people do talk it's an incoherent mashup of drawls with very little intellect pushing survivalist, paranoid delusional views that couldn't stay afloat in a teaspoon. A great example of "Just because you have a camera that doesn't mean you can make an actual movie." Watch this if you're bored, can't fall asleep or are so lost that every time it snows you run in circles screaming the sky is falling. Whew.....

While I love shows like this one and have most of them on my queue this one has grabbed my attention for several reasons. The layout is a bit more fun, the approach to material that has already appeared on every other true crime show is a little more fresh and Michelle Trachtenburg, who I've loved since Harriet the Spy and then her time on Buffy as Dawn. Unfortunately that's where my admiration for MT has recently stopped. It's painfully obvious that she's got either a substance abuse issue or alcoholism has stepped in. Watching her desperately trying to get through each narrative is painful. The slurred speech, glazed over eyes and constant straining to read one sentence clearly just hurts to observe. She looks painfully thin and just moments from collapse. I love her work and hope she gets this all worked out before it's too late.