海角大神

Here are the facts as they are known: In May of 1993, three young boys were found murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Subsequently, three local teenagers were tried and convicted for the crime despite faulty and often presumptuous evidence. As they began life sentences, outside sources began to question the West Memphis Three鈥檚 guilt 鈥� eventually leading to their release from prison in 2011.

Behind these facts lies a story of paranoia, religious panic, knee-jerk judgment, and the unimaginable horror of losing a child. Based on the popular true crime book by Mara Leveritt, the new drama spins this tale from the points of view of a mother torn by grief and a private investigator out to uncover what truly happened in West Memphis.

Devil鈥檚 Knot stars Reese Witherspoon (), Colin Firth (), Elias Koteas (), Dane DeHaan (), and Kevin Durand (). The film is directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter).

The first trailer for Devil鈥檚 Knot shows off what appears to be a well-shot, dramatically intense movie. That said, the film has a major hurdle to leap right out of the gate: What more can it say about a case that has already been so thoroughly documented? After all, the subject of the West Memphis Three has already been given extensive cinematic treatment, most notably via the trilogy of documentary films.

Additionally, early reviews of Devil鈥檚 Knot from the festival circuit have not been especially kind, often describing the film as too measured and prosaic to capture the fear and outrage that boiled over during the case.

Kyle Hembree blogs at .