Allegations of bizarre satanic ritual arise almost at once. Physical evidence is scant, so prosecutors cite the defendants' clothes, hair and tastes in music as evidence they are satanic, ritual killers. The longer the cameras look, the stranger the case appears. The confession seems coached. Witnesses make questionable statements.
Evidence pointing at other suspects is ignored.
But the course of justice seems distorted by the hysteria that mounts outside. Parents of the dead boys harbor no doubts about the suspects' guilt. The suspects' families cannot believe the youths will be convicted on evidence that looks so shaky. The filmmakers earned the trust of participants on all sides, and won rare access. Artifice and honesty melt together, until a moment of pure heartbreak, as when the grandfather of a slain boy pleads with his daughter to remember their faith demands forgiveness for the killers. ''I'm going to see Stevie again,'' he tells her and trembles as he holds back tears.