Audience Member
The low ratings this film received from a handful of people, seem undeserved and bias, all echoing the same sentiment. I ended up watching this film twice within a 2-year period and both times can say this film is worth the watch. It was excellent albeit graphic and sad. During the film, you are introduced to a video not meant for public consumption which allows for a unique fly on the wall experience of an interrupted life: a family caught midstream enjoying an affordable meal, minimum wage workers engaged in food prep before senselessly being cut down. I thought the scene where an individual was casually walking around the massacre and repeatedly calling out the deceased individuals he came across as, “Male, Mexican”…”Female, Mexican…” without an ounce of compassion, seemed odd since these individuals were once living human beings, someone’s sister, daughter, dad, etc., but maybe that was the nature of the job he was tasked with. I think the director did a good job. Both, top critic Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times and a viewer gave this documentary high ratings. I’m giving it one too not only because I believe it deserves it, but because I feel the low ratings are not a true reflection of the merit of this film. I don’t think the police featured in this documentary, whose job it is to serve and protect, need defending. Yes, it was 1984 and the technology wasn’t there as it today, but the top brass said that traffic was a factor? Since when do police not know how to control traffic in an emergency? The team SWAT commander also said his beeper hadn’t been working for half an hour during the semi-annual event he was attending, and the police officer who initially responded to the scene was given the wrong address. To know the facts, that there were 175 police surrounding the building while the active shooter shot people inside and outside for 77 minutes... It’s documented that they had riot gear in the 1960s right? Makes me wonder why they didn’t just rush in with tear gas or something and take the shooter out sooner. I wonder if the perpetrator were black and the guests white, if things would have been handled differently by the police? I personally know many individuals who are in law enforcement, and like some featured in this film, are very dedicated, respectful and compassionate. So, instead of being blindly influenced by a few reviews, you have to form your own judgement by watching this with an open mind.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/28/25
Full Review
Kathleen l
Absolutely heartbreaking event that was extremely difficult to watch.
I dont think the constant footage of the victims laying where they fell , obviously dead ,was necessary to tell the story.
Imagery including dead children ,1 still an infant was totally tasteless + obviously chosen by the director ( if you can call him a director) for shock factor.
I'm 100% in disagreement with the decision to release that footage to " Charlie Minn" bcos he couldn't have been more disrespectful to the victims of he'd tried !!!
He was also so disrespectful to the police in his interviews + his line of questioning was totally out of order !!
To say he has an issue with the police is an understatement + to try + place guilt on the police when it lies 100% on the gunman is absolutely disgusting!!!
How this idiot ever got access to the extremely graphic footage from inside + outside the building is so disturbing to me so I can only imagine how distraught family members would have been seeing their dead loved 1's included in this documentary + I'm sure he didn't ask for their permission beforehand, going by his total disrespect for everything + every1 else he chose to include.
That's if you can call it a documentary, appears more like an amateur school project made by high-schoolers with the head boy constantly demanding that he's got more screen time than anyone else , including the victims he's supposedly interviewing.
This should never made it to air with , the footage included, the disrespectful police interviews + police shaming as well as " The shitty director " having so much screen time but most of all his biased point of view where it's soooh obvious to anyone watching that he has a HUGE issue with police bcos he blames the deaths on police rather than on the lunatic who took so many lives !!!
Absolutely SHAMEFUL!!!!!
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
08/18/25
Full Review
dee J
This was a real tragedy that is over shadowed by the directors inability to take the focus off of him. As a gritty documentarian you’d think there would be less footage of him as the director but he’s constantly in it and it’s honestly just not produced well. The intro of him walking through the apartment complex with his shaky cameraman set the tone for the whole thing.
Then grilling the police about why they didn’t “do more” saying they “should have had more guts that day” was a gross misplacement of blame. That is a reoccurring theme throughout.
Mind you this is a time before cell phones, before mass shootings, before any kind of training or technology was implemented for situations such as these. It was the worst mass shooting in US history at the time. But instead of blaming the shooter the blame is misdirected at law enforcement and it is extremely distracting during the whole film. You’re constantly bombarded with sentiment about police instead of the victims. He says he doesn’t mention the shooters name to not glorify him but then constantly refers to the community living there as “the Mexican community” over and over again. Instead of the “Latino” or just “community” honestly would have been the better choice because they were not all Mexican. Yes many were of Latino descent but I think it’s off putting to generalize them as just Mexican. Overall more aggravation was going on than sympathizing. Many of the victims talk about healing and moving forward and it seems like the director is just trying to draw outrage instead of focusing on their healing and resilience. I think it was a lot of poor judgment on his part as an interviewer/director.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
08/08/25
Full Review
Angela H
The director got on my nerves. This could have been a better documentary if it weren’t for the overzealous director trying to sensationalize the movie with graphic videos. Poorly done.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
08/06/25
Full Review
Rachael S
This director mmmm… annoys me. I think he was trying to be sensational showing all the graphic scenes. These things SHOULD be upsetting and I think that’s his out. But under the surface he’s just exploiting people’s trauma. We’re talking about the MOST serious subject matter but it comes off somehow corny and disingenuous (from the directors perspective NOT the victims). Even down to the font choice of the opening title. True crime is not a spooky ooky horror story. Idk it all feels so icky to me. The journalist says “I wish I hadn’t seen the video” then it cuts straight to the video, NO warning, in its entirety. See what I mean by exploitative and being sensational for the sake of being sensational. Main takeaway for me is… let the victims tell their stories and the director needs to stop interjecting
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
08/06/25
Full Review
Kim S
It was good showing what happened but it did have this “the cops didn’t do enough” kind of feel that was strange coming from an interviewer who used the families for that.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
08/05/25
Full Review
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