The Cheshire Murders
The Cheshire Murders
| 22 July 2013 (USA)
The Cheshire Murders Trailers

In the early-morning hours of July 23, 2007, in Cheshire, Conn., ex-convicts Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the family home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Dr. Petit was beaten and tied to a pole in the basement. The three women were bound in their bedrooms while the men ransacked the house. The brutal ordeal continued throughout the morning, ending with rape, arson and a horrific triple homicide.

Reviews
sevenlee-44948

Such a sad documentary of a subject that needs to be heard!! I am beyond infuriated by the way this case was handled by the local police! They have to carry some kind of guilt after their inactions that day. Very great story line of that horrendous day!

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kedarguru

This documentary explores some compelling subjects around The Cheshire home invasion murders. 1) Police cover-up. The police were outside the residence for a full half hour and took no action until the criminals fled the home. They could have prevented most of the crime. Why? We can only speculate. 2) Death penalty. Death penalty is a controversial subject. One thing that's stressed in the movie, regardless of whether you're pro- or anti- , is that it's a very lengthy and expensive process. The system is broken. 3) Background of the murderers. We learn about their early lives, their motivations, etc. The conclusions that I've made: a history of mental illness and child abuse played a crucial role. They don't justify any of the crimes, but does bring into light the importance of treating mental illness and about the consequences of child abuse.We also learn, in as much detail as possible, how the entire incident played out. We also learn about the victims and victims' family. This is all through interviews with many people. It's tragic, emotional, and from a documentary film perspective it's informative, interesting and somewhat impartial.Last words: People who already know all about the Cheshire murders may not get the interviews and new information they expect. So if that's you, then maybe this documentary will be a disappointment. I'd never heard of these murders before, so it was all very interesting. There was not a moment in those 2 hours when I felt bored.

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nogreatmischief

This well-balanced film documents a horrific crime committed by 2 career criminals, one only 26 yrs. old and the mastermind of the subject crime.I won't give away details of the film as others have already described very eloquently. I disagree that there was nothing to be learned from this documentary. It made me think more about capital punishment, the adoption and foster system and abuse of children and how they might be helped before spiralling out of control. Valid points were made on both sides, the defense and prosecution. My heart goes out to all families related to this crime.

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sprattliz

After I finished watching this film, I kept asking myself 'what was its purpose?' It didn't give us any new insight into this horrendous crime, it just made us remember what many are trying to forget.It scared me all over again and I found myself checking the locks and closing the windows. I agree that it was just lazy film making and not up to the documentaries that HBO has sponsored in the past. No one of any real importance allowed themselves to be interviewed except the creepy defense attorney's who, let's face it, LOVE any PRESS! It was like an NYU Film grad went to the library and edited all the news clips and still shots they could find. If you're going to take on such a sensitive subject of life and death, do it so we learn something from it...

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