Herzog films the emotional reactions of the killers and the people whose lives they changed. The correctional officer in change of the actual executions, speaks with great impact.

Haunting. A good documentary about the death penalty and the folks left in the wake of a crime.

Excellent film that highlights for the millionth time how expensive in dollars killing people for justice is. Regardless of your moral stance, it doesn't reduce crime & 1/3 of that money could easily be spent doing things that actually make a difference. Give these white trash moms producing these losers some sex ed & birth control & access to abortion. Or headstart programming. Or an education that doesn't leave fully 1/2 the population illiterate. Only dictatorships & war criminals & the US kill their criminals. Wake up already AND why not save millions in the process?

As for speaking to the death penalty, the film definitely takes a side. As for making the crimes committed a point of interest or the lifestyles of those involved, this documentary was really underwhelming.

The first half was quite interesting, but after that all the interviews seemed to make no sense in the main story.

We always expect quality from Herzog's documentaries and this one is no exception. While it lacks the punch that would make it great, it's still a very good film that gives an in-depth look at the emotional world of people involved in such tragedies, as well as capital punishment.

It seemed like mostly a waste of time. The whole story could've been told in 30 minutes. Plus it didn't really lead to any conclusion. One major problem is that the guy conducting the interviews has no business interviewing people. He would ask redundant wueations or drill down into unimportant tangents. For example one guy was talking about the crime when he casually mentioned that he couldn't read. The interview then interrupted him and asked him several questions about not being able to read and the guy never finished what he was saying about the case. I don't recommend it.

Werner Herzog is such a rear film maker. He has done several great movies. Dramas or more exciting stuff. He has remade classics and he has done some very experimental stuff. All og his film manage to stay pretty real and very well crafted. Especially his documentaries. Here he takes us in to death row. Into the tiny booth where, mostly, men gets murdered for they're crimes. Werner focus on one specific story. We get stories, words and versions of the happenings and we meet some very real people. The guy on death row, other inmates and family. Family victims from the case and the executioners. A very controversial movie, but also a very important one. Especielly if you are into morality and right and wrongs about life and death. Herzog is never seen in the film but he's voice is very present and he is interviewing people so respectful and brillantly that most interviewers are put to shame. I won't say it's his best work - the man has done so many great films, but this is interesting, moving and crazy enough to keep you interested from the very first moments of the film. 7.5 out of 10 straps.

Herzog's genius as a director - of drama and documentary - is his certainty that everyone has a story to tell, that a talking head can be as riveting as an expensively staged stunt. His patience and compassion as the unseen interviewer here elicits extraordinary testimony from those directly involved in and affected by a banal and brutal murder spree in Texas. No glib conclusions, no trite sentiment. Fascinating and profoundly humane.

This documentary is all pure emotion. If you are interested in the details of the crime and exactly what happened, you won't find it in this film.

A surprisingly compassionate, intimate look at capital punishment from the perspective of the perpetrators of some horrific crimes, as well as its victims.

Got redundant about halfway through.

The eerie, provocative "Into the Abyss" sees Werner Herzog explore the life, crimes, and conviction of a man on death row to ask the viewer to come to their own conclusion regarding the morality of capital punishment.

Total honest portrait of a totally stupid serious of accidents with fatal end. Herzog is shedding light towards the capital punishment of death, interviewing both those behind and out of the bars.

I'm glad that this was a documentary that stuck with facts, there was no side, no politics, just a gathering of information and interviews. it's rare to find an unbiased documentary these days, this was as close to unbiased as one cam get

This will stay with me for a while. Pretty unnerving......

Into the Abyss, the second and better of two 2011 documentaries (after Cave of Forgotten Dreams) directed by Werner Herzog, is a modern-day version of In Cold Blood. It's a very thoroughly researched true-crime story, but it's a little dry and tends to drift off point. Is this a detailed retelling of a horrific triple homicide or a death penalty polemic? There's no doubt Herzog's film deals with both of these, but the latter is touched on ever so briefly-almost superficially. He remarks to one of his subjects that he does not like him, but he does respect him because he's a human, and human life should be respected. Besides that, there's a discussion with one of the victims' family members about what they felt post-lethal injection. It's a tricky subject to broach, of course, but nothing surprising or especially thought-provoking comes of it. The crimes outlined in the film were committed by teenagers-Michael Perry and Jason Burkett of Conroe, Texas. About a decade before Into the Abyss was filmed, the duo attempted to steal a red Camaro from the garage of Sandra Stotler, a 50-year-old mother and nurse. Complications ensued, and Sandra was murdered. Burkett and Perry dumped the body in a nearby lake and later, they killed Stotler's 16-year-old son, Adam, as well as Adam's friend, Jeremy Richardson. Both men, now ten years older, maintain personal innocence. Michael, who has been sentenced to death and is being interviewed by Herzog for the film just eight days before his death, blames the crimes on Jason, who has received a life sentence in prison and blames it all on Michael. Along with interviews with these two men, Herzog speaks with Sandra Stotler's daughter, Burkett's father (also in prison for life), Burkett's wife (whom he met while in prison), and Richardson's brother. Herzog's recreation of the crime is meticulous, and hearing from all parties involved helps paint a very vivid picture of what happened those years ago. He rides around the crime scenes, some of which are absolutely frightening, with one of Conroe's investigators to help us place exactly where something like this could happen. What I found even more interesting was Herzog's conversation with another Conroe man, who seems to perfectly represent Conroe. During an altercation, he's stabbed under the arm with a foot-long screwdriver. This is all great stuff. It's nothing revelatory, but it's pretty mesmerizing. There comes a point, unfortunately, when it feels like Herzog is spinning his wheels. Not to make light of the pain these family members have been and continue to go through, but I had a hard time listening to Perry, Burkett, and the latter's family members talk about how they were done wrong. Having been convicted of such sick crimes, I don't really feel any sympathy toward either, despite being against the death penalty, personally. And sympathy doesn't necessarily need to accompany a discussion like this, but you run the risk of making your film too cold. That's Into the Abyss in a nutshell. I said earlier that Into the Abyss, despite its flaws, is a wholly better documentary than Cave of Forgotten Dreams, but I think the two have a lot in common, as far as those flaws go. Cave of Forgotten Dreams, like Into the Abyss, is hypnotizing in parts. The former, however, is about 1/3 tremendous and 2/3 tepid. Into the Abyss reverses those ratios. Herzog is a great documentarian (and a tremendous fiction filmmaker, as well), but neither of his 2011 films quite hits the mark. Both are worthy of a watch, but neither is a home run. Should you opt for watching just one, however, go with Into the Abyss. http://www.johnlikesmovies.com/into-the-abyss/

Standard Werner with the weird questions but still pretty interesting for the interviews with all of the people involved in a horrific crime.

Well that was bleak. Thanks Werner!

8/21/15 Netflix A profound and thought provoking look at capital punishment and all that the individual violent crime touches, inmates, friends, relatives, corrections personnel and others. While Herzog seems to have a personal view of capital punishment he does not allow that to color his film. He presents all the sides in a full exploration and lets the viewer decide.