MovieChat Forums > A Nightmare in Las Cruces (2011) Discussion > Too much of a terrible thing

Too much of a terrible thing

posted 12 years ago by zoolzool
4 replies | jump to latest

I felt the use of crime scene photos was overkill. The director had a Q&A session after the film was screened, and claimed that the movie, including the use of photos, was all meant to evoke emotion. That is exactly what happened (however unfortunate) as three people left the theater after "hearing" the last bullet being fired.

I thought all the photos, being shown over and over again, was unnecessary. I've seen powerful, moving documentaries, that stirred up much more emotion in me, without using so many disturbing photos. This film just made me feel rather unsettled and disturbed, which is not the best emotion to feel even when watching a documentary dealing with this type of subject matter. I was not the only person in the theater that had to look away more than once.

Unfortunately, this part of the film (photos) is ingrained more in my memory than other, moments, such as the survivors talking about their lives after the tragedy, and stories of how their relatives found out.

"If life is enjoyed, does it have to make sense?"

[–] valro 11 years ago

At the time this movie was released, I was working at a movie theater in Alamogordo, which is about 65 miles northeast of Las Cruces. The movie played there for two weeks and then left. It was planned to run it for that long. Even though I could see movies for free, I couldn't bring myself to watch it after standing in one of the auditoriums and seeing bits of it. One of my co-workers, who remembered the case well, told me he thought it was carried out by two men who knew at least some of the victims. He said that the murders occurred just before the bowling alley was to open for the day and that most of them were related. He also said that he believed that the murders were ordered by or carried out by people who had some sort of a grudge against them.

[–] rsu6sic6 11 years ago

i thought the use of the gunshots was way too much. there was the one scene where they had like 40 gunshots go off.

what i also found really wrong was putting the gun up to the 2 and a half year olds head in the re-enactments. i have to imagine that being traumatizing to a kid and that girl was screaming and crying like a maniac.

[–] Geekfreak13 11 years ago

I agree 100%. What were these producers and parents of a 2 1/2 year old thinking.

[–] Killingforcompany 11 years ago

This documentary seemed really unbalanced and poorly made in general. The reenactments, which were spliced between real crime scene footage and photos, were so cheesy and terribly done. It reminded me a lot of the unsolved mysteries TV show from the ‘80s. Of course, the director of the film said that he made the film in order to break the case open again; much less of it was focused on the case and more of it on the victims, which is fine but defeats the purpose of “reopening” the case.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some genuinely interesting moments in this documentary, but ultimately it was amateurish and failed to thoroughly go over the case.