Into the Abyss

Nov 11, 2011

1h 45m

★ 6.9

A gaze into the abyss of the human soul.

Overview

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

Genres

Documentary

Crime

Production Companies

Creative Differences

Skellig Rock

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Investigation Discovery

Revolver Entertainment

Spring Films

Into the Abyss Trailers

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Werner Herzog

Self - Convicted Murderer

Jason Burkett

Self - Death House Chaplin (as The Reverend Richard Lopez)

Richard Lopez

Self - Montgomery County Sheriff's Department

Damon Hall

Self - Daughter and Sister to Victims

Lisa Stolter-Balloun

Self - Older Brother of Jeremy

Charles Richardson

Self - Citizen of Conroe Texas

Jared Talbert

Self - Former Bartender

Amanda West

Self - Jason Burkett's Father

Delbert Burkett

Self - Jason Burkett's Wife

Melyssa Burkett

Self - Former Captain pf Death House Team

Fred Allen

Self - Death Row Inmate (as Michael James Perry)

Michael Perry

When Elisa, a billionaire, is found dead, her close friend and well-wisher Namrutha, who was recently added to Elisa’s will is accused of murdering her. Maya Kannappan, Nami's formidable attorney takes on the case and works through these proceedings, determined to prove Namrutha’s innocence and unmask the real killer.

5.9

Best Seller

Sep 25, 1987

Hit man Cleve approaches writer/cop Dennis about a story for his next book: How Cleve made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians in the country. To get the story right, they travel around the country to gather statements and evidence, while strong forces use any means they can to keep the story untold.

6.6

The Sugarland Express

Mar 31, 1974

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

6.4

Jury of One

Sep 11, 1974

A desperate woman, whose son is on trial for murder, blackmails the judge and kidnaps his wife.

6.6

Shadow on the Wall

May 19, 1950

Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia's husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David's young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.

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0.0

The Virtual Corpse

Jan 26, 2003

Documentary about the first human to donate his body to science so that it could be studied in the form of a 3D database of the entire anatomy that is available to view online. Convicted killer Joseph Paul Jernigan donated his body to science shortly before he was executed in 1993 and this documentary examines what took place after his death by lethal injection.

6.2

Hannie Caulder

Nov 8, 1971

After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.

6.5

Cohen and Tate

Jan 27, 1989

A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.

0.0

Moving Together

Feb 11, 2023

Moving Together is a celebratory love letter to music and dance that brims with kinetic life and energy. This documentary explores the intricate collaboration between dancers and musicians, moving seamlessly between Flamenco, Modern, and New Orleans Second Line.

6.1

Black Tuesday

Dec 31, 1954

Vicious gangster Vincent Canelli pulls off a daring prison escape just moments before going to the electric chair, taking with him Peter Manning – a bank robber and cop killer who was to die right after him. Taking several hostages along, they try to get their hands on the loot from Manning’s robbery to finance their escape from the country.

7.6

Tehachapi

Jun 12, 2024

French visual artist-director JR situates his latest social-art intervention in a Southern Californian supermax prison, where he has imagined an enormously ambitious collaboration with the facility’s inmates.

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0.0

The Devil and the Death Penalty

Jun 23, 2012

This documentary recounts the dysfunctional state of the death penalty in the state of California by revisiting the crimes, arrest, trials and appeals of Lawrence Bittaker, a convicted serial killer who has been on death row at San Quentin since 1981.

6.3

20,000 Years in Sing Sing

Dec 24, 1932

Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.

8.0

10 mai 1981 : Changer la vie ?

May 11, 2021

Fourty years ago, in May 1981, with François Mitterrand's election, some people were letting themselves dream about a better life while others were predicting the coming of soviet tanks upon the Champs-Élysées. If we gladly remember the turning point of austerity in 83, there were also the wage rises, the fifth week of paid leave, the abolition of death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, or the advent of independent radio stations. Rare archives and accounts by those who were at the heart of this story give an overview of it and shed light on lesser-known aspects.

7.3

The Patent Scam

Aug 15, 2017

The corruption runs deeper than you'd ever imagine. A multi-billion dollar industry you've never heard of. This is the world Patent Trolls thrive in: A world created for them by our own U. S. Patent system. You can be sued for clicking on a hyperlink, using your own scanner, or sharing your Wi-Fi! It sounds insane, but the reality is even crazier. Patent Trolls look for obvious ideas, patent them, and then sue anyone they claim is infringing on their idea. People's lives and businesses are being destroyed.. and they have no way out. “The Patent Scam” exposes the underbelly of this system, and the people that commit this practice.

10.0

My Dad's on Death Row

Nov 27, 2016

This documentary explores two horrific stories. With haunting interviews with the killers, plus emotional exchanges with the daughters.

6.1

Dance with a Stranger

Mar 1, 1985

Ruth Ellis lives with her ten-year old son Andy next to a night club. One night she meets David Blakely, and they start a love affair. However, for David with his upper-class background, it is impossible to uphold the relationship. He breaks up with her, something which makes Ellis, obsessed by him, very upset.

5.8

The Killer Inside Me

Feb 19, 2010

Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small west Texas town, patient and apparently thoughtful. Some people think he is a little slow and maybe boring, but that is the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou calls his "sickness": He is a brilliant, but disturbed sociopathic sadist.