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

The Enos duo convince Cletus, aka The Bandit, to come out of hiding and help them promote their new restaurant. With a little coaxing, he agrees, producing an almost-creaky Trigger as his mode of transport. But his nemesis, Sheriff Buford T. Justice, is on the hunt, forcing Cletus and Trigger to hit the road. Can they steer clear of the vengeful sheriff?

6.5

Lone Wolf McQuade

Apr 15, 1983

The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates in a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love.

7.4

Sicario

Sep 17, 2015

An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.

7.2

Blood Simple

Mar 26, 1984

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

6.5

True Crime

Mar 19, 1999

Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.

7.0

Frailty

Apr 12, 2002

A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."

5.4

Too Young to Die

Feb 26, 1990

An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.

6.5

Infamous

Oct 13, 2006

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

6.2

Point of No Return

Mar 19, 1993

Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom killer and subdued into obedience.

7.5

Bonnie and Clyde

Aug 13, 1967

In the 1930s, bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.

7.0

Wild at Heart

Aug 17, 1990

Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.

8.5

The Green Mile

Dec 10, 1999

A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.

7.2

Monster

Dec 24, 2003

An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.

6.9

Tarnation

Oct 19, 2003

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

6.6

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

Dec 20, 1996

Slacker duo Beavis and Butt-Head wake to discover their TV has been stolen. Their search for a new one takes them on a clueless adventure across America, during which they manage to accidentally become America's most wanted.

7.4

A Time to Kill

Jul 24, 1996

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

6.6

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

Apr 7, 2005

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

6.6

The Third Murder

Sep 9, 2017

A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.

4.5

American Violence

Feb 3, 2017

A psychologist interviews a death row inmate to determine whether or not a stay of execution should be granted.

6.4

Bluebeard

Jan 25, 1963

Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.