By Max Miranda
EPIX’s new series “Fall River” might just be the docu-series that grabs viewers’ attention. It contains very graphic depictions.
Director and producer James Buddy Day has done work on the TV program “Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur,” and film “Manson: The Woman.”
Their first episode called “My Soul to Keep,” aired Sunday.
The docu-series is on investigations and crime and gets more interesting as you continue watching.
This four-part docu-series looks at the horrific murder of a young sex worker and the satanic cult the police uncovered as a result.
The show takes place in Fall River, Massachusetts, where it was known as the town of mills, hills, and pork pies. But the town was also known for Lizzie Bordon, who killed her father and stepmother in an axe murder in August of 1892.
The Fall River murders began in 1979 and 1980 where three women died from a homicide during a satanic ritual in the woods.
When newspapers and talk shows started talking about satanic cults, people started to get worried.
Alan Silvia, who is a former detective from the Fall River Police Department, said he remembered these homicides and the details to them.
“All of those homicides, probably 40 that I was involved with – the details of every one of those crime scenes – it would stick on to me,” Silvia said he did not like any second of it.
Silvia said that people would come up to him and say, “Would you talk to my son, he wants to be a police officer.”
Silvia would call that job the worst job in the world.
Day said that new things came to light.
Though this crime scene happened nearly 41 years ago, they still found new evidence as new people came forward. “We didn’t really even get to the conclusion that we came to until very late in the process,” said Day.
They started off this story looking at Carl Drew, who was sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Once Drew began talking to people and more research was done, the story began to expand.
Drew’s backstory about how he came to be the person he is today, is sad. His father was an alcoholic who was verbally and physicallty abusive.
“When you really dig into their backstory and learn where they came from, there’s a lot of abuse. A lot of darkness. And it really reframes, for me, what happened later on,” said Day.
Another person who stood out from this crime scene, was Robin Murphy. Her backstory is interesting as well. Her mom wasn’t there for her and her father didn’t care for her.
She was considered a tough chick at just 17 years old and would beat anybody up.
“Robin would eat pizza and kill you right after, and it wouldn’t bother her,” said Silvia.
This first part really gives good details on what happened to these women.
A recreational cast was used to recreate the scenes of what happened in the past.
The soundtrack, setting and even the clothing was well-executed while re-enacting a moment in the late ‘70s early ‘80s.
There is a lot more, but viewers will enjoy unpacking everything themselves.
If investigating and solving crimes is of interest to viewers, this docu-series is something they will enjoy. The next episode comes out Sunday.