About

We're looking inside the deepest recesses of the human soul… Wherever you look there's yet another abyss. It's kind of mind-boggling. - Werner Herzog

Into the Abyss is a chilling, humanistic documentary built around Michael Perry: a man on Death Row in Texas, awaiting his impending execution after being found guilty of a triple murder. Eschewing the traditional 'true crime' exploration of guilt and innocence, Herzog instead focuses intently on the lives of the people involved in the case: Perry himself, his accomplice Jason Burkett, their families, the victims, along with the judicial officers involved in their sentencing and remand. Despite his avowed repudiation of capital punishment, Herzog does not deliver easy polemics on the subject – his camera gravitates instead towards the all-too-human world of the people pulled into the crime and its aftermath. His questions gently, yet forcefully, probe the recesses of their consciences and evince startling revelations that explore the paradoxes of human behaviour.

M | Coarse language and mature themes