Echoes in the Darkness (1987)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Bill Bradfield was my landlord back in 1982. He was preparing to go to trial for the murder of Susan Reinart at the time. My friends and I rented a fixer upper from him out near French Creek Park. He was at the house all the time. Things happened there that could never be explained, and I became very frightened. He drove a green VW, and had a very nasty dog. I had many encounters with Bill and I never felt comfortable around him. It wasn't long before I left and moved back home to live with my father. Peter Coyote was great in the movie, but the Bill that I knew at that time was a tall, manipulative, clever, and creepy man. The movie didn't make me as sick as I did when I was around the real thing. Great movie though.

This really was a wonderful movie. I was just a child when all this was going on and don't remember the newscasts about it. Later, I watched it with my Mom and she told me she knew some of the people involved. The things that William Bradley did were awful, but it is a true story and people are sometimes evil, without a reason for it. As far as anyone claiming this story and movie are made up, I suggest you look up Main Line Murders on thecrimelibrary.com. The entire true events of this movie are on the website I just listed. Also, if you want more information about other crimes this website is the most reliable and the best resource I have found for doing research on becoming a Forensic Psychologist.

I remember seeing this when it debuted on TV (well, the first part at least) and finally got to catch up with it again. This is an epic miniseries (a 2 nighter) about English teacher William Bradfield (Peter Coyote) who is suspected of murdering his fellow teacher/secret lover Susan Reinart (Stockard Channing) and her two children. Policemen Joe Van Nort (Peter Boyle) and Jack Holtz (Gary Cole) spend nearly 6 years trying to get info on the guy. Based on the true crime novel by former cop Joseph Wambaugh (THE NEW CENTURIONS, THE ONION FIELD), this one really packs a punch with the multiple twists and turns. Coyote is excellent as the eccentric Bradfield. One has to wonder how so many people could fall under this guy's spell in real life, but Coyote gives a performance with such conviction that you begin to see why. The supporting cast, which also includes Treat Williams and Robert Loggia, is great with Gary Cole giving a really good performance.

The night Part 1 aired on tv, I was inexorably drawn in. When Part 2 aired, I recorded it because I had to work that night. It was the same night a horrible storm hit--when I came home to my VCR, I'd discovered that the entire episode was UNWATCHABLE! This forced me to buy the novel to find out what happened. The novel is much more graphic and involved, but it turned me on to Joseph Wambaugh because it was the only true-life-horror-mystery-tragedy that I actually laughed out loud while reading! The book is very morbidly funny! Years later when I acquired the video, my girlfriend lamented that it was too long--until we started watching it...when Gary Cole utters the final lines of the cliffhanger--"What kids?" then we saw "To Be Continued..." flash across the screen, I jokingly said: "Well, it's late and I need to be leaving, I'll show you Part 2 some other time." She grabbed me and told me that I WASN'T GOING TO LEAVE until we watched the second video! Yes, it's that good! Watch it if you like true crime--but read the book too!