Review of Compliance (2012) by Matthew S — 12 May 2015

I remember seeing a Primetime expose on this story years ago and it's haunted me ever since. The film is almost every bit a docudrama--documenting exactly what went down. It would all be completely unbelievable if not true.

The film depicts the dark side of fear of authority. How without a healthy suspicion of authority, good people can be led to do awful things. The true heroes here are the ones who act from their conscience, not because someone told them to.

The story unnervingly builds slowly while we are left to the mercy of human nature. This is every bit a horror movie where the things we are willing to do when given permission is the monster.