Series Review: "Captive Audience" (2022).

"When Steven Stayner returned home, the real story begun." This is Captive Audience. This documentary series directed by Jessica Dimmock. In 1972, 7-year-old Steven Stayner mysteriously vanished on his way home from school. Nearly a decade later, his dramatic return to his family sparked ’80s-era “stranger danger” warnings, legal reforms, and one iconic Made-For-TV-Movie in which the family’s ordeal was transformed into a prime-time miniseries watched by 70 million Americans. When the credits rolled and the movie ended, it closed one tragic chapter of the family’s life, but opened another. This limited documentary series explores the evolution of true crime storytelling through the lens of one family’s 50-year journey and two brothers; one a hero, the other a villain. It’s about how truth becomes story and story becomes truth - on TV, in the justice system, and in our minds.

On April 18, 1965, Steven Gregory Stayner was born. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. He was held by his abductor 38 miles (61 km) away in Mariposa County, California, and later in Mendocino County, California, until he was aged fourteen, when he managed to escape with another of Parnell's victims, Timothy White. After returning to his family, Stayner had trouble adjusting to a more structured household as he had been allowed to smoke, drink and do as he pleased when he lived with Parnell. Stayner underwent brief counseling but never sought additional treatment. In 1985, Stayner married seventeen-year-old Jody Edmondson, with whom he had two children: a daughter Ashley and a son Steven Jr. He also worked with child abduction groups, spoke to children about personal safety, and gave interviews about his kidnapping. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just before his death. At the time of his death, Stayner was living in Merced and working at a pizza shop. On September 16, 1989, Stayner died after he sustained fatal head injuries while on his way home from work when his motorcycle collided with a car in a hit-and-run accident. The alleged driver of the car was later identified by witnesses. Five hundred people attended his funeral, at which fourteen-year-old Timmy White was a pallbearer.

More than anything it's Dimmock's storytelling acumen that impresses - the movie unfolds like a psychological thriller, and in the second half affects a chilling twist on its own inherent implausibility. Credit director Jessica Dimmock for taking a subject that appears barely capable of propping up hour-long, true-crime cable programming and turning it into compelling, documentary series. Few series in the past year have matched the narrative cunning of Jessica Dimmock's captivating true-crime documentary series. With her third documentary effort, Dimmock proves herself not only adept at seeking out such true-life tales, but also telling them with the flair of a naturally gifted storyteller. This is edge-of-your-seat stuff and the difficulty is in the telling of the tale. To give any of this film away is a crime. You simply have to see it for yourself.

Simon says Captive Audience receives:

Also, see my review for Flint Town.