Loading Page
Into the Abyss(2011)
Status: Released
Date: 2011-11-11
69%
281 Votes
Time: 1h 45m
A gaze into the abyss of the human soul.
Overview:
We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.
Languages: English.
Countries:
United States of America,
Germany,
Canada
ProductionCompanies: 
Creative Differences
Revolver Entertainment
Spring Films
Movie: Into the Abyss
Top 10 Billed Cast
Werner Herzog
Narrator (voice)
Video Trailer Into the Abyss
Video: Official Film Trailer
Official Film Trailer
Trailer
All 2 videos
Official Film Trailer - Trailer
Trailer - Trailer
Recommendations Movies
67%
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer(en)
2003-11-21
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
69%
The Alabama Solution(en)
2025-01-28
Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of America’s deadliest prison systems.
73%
The Menendez Brothers(en)
2024-10-07
Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.
68%
The Crash(en)
2026-05-14
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
72%
The Killing of America(en)
1981-09-05
A documentary of the decline of America, composed of archival material and exclusive footage, carnage, madness, and mayhem with an unapologetic sincerity on the factual depiction of violence in the industrialized nation of the United States. Featuring a juxtaposition of detailed accounts of terrible acts, brutal behavior, and interviews from experts and convicted killers alike.
74%
West of Memphis(en)
2012-11-22
The documentary tells the hitherto unknown story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light. Told and made by those who lived it, the filmmakers' unprecedented access to the inner workings of the defense allows the film to show the investigation, research, and appeals process in a way that has never been seen before; revealing shocking and disturbing new information about a case that still haunts the American South.
61%
Control(en)
2004-12-07
Lee Ray Oliver, a death row inmate, is given a second chance at life if he agrees to undergo a new chemical treatment used to modify behavior.
62%
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story(en)
2025-12-30
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
69%
Welcome to Chechnya(en)
2020-01-26
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
71%
Boys State(en)
2020-01-24
This raucous journey into the heart of democracy captures an unusual rite of passage: 1,100 teenage boys from across Texas coming together to build a representative government from the ground up.
68%
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers(en)
2025-10-29
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
69%
Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story(en)
2020-04-29
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
76%
Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster(en)
2019-08-18
New exclusive access and never before heard testimony gives a unique insight into the mind of America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Breathtaking archive from the time and the voice of Bundy himself, reveals the monster inside the man.
62%
H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer(en)
2004-10-26
Torture chambers, acid vats, greased chutes and gassing rooms were just some of the devices of death designed by the Torture Doctor, H.H. Holmes in his castle of horrors. Follows Holmes' entire life as a criminal mastermind.
67%
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer(en)
1992-11-01
In this documentary, filmmaker Nick Broomfield follows the saga of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who has been accused of committing a brutal series of murders. Broomfield conducts interviews with Wuornos herself, and his crew films her trial as well as her interactions with religious fanatic Arlene Pralle, who gives Wuornos dubious advice and legally adopts her. The cameras also roll as the accused's attorney ignores the case at hand to negotiate a deal to sell his client's story.
68%
Halftime(en)
2022-06-08
Global superstar Jennifer Lopez reflects on her multifaceted career and the pressure of life in the spotlight in this intimate documentary.
74%
Love, Antosha(en)
2019-08-02
From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.
68%
The Velvet Underground(en)
2021-10-15
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
Similar Movies
75%
A Perfect World(en)
1993-11-24
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
62%
Point of No Return(en)
1993-03-19
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom killer and subdued into obedience.
65%
True Crime(en)
1999-03-19
Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.
64%
Last Man Standing(en)
1996-09-20
John Smith is a mysterious stranger who is drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era gangs. In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. As the death toll mounts, Smith takes the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive.
69%
Thursday(en)
1998-09-25
A former Los Angeles drug dealer moves far away to Texas, making a new life for himself as a married architect in the suburbs. His old crime partner unexpectedly shows up with heroin and gangster business, attracting a slew of violent unsavory characters.
76%
Tehachapi(en)
2024-06-12
French visual artist-director JR situates his latest social-art intervention in a Southern Californian supermax prison, where he has imagined an enormously ambitious collaboration with the facility’s inmates.
69%
Frailty(en)
2002-04-12
A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."
73%
Blood Simple(en)
1985-01-18
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
74%
The Life of David Gale(en)
2003-02-21
A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
55%
Too Young to Die(en)
1990-02-26
An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.
65%
Infamous(en)
2006-10-13
While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
63%
Red Corner(en)
1997-10-30
An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.
67%
The Longest Yard(en)
2005-05-27
Disgraced pro football quarterback Paul Crewe lands in a Texas federal penitentiary, where manipulative Warden Hazen recruits him to advise the institution's football team of prison guards. Crewe suggests a tune-up game which lands him quarterbacking a crew of inmates in a game against the guards. Aided by incarcerated ex-NFL coach and player Nate Scarborough, Crewe and his team must overcome not only the bloodthirstiness of the opposition, but also the corrupt warden trying to fix the game against them.
70%
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada(en)
2005-11-17
When brash Texas border officer Mike Norton wrongfully kills and buries the friend and ranch hand of Pete Perkins, the latter is reminded of a promise he made to bury his friend, Melquiades Estrada, in his Mexican home town. He kidnaps Norton and exhumes Estrada's corpse, and the odd caravan sets out on horseback for Mexico.
71%
Murder in the First(en)
1995-01-20
A young, inexperienced public defender is assigned to defend an inmate accused of committing murder while behind bars.
71%
Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2(en)
2017-10-19
Documentary about the jurors in a murder trial who handed out the death sentence to the defendant, and how their attitudes have changed 20+ years later.
57%
Happy, Texas(en)
1999-12-03
Two escaped convicts roll into the village of Happy, Texas, where they're mistaken for a gay couple who work as beauty pageant consultants. They go along with it to duck the police, but the local sheriff has a secret of his own.
54%
Lone Star State of Mind(en)
2002-04-23
Earl and Baby, two young lovers with a plan to escape their small Texas town. But when Baby's dim-witted cousin Junior gets tangled up in a whole heap of trouble, Earl has just 48 hours to save the day, rescue Junior and keep his promise to get his Baby to Los Angeles in time for sweeps.
65%
Middle Men(en)
2009-05-17
Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars.