You might already have caught wind of it, but a new true-crime limited series recently premiered on Netflix Canada. What’s more, the narrative centers around the supposedly cursed Cecil Hotel in LA and a former UBC student’s tragic death there. Here’s how the internet is reacting.
The show is called Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, and is actually currently trending at #1 on Netflix Canada right now. So, it’s obviously very popular, but what are the critics thinking about it?
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In the span of 10 years, at least 80 people died at The Cecil Hotel.
Missing persons, overdoses, and murders happened over and over — but why? Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is now streaming pic.twitter.com/EDEBBXChbL
— Netflix (@netflix) February 10, 2021
Review: This could have been good, but it missed the mark COMPLETELY. Seriously, all those YouTubers, conspiracy theorists, and internet sleuths exploiting this poor young woman’s death for views? Disgusting. Don’t give them a platform.
— tanya year of the moo moo (@rose_tea_ribbon) February 11, 2021
This is a sad depiction of not just a woman’s death but the pathetic existence of internet sleuths who spent hours, days, and weeks of their time for self-serving reasons under the guise of justice and virtue. Be better netflix
— Jaded Chef (@jaded_chef) February 11, 2021
Not that much, apparently. The culture publication Variety criticized the misleading nature of the series. LA Times more or less called it a ‘misstep’, and it currently holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And, we agree with them. Hot take time here, folks. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel should have recognized that it actually had a much more interesting narrative revolving around mental illness, the pressures of modern life, and the supposed glamour of LA. Toss in the fact that Lam quoted some rather depressing writers like Palahniuk and Vonnegut on a frequent basis, and you’ve even got an interesting option for deconstructing modern writing.
Instead, we get an overwrought drama about a hotel on the edge of Skid Row, that had changed its name (it’s called Stay on Main) even before Elisa Lam arrived. One of the main complaints thus far from fans around the world is the show’s dependency on using ‘internet sleuths’ and ‘conspiracy theorists’ to explore the case.
Watch the series if you want, but don’t expect anything good, much less exemplary.
Alrighty, rant over. Have a great day, folks!
