This Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel review contains minor spoilers…
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is February’s obligatory true crime outing from Netflix. While you might be growing tired of this stuff by now, this new docu-series does more than enough to justify its existence. Sure, Netflix’s library of crime content is bloated and its quality varies greatly from series to series. But this is a horror story fit for a Stephen King novel, and the Cecil Hotel makes the Overlook seem like a spooky fairground ride in comparison.
The Cecil is a notorious hotel in Downtown Los Angeles with a dark history – which is a massive understatement. It doesn’t get much more fucked up than this. Since its opening in 1924, murder, drug overdoses, and suicide have all been prolific throughout its 700 rooms. The list of horrific crimes and deaths that have taken place here is endless, and the series doesn’t shy away from the gruesome details. We’re repeatedly reminded of the “carnage and chaos” that’ve taken place within its walls. Serial killers lived here (including the Night Stalker, who recently received the Netflix treatment). People were stabbed to death in their beds and others jumped from windows. Across the series’ four episodes, director Joe Berlinger makes sure to tell us everything.
Make no mistake, however, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel focuses on one tragic story in particular. In January 2013, 21-year-old student and blogger Elisa Lam left her home in Vancouver, Canada to travel and complete a tour of the American west coast. She arrived in Downtown Los Angeles near Skidrow – an area well-known for its highly concentrated population of homeless people – and stayed at the Cecil Hotel. By 31st January, she had vanished without a trace. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance were mysterious to say the least – and this is what the series examines.
Through detailed testimony from those that lived and breathed The Cecil, the series provides ample context for its retelling of Elisa’s final days. The former general manager recounts her first shift at the hotel, when she discovered a dead resident in his room. Upon her initial tour of the building, she was told of every room in which someone had died. Former residents and employees tell similar stories, including a young couple from Plymouth, England who were left completely shaken from their time in LA. Once you’ve heard all of this (and the repeated suggestions that something supernatural might be to blame), the widely shared footage of Elisa hiding in an elevator is made even more disturbing.
With few leads, the police decided to release the video tape online hoping that someone would come forward with information. Understandably, the footage scared people and it sparked a huge viral investigation on social media sites such as Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. If there ever was an indictment of online vigilantes causing more harm than good through their ‘noble’ efforts, this is it. Conspiracies abound, some of the possible explanations for her disappearance are just unbelievable – including one about a supposed TB outbreak the government was trying to cover up. Obviously, this served more to hinder the investigation than help it, but it’s hard not to sympathise with people who just wanted to learn the truth about Elisa. Despite this, rampant and misguided speculation eventually ruined one man’s life and dealt a blow to the LAPD’s reputation.
Given the hotel’s sordid past, you would think there’d be plenty of material to fill four hour-long episodes. And, for the most part, there is. However, some bits are repeated (including entire interview segments) seemingly to fill time. It’s an odd choice. I suppose you could argue they’re doing it to remind the audience what happened, but as most people binge-watch these shows that shouldn’t be an issue. Instead, it would’ve been interesting to learn more about nearby Skidrow and its social implications rather than treading on old ground. Fortunately, though, we’re given just enough background information about the area to help paint the wider picture.
As Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel nears its conclusion, the true reason for Elisa’s disappearance is revealed. And as those interviewed suggest, it’s more straightforward but perhaps even sadder than some might have thought. Through readings of her blog and social media posts, we come to understand Elisa’s psyche. And it’s heart-breaking to hear her hopes and dreams read aloud while learning of her life-long struggles with mental health and what led her to the ‘evil’ Cecil Hotel.
The series’ Crime Scene name is in many ways simplistic and deceiving. This isn’t so much the close inspection of a particular scene. But rather a broader examination of societal degradation, mental illness, homelessness, and online vigilantism concentrated in one area – and it’s a gripping one to boot. Suffice to say, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel makes for four ominous hours of TV and is a must-watch mystery for fans of the genre. And when I read afterwards that The Cecil is set to be reopened later this year, I had to wonder if there might be yet more grisly stories to come…
Final score: 8/10
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is available to stream on Netflix from 10th February.
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Featured Image Credit: Netflix
