User Reviews

Exhaustive and well researched true crime documentary exploring the UNSOLVED 1987 murder of Alain Malessard, a French bicyclist in Oregon. The two-hour story splits the project into 1/2 police procedural, and 1/2 how-this-became-a-cold-case murder feature. The director uses a ton of interviews, archival footage, graphic re-enactments, and documents to showcase this heartbreaking and sad story.

What complicates the story is how the primary investigators looked at persons of interests who had also been associated with (and later acquitted) in a 1981 murder. I felt that this case and subsequent 1985 trial likely contributed to clouding the judgement of how the 1987 investigators handled Malessard's case. I also read on the film's Instagram page the film was originally divided into a two-part episodic - which might have worked better with splitting the two stories (murders) up.

Some of the most powerful footage is the young man's parent's visit to Oregon and visiting the crime scene (a now shuttered campground surrounded by old-growth timber) with the lead detective. This was really sad.

This story is really made for true crime fans, but, Oregonians will also wonder HOW this is still a cold-case in 2023.

We've now watched this documentary twice. It's as heartbreaking and sad as the other reviews have mentioned through IMDB and Amazon Prime. But, it's a heck of a story.

The film covers a twisted 1987 cold-case murder investigation in an Oregon campground. The victim, found on Thanksgiving, was a twenty-something French man who was on a year long bike trek crisscrossing North America. He had already been on the road for seven months by the time he is killed.

Everything that could go wrong during the murder investigation, does go wrong. Delays, poor communication (to France), unacceptable forensic collection (and oversight), mishandling of police notes, laziness, and stubbornness in putting persons of interest at the crime scene.

Furthermore, viewers are left dumbfounded in how this case hasn't been re-opened? Not to mention, the campground was on Federal property! With a foreigner being murdered, why wasn't this handled through the FBI? Interpol? What are we missing?

We were also impressed with how fair and balanced the documentary was. It really does a good job in letting the interviewees talk, not one sided, and presents all of the information in a very plain manner without sensationalizing the story. So often these cold-case stories lose sight that the victim was someone's child. (In this case a son). And the tremendous grief that those families live will always outlast any police procedural investigation (solved or not). Highly recommend this one!

I found "Old-Growth Murder" accidentally, trolling Amazon Prime Video. Because I speak French, I watched it. Do I wish I could say that the heartbreaking story of Alain Malessard's death had had wider coverage by the American media in 1987. Not even Unsolved Mysteries covered it.

There are most likely several very important reasons why "Old-Growth Murder" has been highly rated here on IMDB while not being reviewed. First, the title: This two-hour-plus documentary left me wondering what the heck the title meant. It's not catchy; it's not a summary of Alain's naive faith in his little vacation; it's not nothing. Second, the documentary's length. At two-plus-hours, it loses viewer's interest for a highly unsavory reason: political correctness. Crimes against indigenous people both here in the United States and in Canada deserve as much documentary coverage as possible. But to promise an audience you will be following the development--or lack thereof--of a respectful investigation into a foreigner's murder--only to drop that murder entirely halfway... No, it disrespects Alain.

More than anything, the ominous opening lines of this work from several older law enforcement officers and crime writers--all male--emphasize the brutality and (this word is used constantly) "creepy" nature of the murder. I won't go into details, but it's not spoiling anything to say that the murder occurred in a campground understandably deserted for the season (the crime was committed either on Thanksgiving Day, 1987, or the day after). One after another, the lead investigator and other contemporaries talk about how horrific the scene was, how they will never forget it, and how the atmosphere of the exact spot is imprinted on their memories due to its "creepiness" and brutality.

"Over-Growth Murder" will sadly probably never get the viewership it somewhat deserved. If the totally unnecessary minutiae about suspects in the desecration of Indian burial ground thefts had been omitted--nearly a full hour of footage--I could recommend this. One virtue the documentary has in spades is a totally soundtrack-free, old-school-style, single-camera interview narrative from *many* men involved in both the discovery and the removal of Alain's unidentified body during Thanksgiving night.

That this story should have been featured LONG ago on some other true-crime show is an additional reason it deserves respect. My advice would be to fast forward through the entirely unrelated crimes against indigenous lands about one-hour into the documentary, watch for the arrival in the U. S. of Alain's non-English-speaking French parents, and give Alain the respect he deserves. Whoever killed him, whatever the killer or killers hoped to accomplish, "Old -Growth Murder" makes clear they did it in spades.

What you'll recall is the loneliness of how easily the U. S. government forgets obscene crimes of this magnitude. Both Alain's parents died before their son's killer was ever discovered--but that of course implies that any investigation of merit and tenacity by the federal government was ever undertaken before they became elderly. This was a federal crime, committed on federal land. It is unbelievable that no genetic technology has thus far been used in bringing a killer or killers to justice.

We've now had the opportunity to watch this documentary twice. Having grown up on the North Oregon Coast we had heard of this story, and was aware of some of these subjects and historical plot points. The core of the project is about the murder of a young French man who was murdered in an Oregon campground. The story follows a failed investigation between 1988-1989. It remains unsolved.

Old-Growth Murder is more than two-hours long, and it crams a lot into this run time. But, it doesn't drag. It does a nice job with including a number of interviews and extensive archival footage to move the story forward. The narrator helps a-lot. What had to be difficult was including the two additional murders that tie into the 1987 murder investigation. There are shifting storylines and narratives - which could be found confusing for some. But, ultimately the film does a nice job in tying it all together in the end.

As a parent you really feel horrible for the Mom & Dad that come all the way to Oregon (from France) to see where their son was murdered. It's heartbreaking. They spend time with the chief investigator, and leave with hope that someone will solve it. Unfortunately, that was 30+ years ago. As a native Oregonian, my thoughts go out to the family.