TV: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan (2021)

 Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan series was an opportunity for the producers to utilize the cornucopia of footage, photos, primary source documents, and the people still alive who could speak on the topic of Billy Milligan. Unfortunately, they didn’t use it well.

The production techniques they used made this documentary series seem more like watching a ghost hunting or mythical creature reality series. They used anticipation and/or ethereal music throughout giving the impression that every moment was building to something, but you never got to a peak, just a few hills here and there. The interviews involved flashes between slow zoom in, shaky cam and security-camera effect. Some of them even looked like they were staged in these abandoned-seeming locations that had no significance to the story. On top of all that original footage they had to work with, there were terrible reenactments.

On top of the really strange production, it was too long. After the first two episodes, there is hardly any mention of the other personalities. It turns into his family, friends and some of the psych experts recounting his escapes and returns to mental institutions.

There were a lot of interviews with French-speaking psychology experts posing thoughts and commentary about the Milligan story, and I found myself thinking, “What does this have to with a French-speaking part of the world? I’m so confused!” It was impossible for me to take this docuseries seriously.

Overall bad, over-produced storytelling. This 4-episode series could have easily been cut down to 1-2 episodes.

I watched this on Netflix, 1/24/2022.