Good concept, poorly executed.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

SPOILERS* This need to be watched, viewed, discussed. It puts a human angle on an inhuman subject and I am grateful it exists. It's not an objective documentary as none possibly can be, but it does allow for either side to be addressed. It covers many angles, those of the accused, the victims, the families. It shows what life can happen after for those who have suffered abuse, though all incredibly brave and tenacious. This past year (2017/2018) has taken a real gleam and shine away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood -with claims of adult abuse by high up Hollywood executives and actors. This documentary really touches on that same topical subject, though not of adults, but of children. It deals with grooming, managers, entertainers, both TV and film and the innocent victims of children and families who wanted to believe in good people in the land of opportunity.Up until recently and even as an adult, I couldn't even begin to fathom that Hollywood would attract those to exploit ambition and talent. They were all in it to work collaboratively, to push the boundaries, to collectively and artistically change the world, right? I write scripts, I idolise directors, I applaud film writers. But I think the mirage has finally dissipated for me now.I guess it should for everyone because it's that mirage that reels in both the idealistic and the hunters. That is the point. It is the land of opportunity, but sometimes that comes at a cost- a cost that should not be present, cannot be regulated and continues to act above the law. It is terrifying to think how high it goes. If any of you have seen The Keepers- it was all rather familiar to that. Though this time, the power was the dream of making it and the fear of not, the Archdiocese was nowhere to be found.I found this harder to watch than I anticipated. Perhaps not only due to the content and theme but the injustice of it all, the lives ruined and the lack of retribution. I really do thank the filmmakers for taking the time and effort to make such a sensitive and balanced piece, for the victims who have spoken out and all those who were interviewed in it (well, bar one- you know who). It's important to keep this dialogue current, as it seems, it is not going anywhere- thank God we live in times now where we can at least have an independent documentary about it.

Since the horrific revelations concerning Harvey Weinstein, this documentary has received a significant amount of renewed interest, mostly due to the decision by executive producer Matthew Valentinas to re-release the film on Vimeo after an extremely limited theatrical release in 2014 not long after the scandal broke. Whilst the category of people that are the target of sexual abuse differ between the Weinstein story and this documentary, the incompetence (and potential complicity) of the Hollywood system evident in the abuse is much the same. This gives the already emotionally heavy documentary added weight that was only compounded by the revelations concerning actor Kevin Spacey and the further accusations directed against director Bryan Singer.Unfortunately a great deal of the coverage it has received since the Vimeo release has been from reactionary conservatives such as Mark Dice and Alex Jones, which has given the film the surface appearance of an exploitation piece designed more to permit Middle America their two minutes of righteous hate for the mean liberals who challenge their senpai Trump than to actually guide the film industry to better things. Producer Gabe Hoffman is to blame for much of this, as it has been his voice on the film's social media platforms that has associated the film's cause with lots of ugly, reactionary right-wing opinions and, worse still, memes. He should learn that people who complain about Hollywood's depravity are more often complaining about Hollywood's hypocrisy in pointing it out in others than decrying the horror of ignoring credible accusations. Furthermore, I find it suspicious that the film fills its run-time ENTIRELY with five stories of male-on-male abuse (one who I think might have even been over 18 when the abuse happened), ignoring the half of the population that has historically had less power in Tinseltown. Could it be that Hoffman wanted to capitalise on the aversion some viewers have towards homosexuals to try and make his pedophilia movie shock viewers more? Ultimately, however, the film itself is objective and non-sensational whilst retaining a strong sense of the suffering of its five subjects. Evan Henzi, a charming, compassionate teenager who suffered terrible molestation by his talent agent from the age of 12 (and threats of being sued by Hoffman when Henzi complained about certain elements of the documentary), has the most engaging story to tell, whilst Michael Egan III, who a year later was convicted for fraud (and whose accusations against Bryan Singer have essentially been discredited), has the least engaging story, primarily because it is so vague. I attribute the tone and quality of the footage captured solely to Amy J. Berg, an Academy Award winning documentarian renowned for her ability to speak truth to institutions awash with corruption and complacency. Her flare for the subtly dramatic also gives the film something of a tear-jerker ending mixed with a twist for one of the five subjects followed that, if not for the contentious suitability of the subject for a documentary about abuse of underage aspiring actors, is the film's greatest artistic triumph. Yet Berg is by no means a perfect fit for the material, as her aforementioned focus on depraved institutions results in the film having a lack of focus. It tortuously struggles to find a root cause for the whole problem, but unlike the Catholic Church or the American justice system (both past subjects of hers), Hollywood is not hierarchical enough to be reasonably declared totally apathetic on an institutional level. There's no chain of command that would have had to have known about these complaints, and the film's one attempt to try and blame a consortium of shadow investors for having knowledge of 'pedophile pool parties' is it's biggest research failure. In reality (certainly according to Chris Turcotte, who complained about being grossly misquoted in the film) most of the attending models were likely 18 years plus or one or two years shy, with a small - but nevertheless disturbing - minority of 15 to 13 year olds mixed in, and only three people were ever said to be present whilst these underage boys were skinny-dipping in the pool. The owner of the house where these parties were held, Marc Collins-Rector, is painted as the head of this conspiracy, but about the only co-conspirators the documentary can confidently offer up are his two live-in male concubines, Brock Pierce and Chad Shackley... PEDOWOOD CONFIRMED!! At least we can all agree Collins-Rector is horrible.Nevertheless, the film does a fine job at demonstrating that there are far too few safe guards against child predation, and far too few professional consequences for those found to have committed gross violations of standards of fundamental human decency. See this film to get a sense of the problem, but don't expect it to give you any clear direction of what action to take next, and against whom.

It's certainly an open secret that girls and women are sexually abused and exploited in the entertainment industry, but as this well-documented film points out, boys and young men are just as vulnerable to sexual predators--and the effect on their lives is just as devastating. We meet several victims who tell of their experiences at the hands of incredibly cruel, selfish men who used their positions of power within the industry to basically use them as sex slaves, then move on to victimize more boys with little or no consequences. Names are named, some of which you may recognize. As one of the film's participants points out, people who enjoy movies, TV and other entertainment featuring child performers need to start thinking critically about who these children are, what their lives are really like and how they're being treated by the industry they're working for.

I have been excited to see this film since I caught a glimpse of the trailer. My father was a projectionist when I was young so I spent plenty of time at theaters in and out of the booth watching movies. During the 80's and 90's, a lot of child actors came and went and I'd always wondered where some had gone. I figured the worst and hoped this Documentary would shed some light on possible outcomes that had befallen some of them. "An Open Secret" starts with footage from Different Strokes episode with the bicycle shop and commentary from Todd Bridges explaining that he wasn't comfortable with the episodes topics and wanted little to nothing to do with it. Additional commentary leads to interviews with former child actors/performers and their parents recounting early stories entering the business. We are then introduced to names from the industry such as Michael Harrah, a SAG Youth Organization official, Marc Collins-Rector, a convicted Child Molester and former industry giant, Brian Peck, a producer of children's television for major networks, and Bryan Singer, famed Director of the X-Men franchises. How do these names relate to each other? All are accused of using their connections to sexually molesting young actors. Unfortunately for viewers, the film barely scratches the surface. There is audio of conversations between victims and abusers. There is a little background into other accused offenders but the majority of the film revolves around Michael Harrah's accusations as a manager and it's effects on the storied of 3 primary subjects. One which ends rather tragically. I understand that a certain portion of the film had been edited due to the dropped lawsuit between one of the main subjects but, I felt like they could have explored more into the allegations. There is definitely something going on in the hills of Hollywood and behind the doors of Power Players in the industry. Assuming besides this being a rather quiet topic, there isn't a lot of information available due to actors not talking afraid their careers would be affected.I applaud Amy Berg's attempt to shine light on the subject. It just seems that further investigation and follow up would further fold the story together better. It is worth a viewing and hopefully this film will encourage other victims to come forward to help find an end to the epidemic of child abuse. The Documentary fanatic me just wished there was more information