Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story Review by Brooke Daugherty : Pop Culture Leftovers

Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story Review by Brooke Daugherty

June 13, 2022 3:35 pm |

The evolution of true-crime storytelling is told through lens of the 1972 kidnapping of seven-year-old Steven Stayner, which sparked “stranger danger” warnings, legal reforms and the making of a miniseries titled `I Know My First Name Is Steven’.

The story of Steven Strayner being kidnapped and returning home seven years later is an amazing true crime tale but it is only half the story for the Stayner family. The attention he garnered ignited his older brother Cary’s jealousy fueled by his own mental illnesses.

The Hulu series directed by Jessica Dimmock, tells the story of the Stayner family’s heartbreaks over the course of 50 years. We meet Steven’s children and hear their side of the story as they go through his belongings. Also interviewed is Steven’s mother who has an easier time talking about Steven than she does Cary, for good reason – Cary is a serial killer.

The first two of three episodes focus on Steven. The whole story of his kidnapping and the aftermath, including the 1989 made for TV movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven, about the case is referenced. Dimmock uses tactics I haven’t seen before in a documentary. As stated, Steven’s children are sorting through their father’s belongings, and to show off bits of ephemera from the case, each piece is laid out on the carpet by the hands of either his son or daughter. Interesting to have tan shag carpet as a backdrop, but I sure didn’t forget it. The most inventive thing is her use of the actors from the TV movie. She had Corin Nemec and Todd Eric Andrews read the real words of Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner, respectively.

Episode 3. Here’s where the docuseries falls flat. Both I Know My First Name Is Steven and Captive Audience episodes 1 and 2 show Cary as the older brother who is at the very least annoyed by his brother’s new found fame. Episode 3 should really delve into the life of Cary after his brother returned, but instead it jumps right in and says “He was jealous, so 10 years after the TV movie, he killed four women.” While these two things are true, it almost seems like an afterthought. Cary’s story is much more complex than taking decades to take out his jealousy. In my opinion, his story deserved to have two episodes also or just a mention at the end of Episode 2.

The mishandling of Episode 3 brought my rating down from a High Taste It to a Taste It. If you like true crime and have a few hours to kill (pun intended), check out this series on Hulu. If you would rather know more about the older brother Cary instead, listen to the episodes of Serial Killers by Parcast that cover the story.

PCL Rating: Taste It

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH