''Soaked in Bleach'' is a 2015 American

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

directed by Benjamin Statler, who co-wrote and produced it with Richard Middelton and Donnie Eichar. The film details the events leading up to the death of

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

, as seen through the perspective of Tom Grant, the private detective who was hired by Courtney Love to find Cobain, shortly before his death in 1994. It also explores the theory that Cobain's death was not a suicide. The film stars Tyler Bryan as Cobain and Daniel Roebuck as Grant, with Sarah Scott portraying Courtney Love and

August Emerson August Emerson is an American actor best known for his work on television, independent film, and musical theatre. He is best known for playing musician Dylan Carlson in the 2015 docudrama '' Soaked in Bleach''. He is currently playing the role ...

as Dylan Carlson.

Synopsis

The film provides a look at inconsistencies in the death of

, the lead singer of the American

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

band

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

, as seen through the perspective of former private investigator Tom Grant. In addition to the dramatization of Cobain's final days, the film combines documentary footage as well as interviews with people associated with the case such as former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and the American forensic pathologist

Cyril Wecht Cyril Harrison Wecht (March 20, 1931 – May 13, 2024) was an American forensic pathology, forensic pathologist. He was president of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American College of Legal Medicine, and headed the board ...

. Grant's own recorded conversations with key figures such as Rosemary Carroll, Cobain and Love's attorney and Dylan Carlson — who purchased the 20-gauge Remington Model 11 Sportsman shotgun police alleged was used in Cobain's shooting and subsequent death— are also prominently featured.

Production

''Soaked in Bleach'' marks the directorial debut of Benjamin Statler, who co-wrote and produced the films '' Act of Valor'' and '' Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope''. Regarding the film's title, ''Bleach'' is the name of the Nirvana debut album and "Soaked in Bleach" are lyrics from the Nirvana song " Come as You Are", which was the second single from Nirvana's second album ''

Nevermind ''Nevermind'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana (band), Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a Record label#Major versus independent record labels, major label an ...

''.

Reception

The film has a 50/100 rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on seven reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a 30% rating based on 10 reviews with an average rating of 4.5/10. Dennis Harvey of '' Variety'' wrote that the film "may be TMI for those not already obsessed with all things Cobain", but it presents enough evidence to counter its dismissal as a conspiracy theory. Zack Sigel wrote for '' VH1'' that the film presents "Flimsy evidence, personal agendas, and blatant disregard for facts". IndieWire's review claimed cinematographer Ben Kutchins "heavily studied David Fincher’s unsung procedural masterpiece" ''

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

'', noting that the "testimonies ndaudio recordings made by Grant" were "dramatically recreated like a made-for-TV version f Fincher’s film"

Controversy

Prior to the release of the docu drama, cold case homicide Detective Michael Ciesynski was instructed to look at the 35mm film photographs of the Kurt Cobain death scene as part of a re-examination, marking the 20th anniversary of the musician's passing. The Seattle Police Department released those photographs in March 2014. Ciesnyski told

KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown, Seattle, Belltown section of Downtown ...

that "the new work on the case turned up nothing to make him think Cobain's death was anything but what it was ruled to be in 1994 - a suicide". New images of the Remington shotgun were also released later in March 2016, refuting the claim made in the movie that the Seattle Police Department gave Courtney Love the shotgun for melting it down. A police report referred instead to other guns confiscated by the police. On June 17, 2015, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' and

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

reported that Courtney Love had sent

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

letters against theaters showing ''Soaked in Bleach'' claiming, "A false accusation of criminal behavior is defamatory … which entitles Ms. Cobain to both actual and presumed damages". The letter also states "We hereby demand again that you immediately cease any and all plans for exhibition or promotion of the film. If we do not hear from you within five days, we are required to immediately pursue all available civil legal remedies on behalf of our client against you." To date no lawsuit has been filed on Love's behalf. The producers of the film responded to the letters by stating, "Courtney Love's uninformed accusations and efforts to discredit the film are totally off base. Courtney Love and her lawyers clearly don't like that the film presents a compelling case for re-opening the investigation into Kurt's death. They should respect the First Amendment and let people decide for themselves." John Fisk,

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

for the Seattle Fire Department and first responder at the Kurt Cobain death scene in 1994, gave an interview to the Mercer Island Reporter on April 6, 2016, stating that "he reiterated to the ''Soaked in Bleach'' producers that he still believes the case remains a suicide." On June 27, 2016, Vernon J. Geberth, former homicide detective of the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

, who was among the experts interviewed in the docudrama, posted an article on his ''Practical Homicide Investigation'' website and Facebook page, stating that he "was not happy that the producers of ''Soaked in Bleach'' made it appear that he agreed with their homicide theory". He stated further that he "made it quite clear that he believed that Kurt Cobain took his own life and backed up his opinion with the facts that he had obtained from the

Seattle Police Department The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal police force, law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is responsible for the entire city except for the campus of the University of Washington (which is und ...

's Homicide Division coupled with his own experience with suicide cases". Carole Chaski, a forensic linguist, agreed with the official suicide verdict. She was as well among the experts shown in ''Soaked in Bleach''. On October 9, 2017, she was interviewed at the

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

affiliate ''House Of Mystery Radio Show'', stating that her "results do not support the

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

that Courtney Love authored the bottom portion to make it look like a suicide note". She ran Kurt Cobain's

suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message written by a person who intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depend on ethnic ...

through a computational software called ''SNARE'' (Suicide Note Assessment Review) and it was classified as a suicide note (the top portion and the bottom portion).

References

External links