The Rev (2023)

"The Vicar Did It"

Exactly what he did is just one of the fascinating things detailed in this true crime documentary, and the possible reasons why is another. THE REV, the true story of the bizarre facts in the case of the Reverend Emyr Owen, is getting a digital release on the Icon channel before being distributed on all major UK digital platforms.

It all 'started' in 1985 when Detective Constable Glyn Owen Roberts reached the culmination of his investigations into a series of poison pen letters in a small Welsh seaside town. His investigations led him to the house of a local minister who quickly confessed to the crime. However nothing prepared the police for what they found when they searched his house. As well as a number of books on cannibalism and gay pornographic magazines, they also found sets of slides that showed that the Reverend Emyr Owen had mutilated the bodies of three of his deceased male parishioners prior to their burial, removing the genitals and using them for his own purposes. 

The subsequent court case, which was without precedent in the UK, the case files, transcripts and subsequent psychiatric analysis of Owen are all detailed in this 93 minute documentary, which includes interviews with as many of the involved parties as are still living as possible. It's a fascinating and frequently sad story, soberly told for the most part, although the wheeling on of a graphologist who claims she can tell if somebody is homosexual from their handwriting does threaten to overbalance the story into ludicrous speculation early on. Even so, THE REV is a well-told story of one of the more bizarre cases (he never killed anyone and, as is gone into in welcome detail, didn't technically commit any serious crime) in Welsh criminal history. Here's the trailer:

THE REV is on the Icon Film Channel from Monday 9th October 2023 and all other major UK digital platforms from Monday 8th January 2024