Ever since the moment that Kurt Cobain’s body was discovered on April 8th, 1994, there have been plenty of people that have come forth believing that the front man of Nirvana did not commit suicide, but was murdered by his wife Courtney Love. At the forefront of the accusations aimed at Love is private investigator Tom Grant, who was once hired by Courtney Love over 20 years ago. With Grant as the basis, co-writer-producer-director Benjamin Statler has made Soaked in Bleach, a documentary which aims to blow the lid off the lingering conspiracy theory. Yet all Statler and Grant are able to do is present flimsy evidence supported by shoddy reenactments, repeating the same tired story that has circulated since Cobain’s death.
Before unraveling the details of the deadly conspiracy, the filmmakers introduce us to Tom Grant. First we’re presented with his backstory as a member of the LA County Sherriff’s Department, a job he left to start his own private investigator firm. We’re told that Grant left the department in good standing and had an impeccable record, yet we’re never given any corroborating evidence as to that record – only investigative journalist Max Wallace, who has written two books on the subject based on Grant’s evidence, proclaiming that Grant’s record is beyond question. Of course, corroborating evidence is one of Soaked in Bleach’s greatest shortcomings.
Much of the evidence the film presents are recorded phone calls between Grant and Love, as well as Love’s entertainment lawyer Rosemary Carroll. However, nobody that is even tangentially related to the case are presented to corroborate any of these recordings’ authenticity. People such as Carroll and Dylan Carlson, a friend of Cobain’s who was also the registered owner of the fatal shotgun, don’t participate in the movie in any manner, though they’re supposed to be the keys to unlocking this mystery. It makes it harder to take these tapes at face value when there’s a noticeable difference in audio quality between sentences, or that the film cuts away from these tapes in favor of presenting reenactments worthy of Lifetime television. I’m sorry, I’ve already seen a documentary use questionable tapes to “prove” events surrounding an entertainer’s death before.
The reenactments at least provide the film with a bit of unintentional humor. These scenes, which are meant to fill in for hard evidence, feature a young actress cast as Courtney Love, seemingly hired only because she was blonde. As hard as she tries, she cannot avail herself well with the cartoonish dialogue that these reenactments present – think of Courtney Love as the original Gone Girl. “Go save the American icon, Tom,” she exclaims to the actor I recognize from countless commercials playing Grant. (I’m leaving their names out of it because they’re hired hands in this Montage of Blecch.) How anyone thought these shlocky scenes would sway anyone is a conspiracy theory in and of itself.
Soaked in Bleach tries to take on the typical counter-arguments to their labyrinth of lies. They speak to friends, including “Nirvana’s first drummer” and “Nirvana’s first manager,” though the film fails to present any evidence that really ties them to Cobain – old show flyers are presented but no pictures of anybody actually with Cobain. These anecdotal interviews are used to illustrate that Kurt Cobain was more upbeat than believed. Combined with a couple of interviews from ’93 and ’94, they attempt to prove that Kurt Cobain wasn’t depressed. It makes perfect sense if you believe that somebody who was depressed would never just say they’re fine. Max Wallace asserts that the suicide attempt in Rome, months before Cobain’s actual suicide, wasn’t actually a suicide attempt, just an accidental overdose. His evidence is the official story from the Cobain camp following the incident was accidental overdose, and he interviewed the doctor – Wallace says this while footage from the doctor’s press conference plays, nothing besides the author’s word to back up the claim.
The conspiracy presented here posits that Seattle Police Department isn’t in on the conspiracy, only their incompetence falls in line with Courtney Love’s murder plot. Among the most absurdly amusing interview is former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, who says that if he were police chief now, he’d reopen the case. Never mind that he was police chief from 1994-2000, plenty of time to examine the evidence. It also focuses extensively on inconsistencies in reporting in regards to the placement of a stool and Kurt’s driver’s license being outside of his wallet. All of which only proves the nature of early inconsistent reporting, not the clues to a murderous conspiracy. Then again, this is a documentary that disputes how a shotgun shell that should’ve ejected to the right ended up to the left of Cobain. The film then shows an animated recreation, the voiceover explaining that only an obstruction could’ve changed the trajectory of the shell, completely ignoring the hand and arm positioned right next to where the shell would eject.
Most damning of all, Soaked in Bleach is film that tries to prove that Courtney Love is a conniving murderess who has pulled off the perfect crime for the past 20 years. Think about that for a second. No, really think about it. This is such a carelessly assembled case that they didn’t even consider that a film critic with an affection for Mad Magazine would want to employ “Soaked in Blecch” or “Montage of Blecch” in describing their film. I’m fairly certain if you asked the makers of Soaked in Bleach about Occam’s razor, they’d tell you they use Gillette.
I wonder if it means anything that Courtney Love has threatened to sue Tom Grant and others for libel, but has backed off on actually doing so, claiming the difficulty of winning such a case. I suspect that the real reason why is that there is so much “circumstantial” evidence that calls into question the “official story” that putting it all out there in a public forum would actually make things worse for her.
Finally someone points out how fucking bad this movie is. RIP KURT, seriously has some stupid fucking followers though..
This movie and everyone who agrees with it is clearly has problems. That ignorant fat ass, Tom Grant, thinks hes clever, I find it humerus. Kurt obviously killed himself and you guys are so fucking dumb for being incapable of acknowledging that, its disrespectful.
Came for the comments, didn’t read the review. A+
Courtney Love is in Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book. No conspiracy.
This is the best review ever
This is the shittiest review ever. Something makes me think Courtney threw some of her own lines in there also.
It’s like people can’t grasp that this is an entertainment site and that you reviewed a MOVIE that did fail to incorporate tons of evidence on the case.
Instead these tinfoils decided you just reviewed the actual case instead and decided Love is innocent because why not.
For the record, I’m sitting with a few very firm “Love is guilty” friends that agree whole heartedly to this review – citing evidence against her that this production left out. To someone not versed in the evidence/facts this lil movie alone would not be efficient. Cute, but not efficient.
🙂
Anyone who’s wondering about the movie might be interested in this transcript from a radio interview with one of the subjects of the film.
John Potash & Ed Opperman Interview RE: Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love
Transcript begins @ 57mins
EO: Oh boy, ok and also to the whole thing with Cobain. That also connects in, um, our friend, Hank Harrison, who was hooked up with all these guys. By the way, he told me that what his duty was around these characters was to bring them down from bad LSD trips.
JP: Yeah, well, he did have, a…um, he did start something around that and that’s an interesting thing. I dunno what to say about it. It’s a good thing to do. Of course. He says that he was like, in opposition of Owsley. He said Owsley was a conservative, you know, super politically conservative guy, super wealthy guy of course. His full name was really Augustus Owsley Stanley III. And he came from a super wealthy family. And, um, Owsley tried to get the Grateful Dead to do conservative stuff and to get more into drugs and Hank Harrison said he was trying to get the Dead to do, ya know, go the opposite way. But um, yeah, Harrison gave me very interesting information on Courtney Love. Um, it appeared that she kinda had the same development as likely some of those women in the Manson family. And these women that I told you about at this federal hearing. Cause her biological mother had a memoir saying that she thinks she was abused in childcare. She sent her to counseling at the age of 3 which is unbelievable. That an unbelievable age to go to counseling. Courtney Love sent Hank Harrison a letter saying that my counselor sexually abused me. And one of my counselors was also a romantic partner of my mother, Linda Carroll. And she also said in the letter, when Courtney Love was 14 years old trying to get Hank Harrison to get her out of Juvenile detention center, that the counselors were giving me seconalls(?) and tuenalls(?) and I show that those were MK ULTRA drugs they used for psychohypnosis. And so it’s a pattern you see that suggests she went through the division of her mind, this dissociative identity disorder process and by the time she was 16 years old when she was already a prostitute and a heroine addict…
EO: Did you know, back to her early life, did you know that in middle school she went to the Presidio Middle School?
JP: Yeah, I remember talking to your friend about that. Thanks for hooking me up with him. He just knew she was there and so Hank Harrison said he think she also might have been in Presidio childcare when she was much younger too. And of course that’s where the regular ritual sexual abuse was going on, by that US intelligence, that military psychological operations officer. I forgot his name now, but you know who I’m talking about. He was working out of the Presidio and was caught doing that stuff in the Presidio.
EO: Well Col. Michael Aquino but he was never charged. As a matter of fact from what I heard, who came in and cleared him of all those charges was none other than Rudy Giuliani.
JP: Oh wow. Really?
EO: You gotta laugh. Cause if we didn’t, we’d all have pitchforks. 5 minute break. We’ll be back with more of our friend here, John Potash, the author of Drugs as Weapons against us, CIAs murderous targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix & Lennon. This is a nice 5 minute break.
60:45 – break.
65mins
EO: Welcome back to the Opperman Report, I am your host, Private Investigator Ed Opperman. The show is brought to you by Audible.com……free ebook….Dave McGowan donation…You know I hear you John. We’re here tonight by the way with John Potash, who’s a really cool guy, one of my favorite guests and one of our most popular guests matter-of-fact.
JP: You’re one of my favorite guys to talk to.
EO: Thank you very much. He’s the author of Drugs as Weapons Against Us, the CIAs murderous targeting of SDS…blah blah blah…a whole bunch of other people. But the thing is this…I think one reason why we’re getting so much push back is cause guys like you and me, and McGowan, and Maury Terry and Joe Ditoma and Sisco Streetlove. All these guys kind of met through the show. And we’re all kind of in the background and we’re all kind of tuned into the same kinda thing. And noticing what’s going on. And I talked about it on the air a couple of times and even put the pictures up on my facebook page but when John mailed me a copy of his book, his last book, that box was ripped open in a way there’s just no excuse for it. I get packages here all day long that’s sealed with evidence tape and only a couple of times in my life have I had that kind of sabotage with a package coming to me through the US mail. And the other time was with the Sarah Palin case.
JP: Oh wow. I didn’t know that happened.
EO: I told you last time too.
JP: I forgot, I’m sorry. I’ve heard that from a few different people. Packages that I tried to send to them were ripped open and the books out of it.
EO: Yeah, no, the book was in it, everything was inside. But it happens to me too. When I mail people an autographed book, half the time they don’t get it. I don’t even question it. At the beginning I thought, hey, they’re trying to scam me out of a book, but now I realize this stuff just gets lost.
JP: Sometimes it’s actually only happened when I’ve sent stuff to someone who’s real high up in th industry. They get an open package without the book in it. But you know, regular people I send books to, they usually get the book. It’s not a problem.
EO: I hear ya man. Now back to Courtney Love ya know…when I did all this research on the Jeffrey Epstein case, it turns out as well that she was on that list, on his flight list, flying around on his private plane, with those characters Dershowitz, Prince Andrew, the president of Israel, the president of Colombia.
JP: Hank Harrison said she was travelling around with 2 CIA Agents when she was 16 years old.
EO: Oh really?
JP: Yeah, she brought 1000 hits of acid to dublin when he was doing research in Dublin. First, she gets hooked on heroin, then she’s prostituting with a woman named Frenchy Marson, that was a pseudonym that Harrison used but it was a prominent woman, a prominent madame in the san francisco area that he knew, but he was scared to give her real name. But he found out that she was prostituting to david packard, the assistant secretary defense at one point. You know, Hewlett Packard fame. So, he tells me about that and then in another biography of Courtney Love, James Moreland, Courtney Love’s first husband says that she told him that she was prostituting to army generals in alaska, too, when she was still a teenager. She was also prostituting for asia mafia and in another biography she admitted that she was prostituting in Taiwan before she was out of her teen years. So this isn’t just any normal, like, ok, you develop a heroin problem and you have to prostitute to get money for your heroin problem. This is high level prostitution to top figures, top military figures. That’s what she was really about. She was traveling with the CIA agents, that’s when she had the thousand hits of acid. She brought that all to the london music scene, and manchester, there was a growing scene in manchester. Spreading drugs like crazy and messing up that scene, having sex with the drummer for the pogues when he was married and she got pregnant with his kid, and split his marriage. Just was wrecking havoc on the scene. And, um, she does that in every city she goes to. She bring tons of drugs, spreading it out like candy. Who knows where she gets all the drugs. Practically…seemingly for free. And spreading them around the Portland music scene and all these different music scenes, the LA music scene. She then hooks up with the top punk musician in LA, James Moreland, and tries to control him. He thought he was marrying some punk feminist and it turns out she says she was this right wing phyllis diller and saying that the army generals told her that the wars were good for us, and she would have him beaten to submission if he tried to cross her. And then he just eventually divorced her. But that’s what she was about. And so I argue and I show evidence that she was one of those dissociative identity disorder victims who was doing, whether she knew it or not, was doing the work of intelligence. And they insert into Kurt Cobain’s life, cause they have this psychological profile on him, like they do many activists and I show evidence of that happening in a number of situations. And he had a long term stomach ailment that was severe. Severe stomach ailment. And people know that a tincture of opium helped solve intestinal issues. I think Paregoric had that…a tincture of opium. So he dabbled in heroin 6 to 10 times in four years from 1986 to 1990 according to his diaries, but she got him using daily according to all his friends and associates who say that he was never a daily heroin user until he met her. She was inserted into his life when his album “Nevermind” was already rising in the charts rapidly. And he was becoming huge. And he also of course was very into left wing activism, Kurt Cobain. And so she got him using heroin daily, promoting heroin at the same time that the CIA was trafficking heroin out of the afghanistan area which was the golden crescent of opium. Similar to the golden triangle of vietnam when we were trafficking heroin out of there, opiates out of there, excuse me. And so I argue that they were having the supply come in with the CIA trafficking but they needed to promote the demand. They needed to get the demand going and so by getting people like Kurt Cobain using heroin that was a promotion technique, the same way that the undercover agent they had give Mic Jagger his first hit of acid. He was distributing lots of drugs. He got Keith Richards on lots of drugs. This guy Dave Joe, or Dave Schniederman, that MK ULTRA agent. And so that’s the way they do things. And so then when Cobain solved the stomach problem before he died he started getting clean and sober and that was shown by a toxicology report when he had that coma in rome. And that coma was actually caused by Courtney Love’s prescription Rohypnol, a sleep drug that you can get prescribed to you in London. Those are roofies, Rohypnol. The date rape drug that makes you lose your memory of what happened beforehand. I argue and show the evidence that she actually gave him that and tried to kill him then but was unsuccessful but then tried another time after that, or actually before that she tried another time, but then finally all the evidence shows that she was successful in helping orchestrate his assassination, or his murder when he supposedly committed suicide. Now there’s a new movie coming out called “Soaked in Bleach”, which premieres in about 14 cities around the country on June 11th and you can get it on Vimeo, and that shows all the expert evidence giving their testimony and it also has a docudrama and shows it has Courtney Love recorded saying some of the things she said around that that provide the evidence that cobain was actually murdered, he didn’t commit suicide. And you probably know cyril wecht. He testifies in that movie and does a good job with that. And so it’s pretty clear he was murdered and she was let off despite tons of evidence that she was involved. And so why was she let off and why is there so much police cover up of it and you can just see from there why.
EO: Very interesting. You know she’s also connected to this guy Sam Lutfi.
JP: I don’t know Sam Lutfi.
EO: He was Brittany Spears manager when she was having her breakdown. That’s interesting. And now he’s her manager. Or I guess was shortly…a short while ago. And Courtney Love also too was inserted into the lives of Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter when she was heavily addicted and they found all those pills under her bed.
JP: Yeah, she’s connected to so many heroin overdoses and heroin deaths in Seattle and people in Seattle say there was nothing like this, there was nothing to the level of her before she came in. People were much more congenial before she came onto the scene. And she caused lots, you know, Kristen Pfaff was likely murdered when she was trying to get out of that scene and she was supposed to be in Kurt Cobain’s band. He was actually breaking up Nirvana right before he died and was gonna form a new band with Kristen Pfaff. Kristen Pfaff had already exited Hole and she was trying to get out of Seattle. She had already moved back to her Minneapolis hometown. And was just getting her stuff from Seattle when Courtney Love’s band member Eric Erlandson was the last person seen with Kristen Pfaff and you know, she ended up with a hot shot overdose of heroin.
EO: Really?
JP: Yeah. She was an amazing bass player. Kurt Cobain thought she was an amazing bass player. And she was credited with breaking Hole out into the music charts because her musical skills.
EO: Yeah, I tried to get that “Soaked in Bleach” guy to come on the show. And I haven’t had any success with that. I’d love to do a show.
JP: Yeah, he seems like a real good guy. Hopefully he’s busy with other interviews but I don’t know. You know he may be shunned by the press a little bit. I’m just not sure. But I also think he’s a little scared to get involved in the way I’m expressing the situation. Because you know, he’s probably getting enough flack just for coming out with what he’s coming out with.
EO: I hear that but you know last week I had on the FBI agent in charge of the anthrax investigation.
JP: That was interesting. So he came out with the fact that that guy in Frederick actually, you know, could have been murdered, was my understanding. What did he…he said there was a lot of incriminating evidence around what happened with that guy, and that guy being framed I think.
EO: Well, yeah. We got into a lot of details about how flawed the investigation was from the start. How the investigation was hampered and stuff. He has a lawsuit going on for 2.5 million dollars. And everyone else involved in that case that has sued the FBI has won. Cause I think the FBI doesn’t want what really happened to come out.
JP: I’ve got some inside information on that, too, but I can’t really say because it would be breaking up some confidentiality of people.
EO: Gotcha. Ok.
JP: That guy’s in my Maryland area.
EO: Very interesting.
JP: So I know some stuff but I can’t really talk about it. Sorry to say I’ll get myself in trouble.
EO: I hear ya, but it’s a small world ya know? It really is.
Transcript Man,
What you published is 100% conspiracy garbage. We are talking about a crime. Kurt was murdered. We are not talking about the illuminati or Devil Worship or any of that crap you posted. It’s people like you that make it hard for people to accept that Kurt didn’t kill himself. We don’t need that nuttery connected to this issue.
These comments are hilarious. Keep doing what you’re doing, Sean. Conspiracy theorists are worse than GamerGaters.
Exactly the type of ignorant response you’d expect from a “writer” who’s “too lazy to Google.”
Wow. Wow wow wow. Were you PAID to rip this this film? Because either you’re the worst critic ever and completely uninformed about all the weird shit that happened around the time of Kurt’s death, or you’ve got an agenda. Either way, this review is an embarrassment.
And Courtney didn’t act alone. Of course she couldn’t pull it off solo. But she didn’t have to. Kurt was going to kill the golden goose, so they killed him first, made him a rock god martyr, and allowed the other lesser talents to milk the rest of their careers off of his tragedy. Now you’re milking it too. Enjoy your Karma, hack.
Good thing you’re not an investigative journalist. It’s obvious you haven’t a clue how police investigations work or what entails good police techniques. Next time, Fanboy, get someone who has a higher IQ to review a complex forensic topic. Your grade on this review: F.
This review is terrible, whoever wrote it seems like they didn’t even watch the movie. I just saw Soaked in Bleach and it was awesome and very compelling.
I question your ability to review films correctly.
When world leading experts such as Dr Cyril Wecht, who has lead over 38,000 cases to date, can prove that is was scientifically IMPOSSIBLE for Cobain to have shot himself, as well as scientific explanation to have proved it impossible for Kurt to have shot himself due to the position of the gun, i will definitely trust the expert rather than a hack writer such as yourself. Please don’t try to outwit the experts, it does you no credit.
P.S. the line that Sarah Scott aka Courtney Love uses is ‘save the American icon Tom’. Which FYI, had you read up on cobaincase.com, were her exact words. Hilarious right?
This is probably one of the most pathetic reviews I’ve ever read in my entire life. I certainly hope that Sean Mullivull isn’t planning on going into this for a living because he certainly won’t be able to make it a mainstream publication. Perhaps he’s happy working for a low life website like fanboynation and trashing movies like Soaked in Bleach.
He purposely leaves out information that is valid and shows conclusively that this case that involves Kurt Cobain’s death deserves to be re-examined. This movie provides enough information, factual information, that shows there should be at least a second look at this case.
This writer goes as far as to insinuate that the tapes provided by Tom Grant we’re somehow doctored not authentic. If this writer at any idea or had researched this case in any detail he would have found out that Mr. Grant’s reputation is beyond reproach. Why in the hell would Mr. Grant wanted doctor or present false evidence in regard to this case. You’ve never made a single penny in the 21 years he’s been pursuing this case. In fact he is lost a great deal of business, and for that matter years of his life dedicated to one thing the truth. This is something I believe this writer has no way of understanding.
It’s easy to get on the Internet and write a trashy review of the serious movie that request one thing re-examination of a case that was rushed to judgment. It is more difficult to step outside the mainstream media and take a position that is contrary to what the public believes regarding Mr. Cobain’s death. In fact it takes a great deal of courage which Mr. Grant has and this writer has none.
For the record I’m not sure how a writer for a fanboy website can criticize the credentials and statements made by Dr. Cyril Hecht who was president of both the American Academy of Forensic Science and the American College of Legal Medicine, and currently heads the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine.
It would be interesting to see him try but he won’t come out of hiding after writing this kind of crap. He is a hit-and-run writer dedicated to trashing everything he can get his hands on, and hopefully no one will pay any attention to anything he says.
What this movie does is present a clear case with documented evidence that is undisputed. Why anyone wouldn’t want to at least explore some of the inconsistencies in this case I don’t know. Perhaps Sean is on Courtney’s payroll because this wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.
All I can say is shame on you for not doing your homework and your research before writing something like this.
What a shitty review. Did you even watch the movie?
Yeah, let’s ignore the physical evidence, the top expert opinions that the case needs to be reopened and let’s rush on out and write a shitty review talking about how “crazy” it is to accuse Courtney of murder, even though he film focused solely on why the case needs to be reopened.
The spent shotgun shell was found on the wrong side of the body. The heroin level is proof that Kurt could not have killed himself. Courtney Love knew all along were Kurt was, at the home, and that he wasn’t missing as she claimed. She fooled the world into thinking he was missing. She filed a missing person’s report posing as Kurt’s mother claiming Kurt was missing. She hired a P.I. to find her “missing husband”, yet the phone records indicate she was in constant communication with the Seattle home. There were daily calls placed from the home to her hotel room and vice verse. On April 2, 1994, alone, there were 8 calls placed and that’s the day Kurt arrived back home. So Courtney knew where Kurt was the entire time.
I’m so sick of shitty reviewers writing bad reviews for this movie. Reviewers need to be screened to see if they have a brain before being allowed to review the film.
Why does it seem through reading your review you haven’t gotten the facts straight. Montage of Heck is full of lies. Soaked in Bleach is not. when the Seattle Police Department has now changed it’s comment on the lethal dose of heroin in Cobain’s body, that might be seen as a red flag that perhaps there’s something to this being a murder. Justice isn’t about who you like or don’t like as an artist. It’s about doing the right thing, and when you speak out, in ignorance or anger…well….that’s all that gets shown.
Totally agree. Two of Kurt’s own friends have gone on record saying that Montage of Heck is a piece of shit. I believe Rolling Stone has an article on one of Kurt’s friends saying that. Montage is just a Courtney Love propaganda film, designed to promote the version of Kurt that Courtney wants the public to believe.
Soaked in Bleach is the truth. Kurt was murdered, plain and simple.
Read his other reviews you should have seen this coming