Plot Synopsis

With the help of best-selling crime novelist Michael Connelly, this four-part documentary explores the twisted story of the massacre at Wonderland Avenue on July 1, 1981 -- one of Hollywood's most famous murder cases that inspired the movie BOOGIE NIGHTS. This case symbolized an era in Los Angeles -- involving sex, drugs, rock n' roll... and murder. In noir-style, verite interviews, Connelly seeks key details about this gruesome quadruple murder with the original detectives, prosecutors, and undercover cops he'd come to know as a young crime beat reporter for "The Los Angeles Times." As the investigation unfolds, weaving in rare archival footage and photos, a colorful cast of characters emerges -- famous porn star John Holmes, drug dealers and kingpins, mafiosos, televangelists and multiple celebrities, including Liberace and his boy toy, enigma Scott Thorson. In a game of cat-and-mouse, Connelly tries to pin down the facts of Thorson's many larger-than-life and stranger-than-fiction stories. After four decades, Thorson may be the last man standing between the crime and the truth. But should anybody believe him? Based on Connelly's Audible podcast series and directed by Alison Ellwood, THE WONDERLAND MASSACRE & THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD debuted on Sunday, September 8, 2024 at 10pm ET/PT on MGM+:

"The Heat of a Cold Case" (Sunday, September 8, 2024): Crime novelist Michael Connelly revisits a famous murder case in Los Angeles, the 1981 massacre at Wonderland Avenue, which involved a colorful cast of characters, including a legendary porn star and a drug kingpin.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much" (Sunday, September 15, 2024): The last known surviving witness in the case, Scott Thorson, shares what he overheard the night of the murders, as well as the details of his extraordinary life with Liberace, Hollywood elite and the drug underworld of 1980s Los Angeles.

"Up in Smoke" (Sunday, September 22, 2024): Scott Thorson talks about building a drug empire in Hollywood in the 1980s.

"Last Man Standing" (Sunday, September 29, 2024): In 1990 Scott Thorson testifies against the alleged mastermind behind the massacre at Wonderland; the trial doesn't go as planned and Thorson enters witness protection.