Search - The Manson Family on DVD

"The Real Story" whatever.

John W. Wilson | 07/30/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I had heard about this and other movies about Manson and wanted to check them out for more information about the case. This movie, claims to be, the real story told from the family point of view. This is a joke. The interviews are staged to look real, the murder scene with Folger was a joke. If you slit someones throat they are not going to colapse and then get back up and walk out to the front yard before they die after loosing what seemed to be a couple gallons of blood. The stabbing of most of the bodies is just stupid considering that Jay was shot once and stabbed 7 times but in this movie I swear that Tex stabbed him 50 times, Parent was only shot not cut according to published autopsy reports and to stab a person in the same place so many times like Hinman when the autopsy report clearly does not depict that is crazy. To top it off to put in your updates that the US Supreme Court abolished the death penalty when it was the California SC under Rose Byrd in 1972 just goes to prove how stupid this director/producer is. If the movie was claiming to be just for entertainment fine. But when you depict it as accurate and from the view of the family you look like a damn idiot. Do your homework if your going to make claims."

Low-Budget Mayhem

Jeb Nome | 06/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was sifting through a Best Buy store looking for something strange, and possibly something a bit disturbing when I found this blood soaked little opus staring out at me from the horror section. I had my doubts at first, but I remembered seeing it on the marquees of the local art-houses and reading some reviews so I made the plunge and was not dissappointed.

Let me stress at the outset that this isn't the highly sanitized 70's television mini-series Helter Skelter nor it's polished remake of last year. This one scratches much closer to the bone. Made on a shoe-string budget on and off over a course of almost fifteen years, this comes across as cross-breed of documentary, Italian horror and snuff-film. The various film stock used conveys perfectly the time period and gives an added reality to everything that eventually unfolds on screen. The use of non-actors (many of which worked pro-bono) works equally well since there is none of the pretense or method a schooled actor would bring to the table.

Some may be put off at the seemingly disorganized way it all is cut together, but there is a method to the madness. Others may be equally turned off by the exploitation flick vibe that radiates off the screen. However, from all the interviews and books I've read on the case, the film rarely strays from fact. The director Van Bebber did his homework and stayed on course.

Another thing I think I should mention is the documentary on the making of this movie. Van Bebber deserves a lot of credit for muscling this film to completion. Money ran out, some of the actors grew tired of it and went on their way, including Marcello Games who played Manson himself, but the end result was something one cannot take their eyes from. Any number of other directors would have given it up for dead long before, but eventually he got the deed done. I for one am glad he did.



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