"Helter Skelter"(1976)d/Tom Gries

Tonight's entry, a made-for-television event spanning two nights back in April of 1976, is perhaps the most famous of the films concerning the Tate/LaBianca murders, based on the bestselling 1974 book by Curt Gentry and Vincent Bugliosi, who was prosecutor in the historic trial itself.Nominated for three Emmys, it had a theatrical release overseas with additional nudity and violence, as evidenced by the choice blood red Aussie daybill that creeped out my ex-wife until I finally tucked it away in a closet, pictured above.Despite the poster's place in my collection and my insistance to stay up late both nights when Skelter originally aired(I pulled it off, somehow, too), the Gries-helmed vehicle isn't my favorite take on Charlie and pals by a long shot, due to the talky, investigation/courtroom approach it favors, focusing on Bugliosi's victorious Beatles-driven race war motive from right field, instead of the barely touched upon far out lifestyle and psyche of the hippie kooks at the center of the bloody slayings.What is exceptional about the production to me, are the performances of George DiCenzo as Bugliosi, and more so, Steve Railsback as the pint-sized prophet himself.As I've stated before, Manson isn't an easily recreatable character for the screen, as proven by the failure of films like The Manson Massacre(1972) and The Helter Skelter Murders(1970) in conveying that twinkle of pure hallucinogenic lunacy the magnetic little guy is blanketed in, to audiences.Railsback completely fucking nails it right off the bat, but isn't given enough of the nearly two hundred minute running time to truly shine.Also notable here are performances by Nancy Wolfe as an extra sexy Sexy Sadie, and scream queen extraordinaire Marilyn "TCM" Burns as "Darling" Kasabian, who turned state's evidence.Hell, you can even find Eileen(Pazuzu's spectral grillpiece in "The Exorcist")Dietz, Robert(Sam from "Quincy M.E.")Ito, and even Bart(Binzer from "Vega$")Braverman among the cast if you look hard enough.Forwards.

Somebody stick a fork in Leno(Al Checco), I think he's done.
Gunshots cut through the silence during the early morning hours, signalling the death of the Age of Aquarius and the beginnings of one of the most bizarre criminal trials in American history, as partially narrated by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi(George DiCenzo).One of Tate's neighbors is called in by the police later that morning to i.d. the brutalized bodies that had been shot, stabbed, roped, and/or beaten(in some cases, all four).The gore is brief and understated, but he hurls his guts in the bushes anyway after seeing Sharon's lifeless, pregnant body on the floor.The LaBiancas, returning to town by car, read the shocking headlines in the newspaper then become the next morning's headlines themselves.Cops pursue the dope angle and remark at the similarity between the Beatles White Album song titles and messages written in blood at the crime scenes.A boy finds the pistol used in the killings and his father turns it in to the authorities, where it sits in evidence for months unnoticed.They raid the Spahn Movie Ranch, arresting a skein of dirty hippies for Grand Theft Auto(the charge, not the game, youngbloods.).In jail, Sadie(Nancy Wolfe) grooves on the sounds of a transistor radio and gleefully relates all the gruesome details of the murders to Ronnie Howard(the petty criminal, not the flameheaded kid who sings "Wells Fargo Wagon" in "The Music Man"(1962), mind you).Bugliosi is named the new prosecutor, and tries to work a deal in exchange for testimony with Straight Satans biker Danny DeCarlo(Rudy Ramos).Ronnie tries to spill her guts but no one seems too interested.Bugliosi grills Family gals for candy, and finds out that Charlie is love.Bugliosi watches Manson(Railsback) being led in by deputies on charges he set fire to an earth mover, and makes Christ jokes.DeCarlo tells of Manson's desire to kill pigs, blame it on the niggers, and start a race war.Leslie Van Houten has selective amnesia under questioning.Tex Watson's fingerprints from a prior drug bust match ones found at the crime scenes.Warrants are issued for Watson, Kasabian, and Krenwinkle.

"...Do you feel like wolf kabob Roth vantage? Gefrannis booj pooch boo jujube; bear-ramage. Jigiji geeji geeja geeble Google. Begep flagaggle vaggle veditch-waggle bagga?"
Sadie tells all(sex with Charlie,"the infinite", murder details), then later denies it.Accomplice Linda Kasabian(Marilyn Burns)agrees to testify and Atkins' plea bargain is dropped.Bugliosi's watch stops in court as Manson stares at him.The discarded murder scene clothes are discovered in a canyon, and the pistol that's been in limbo is finally matched up as Bugliosi notices the Beatles tie-in.Ex-Mansonite Paul Watkins helps cross the t's and dot the i's for the young prosecutor, then almost dies in a suspicious fire for his troubles.Manson girls gather outside the Hall of Justice as the trial begins.Kasabian details her introduction to the family and later, the details of August 9th and 10th to the jury.The female defendants laugh, giggle, and respond in unison.Manson flips his lid in front of everyone then tells that his father is the jailhouse and he is simply a reflection of what everyone else has made him, and the girls tearfully cheer him on, shouting out loud until all defendants are removed from the courtroom.Bugliosi wraps his arguments and pushes his 'Helter Skelter' motive.The jury finds them guilty of all charges.Manson and the girls shave their heads("I'm the devil! The devil always shaves his head!" exclaims Charlie) and carve X's between their eyes as they're all given the death penalty.Charlie takes a moment to congratulate Bugliosi on a job well-done, and remarks that jail is just fine for him, supplying meals, sex, and time to play his guitar.The prosecutor chillingly ponders the possibility of more like Manson as Charlie sings "Garbage Dump" from his cell.That sums it up in one big lump, so to speak...

Linda(Marilyn Burns)arrives in court;Leatherface could not be reached for comment.
Director Gries worked primarily in television, even helming several episodes of Batman(1966) along the way.The amazingly intense Railsback would go on to portray another famous killer, Ed Gein in 2000; also appearing in Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects(2005).Native Pennsylvanian Marilyn Burns went on to score roles in Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive(1976),Future Kill with Chainsaw co-star Ed Neal in 1985, and most recently Kim Henkel's 2012 project Boneboys, also with Neal.DiCenzo, who died in 2010, was once assistant to the producer on House of Dark Shadows(1970).The actual LaBianca residence was used in Skelter, but Polansky's home was not.The role of Manson was originally offered to Martin Scorsese(Wait.What.).Intense eyes, not eyebrows, ya knuckleheads.Tonight's entry scores three wops on the scale, an essential to any true crime buffs, Manson enthusiasts(!), or regular woprophiles out there.Always is still always forever, baby.

C'monnnn, that's some mint Charlie(Steve Railsback) right there.

"Manson"(1973)d/Robert Hendrickson,Laurence Merrick

We've got a rare and beautiful gem under the jeweler's loup tonight, a crazy diamond of legendary drug-soaked proportions, and my favorite of all the documentaries concerning the notorious 'Manson Family' and their pint-sized purveyor of prison prophecy, Charlie himself.As the story goes, some young filmmakers working on a documentary focusing on the communal lifestyle of hippies filmed the Manson gang at the Spahn Ranch, Devil's Canyon, and the Barker Ranch in Death Valley, completely unaware of who they were or what they were about, until during the editing process they were shocked to see Manson grinning and aping for news cameras on television, and rushed down to the Hall of Justice to get footage of the unfolding trial as it happened.The film later found itself banned after Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme's attempted assassination of President Ford(with no rounds in the chamber when she pointed the gun, it's pretty safe to say she was just gunning for three hots and a cot at the time, IMHO) to preserve her right to a fair and speedy trial.I scored a Beverly Wilshire Filmworks boot of the movie years ago on Times Square in the early morning hours, which later went for significant amounts of Happy Talk cash on eBay until the director, Hendrickson, dropped a copyright bomb on them, getting listings pulled, and finally suing the company itself.Hendrickson later offered personalized, autographed dvd-r's of Manson for long bux at Exclusive Films' website, but hadn't responded to e-mail queries as recently as two years ago, so that's a shot in the dark(kinda like the whole "Helter Skelter" black/white race war conspiracy angle, but hey, that's just what I think).Co-director/producer Laurence Merrick, who had helmed Dracula and the Boys(1969), The Black Angels(1970), and Guess What Happened to Count Dracula?(1971) prior, was shot in the back and killed in Hollywood by a berserk student-stalker from his acting school in 1977.It only gets better from there...

Pittman, Fromme, and Good:Would, would, and uh...would.Yes.
As Sandra Good shares some philosophy about murder and moving children to the desert, we're introduced to the key players in tonight's entry.Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkle, Van Houten, Watson, Beausoleil.Death Row times six(changed to life imprisonment in 1972).Deputy District Attorney Vince Bugliosi then speaks about how "far out" the murders were to the public-at-large, and the perpetrators, even more so.The narrator(Jess Pearson) then fleshes out the crimes and the victims themselves, as Bugliosi serves up a gore score(169 stab wounds, 7 gunshot wounds).We're shown Tex and the Manson girls and their aliases in various stages of incarceration with the narrator relating human details of their pre-Charlie lives.On August 11th, Manson and several of his cohabitants are raided at the Spahn Ranch and charged with grand theft auto.Enter Nancy Pittman, Lynette Fromme, and Sandra Good, all playing with hunting knives and long rifles, peppering Beatles lyrics with profanity, and rapping about death.Ronnie Howard, who had been cellmates with Susan Atkins, relates Bobby Beausoleil's earlier torture/murder of Gary Hinman on Manson's orders for the cameras.We're then given the throwaway background of Manson himself, born to an unwed teenager who was later locked up for prostitution; foster homes, reformatories, jails, state prisons, federal prisons, and finally San Quentin, cell 13, Death Row.We're then showed how the racial unrest of the 1960's shaped Manson's Beatle-based master plan as he was released from prison in 1967(despite the White Album not being released for another year)and descended upon the hippie movement of Haight-Ashbury, "a venus fly trap among the flowers".Ex-Mansonite Paul Watkins tells how beautiful the hippies were, visibly still a little groggy from all the drugs he'd been doing.

"We used belladonna, hashish, smoked marijuana a lot, mescaline, opium, we didn't mess around with any hard drugs."- Paul Watkins
Watkins reinforces Bugliosi's far-fetched race war angle(it's near to impossible to start a crossword puzzle on L.S.D., just sayin'), before ex-cellmates remember Manson as a "Pay me no mind" kinda guy.Non-jailed Mansonettes praise him for saving them from their boring lives.Brooks Poston tells how Charlie was Christ to him while tripping on acid.We then see Family members skinny-dipping and helping George Spahn around the ranch.Squeaky proudly displays his ceremonial vest, four or five years of continuous stitching by the girls later, their hair woven into the seams from when they shaved their heads(My birthday's still 6 months away, ladies!).Family births are detailed, and the participation of Manson children in drugs and regular orgies.Nancy Jordan describes sex with Manson as cold and sadistic.Watkins relates the group's constant hallucinogenic drug intake."Love Never Dies" is heard as the Family does some creepy erotic interpretive dances for the camera.Pittman tells of all the violence she encountered watching tv as a kid.The way Charlie grooved on playing on one's deepest fears is discussed.Squeaky romanticizes about a hunting knife.Watkins and Poston perform a guitar/flute duet.Clem psychobabbles and freaks out in slow motion as his role in a ranch hand's beheading is detailed.Finally, Manson speaks for himself.He starts out on a victim trip and eventually giggles his way to Sneakyville.Young people of the day are interviewed.Some actually dig him.The Manson girls suggest the Tate/LaBianca murders were copycat killings to spring Beausoleil from jail(much, more likely,don't you think?).Watkins remarks how un-groovy Charlie's death trip was.The camera pulls back from two Manson girls sitting on the corner across from the Hall of Justice as the end credits roll.

You can't spell 'psychotic' without h-o-t.
Interestingly enough, Steve "Clem" Grogan, who the filmmakers seemingly went out of their way to portray as the most animalistic psycho of the bunch after having been deemed borderline retarded in court, having denounced Manson in 1977 and provided authorities with the burial plot of "Shorty" Shea, was released on parole in 1985(the only Mansonite convicted of murder to ever do so!), rumoured to have taken up house painting around the Frisco area(!!"Yeah, Clem, 'blood red' might offend my neighbors...").Sherry Cooper who fled the family is believed to have been i.d.'ed as a Jane Doe body that turned up stabbed to death down an embankment in November of '69.Ronnie Howard was kidnapped from a bus terminal in 1979, beaten, robbed, and died of her injuries twelve days later.Spacy hippie Paul Watkins ended up founding the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce(!), and serving as an unofficial mayor(!!) of Tecopa, a small town in Death Valley, before succumbing to leukemia in 1990, while his "Desert Sun" partner-in-music, Brooks Poston, allegedly enjoys a simple life, still playing music.Following up the Family children(Pooh Bear, Zezozose, Phoenix, Ivan, Angel et al) is another story in and of itself, with legs like Juliette Prowse.As it stands, Manson is a fascinating documentary with lots of freaky moments that you should add to your collection if the chance arises.On the scale, it creepy-crawls to the top with a perfect score of Four big ones.To know you know it, is to know it.

"If you're going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."-Charlie

"Charles Manson Superstar"(1989)d/Nikolas Schreck

Our feature tonight is an epic documentary concerning everybody's favorite incarcerated-for-keeps nutbag, Charlie Manson, as pieced together by Zeena LaVey's husband and ex-frontman for goth outfit Radio Werewolf, Nikolas Schreck, and once called the best documentary ever on the subject by Film Threat magazine.I'm guessing they've never taken a gander at Robert Hendrickson's Manson(1973) in making such a bold claim, but there you go.As it stands, Schreck's film is pretty entertaining; a mixture of interview footage from San Quentin, stills, news footage, and updated treks to several keynote locations in the media-induced Manson legend.In the proper mental state to make heads or tails of the often hilarious proceedings found within yesterday afternoon, me and the Doctor sat down to screen my copy, with much laughter and repeated rewinds to follow.
The thing about Chuck is he's a lot like Kurt Vonnnegut's cuckoo clock in Hell from 'Mother Night'.He'll make perfectly logical sense for eight minutes and twenty-three seconds, then jump sanity barriers two seconds, then make sense for two hours and one second, before jumping sanity again for two years.Frustrating to follow, but a riot to look at once in a while.And in Superstar, he dusts off his crazy hat and wears it from start to finish.

Uncle Charlie, still trippin' face twenty years later.
The scraggly old acid-soaked beatnik with beard and fingernails by Howard Hughes is released from his shackles and interviewed by Nick Bougas, a true crime nut and longtime friend of Manson's and the man ultimately responsible for such shockumentary classics as the Death Scenes series, Murderers, Mobsters, and Madmen Vol.1-2, and even Sinatra: An Unauthorized Biography of the Legend.Bougas stays off-camera for the most part, asking questions that vault Manson off into lengthy harangues about his own innocence, A.T.W.A.(Air, Trees, Water, Animals), the environmental group he was immersed in at the time with Lynette Fromme and Sandra Good(aka/ "Red" and "Blue"), Jesus Christ, Satan, Adolf Hitler, the flawed justice system, and even his jailed co-conspiritors.For every thoughtful insight he makes on any subject(and he makes a few, believe it or not), he often drifts quickly into lysergic-born psychobabble and frenetic, flailing arm gestures and funny faces, taking the piss out of his own arguments before any viewer ever could.Director Schreck intersperses grainy news clips and poor quality video footage whenever Manson slips too far from the real world, with varying success.The Spahn Ranch is shown to have disappeared completely due to fire, with only a few rusty automobile remnants marking the site.The video camera also travels into the desert where Manson and company once retreated from society, stripping cars into gun mounted dune buggies, as evidenced by junked vehicles with chipping psychedelic paint still baking in the sun and full gas cans still camoflaged in the rocks.

"Haaaaaaaannnnnnh!" Charlie demonstrates some Manson Fu for the cameras.
Schreck also documents remote desert cabins the 'family' once occupied, with Charlie's John Hancock spraypainted and dated in the wooden door.Manson's ties to the Satanic Church, Straight Satans motorcycle club, and the neo-nazi Universal Order are discussed, with vague coincidences played up for the camera.Mansonite Susan Atkins is shown to have participated in Anton LaVey's stage show as a nude vampire in a coffin before joining Manson, and Manson's ties with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson are also touched upon(The Beach Boys even recorded Charlie's "Cease to Exist" as "Never Learn Not to Love" on their 20/20 album), though Manson's introduction to record producer Terry Melcher, who lived at Cielo Drive in the home later owned by Sharon Tate is not, for some unknown reason.Schreck also seems content to paint Manson as a misunderstood visionary villified by the media,and though that is certainly arguable to a degree, I think Charlie is neither a wronged prophet nor a devil with supernatural powers to ensnare innocents looking for direction in life.He's more like a career petty criminal who was unfortunately released into an age where free love and gurus were commonplace, and perhaps took the hippie decadence a little too far on a few tragic occasions(Hinman, Tate, LaBianca,et al).Interestingly enough, while Schreck is wrongly giving credit to Manson for the rise of the skinhead cult(which predates any Manson and co. head-shaving hijinks, btw), a crowd shot flashes across the screen with what looks to be none other than Chubby Chris, ex-frontman of British Oi band Combat 84, sieg heiling while wearing the obligatory White Power fist t shirt.Sorry, to any "Spirit of 69'ers" who might take offense to that, but it is what it is.

If I had a dollar for every time Charlie says,"Ya dig what I'm sayin'?", I'd build 'The Charles Mansion' for myself.
The soundtrack features some interesting music from jailed Mansonite, Bobby Beausoleil, from a soundtrack he'd done for filmmaker Kenneth Anger's "Lucifer Rising", as well as excerpts from Anton LaVey's "Satanic Mass", Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki's "Apocalypsis", and some of Manson's own compositions off of the "Lie" and "Completion" albums, although the music often drowns out the softspoken Schreck's narrative a little too often for my liking.Whether you're curious as to where this wacky cat is comin' from, dig? or you just groove on his mile-a-minute insanity, Superstar delivers a seldom-seen insight into a man who's spent most of his life behind bars and never quite got getting along with others right, leading him to his current housing at Corcoran State Prison; in his 64th year in the prison system.Four wops and the highest recommendation.Snag a copy!

“...You might say I'm kinda like Satan.”

"The Helter Skelter Murders"(1970)d/Frank Howard

Tonight we return to the annals of true crime, with a relatively faithful big screen adaption of the Tate/LaBianca murders(another one?)in Frank Howard's "The Helter Skelter Murders", originally released as "The Other Side of Madness" in 1970; the first of many dramatizations of the historic crimes as perpetrated by the Manson family.Shot in noirish black and white with a brief color sequence depicting a screen test for the Sharon Tate character, or Victim/The Starlet, as she's referred to in the credits.One gripe against the film, expressed by those lucky enough to see the damned thing over the years, and inevitably, gauge against the 1976 telepic Helter Skelter directly afterwards, is the use of newspaper and magazine speculation as source material for the lurid details of the case.A valid point until you factor in the fact that most of the particulars were still being sorted out as the movie was being produced.The ink on Manson's infamous Life magazine cover shot hadn't even dried yet, ferchrissakes.Despite the narrative's fogginess at certain points, and a running time mercilessly padded out with courtroom scenes and a pointless hippie groovefest at a rock quarry that goes on for what seems like daaaays, the movie carries an air of authenticity and realism about it, the lack of sync sound providing an eerie quiet that hangs over the re-enactment of the devilish misdeeds of the drug-soaked drop outs.
The film also boasts of a stellar soundtrack, provided by Sean Bonniwell of sixties psych/garage outfit, Music Machine(although Bonniwell has long voiced his dissatisfaction at the inclusion of his music in a Manson exploitation flick) and "Mechanical Man", an infamous track warbled by ol' Jesus Christ(as he sometimes was called back when he and God were both loooove,man) himself.Some scenes were shot on location at the Spahn Movie Ranch where the murderous ragtags hung their hats for a time, and according to at least one source, the Tate residence where the grisly murders transpired.Crazy, maaaaahn, crazy.Dig the violence.

Once the Flintstone chewables were doled out, everything went to Hell.
After we open with a lengthy scrolling Star Wars-esque disclaimer, we're brought to that fateful evening when screams and gunshots would disturb the peaceful quiet of a late summer night in Los Angeles: four murky hippies crowd around a table, are given doses of lysergic acid, an antique pistol that looks like it's been pried from Bat Masterson's mummified hands, some hunting knives, an address, and a nod from Charlie(this one looks a lot more effective the farther away from the lens he is).A fearful eye and gunshots lead us into a far out inverted sequence of an orb weaver wrapping its struggling prey in silk over the titles.We then see our perpetrators awaiting their day in court from prison cells set against a flashback from groovier times at the Spahn Ranch, doing chores, blowing pot, lying around on dirty mattresses and listening to Charlie's "Mechanical Man".As the trial begins we hear Manson indoctrinating his children in acid-drenched psychobabble("You can't kill kill!"...settle down over there, Spacey.) in an audio flashback as the first witness tells the court about the "gathering", where an ocean of freaked out hippies get together in a rock quarry for an open air rock festival and blow their minds together.Some of the defendants are seen mingling at the day and night event, which has a brief running time of infinity times infinity.Simply stating, "Yes, your honor, I saw them at a rock concert last year..." would have spared us the overweight topless biker broads unskinny dipping, their flabby asses grooving in reverse around the bonfire to the far out strains of garage rock, but I digress.The next witness tells the court that, yes, the family may have partaken in some drugs here and there(and Liberace was rumoured to have been flamboyant),and girls may or may not have been passed around like a jibber-jab of Maui Wowee,as evidenced by one hippie chick's hornicidal hayloft session.

"You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy."-Charles Manson
The next witness tells of "Helter Skelter", Charlie's apocalyptic race war plan, as demonstrated by a handful of Black Panther-types robbing an auto parts store(!The revolution will be reachable by mini-scooter.), and interrupting the pleasant whiteness of an old honky's evening by gun butting her grill-piece and jacking all of her capitalist thaaangs, dig?Then it's back to shadowy flower children again crowding the table, dosing up, and heading out to put an end to the Age of Aquarius, once and for all.Though the players(killers and victims) go unnamed in the claret-splashed finale, I'm gonna take artistic liberty here, and name them to ease my descriptive burdens.We see Watson and the girls cruising through Beverly Hills(I was impressed with Tex's driving skills on acid, not once did the engine melt into the road or turn into a metal bird of prey and flap off into the night...hey, it happens, trust me.).At their destination, Watson cuts the telephone lines and dispatches the teenage goggle-headed Parent character with a flurry of bullets while he's trying to discreetly start his car.After the girls are let in, the killers stroll casually into the Tate household without even a knock.The burly Frykowski, sleeping on the couch, is woken up at gunpoint.While looking for a towel,Atkins notices Folger relaxing on a bed, and Tate and Sebring having a chat in another bedroom.Frykowski breaks loose from the towel binding, struggling on the floor with Atkins, who repeatedly stabs him in his legs to keep him from escaping.Watson then shoots him, as he's stumbling out into the yard.The other three captives are bound together by rope. which Sebring slips out of, earning him a bloody dispatch.Frykowski proves to be a tough kill,requiring more gun shots, bludgeoning, and finally, multiple stabbings before he gives up the ghost.Folger breaks loose and is shanked in the labonza by Watson for her efforts(with more to follow), as Watson orders Atkins to kill the pregnant starlet, still hogtied and secured over a crossbeam in the ceiling.Check."Pig" written in blood on the door.Check.We see the killers venturing out on their second night of murder as a limp warning about the effect of drugs flashes on the screen, leading us to the credits.

"I am the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." -Charles 'Tex' Watson
Kinda surprising to find out nobody in tonight's review went on to do other films, as Howard shows more than an adequate grasp on filmmaking, with this moody, atmospheric, well-shot little number under his belt.I'm pretty sure he could've gone on to bigger things if he persevered.Debbie Duff, in the Tate role, may not have had acting chops(she looks more confused than terrified when she learns that she and her unborn baby are about to buy the farm) but actually surpasses Sharon in the looks department, possessing of an adorable smirk/smile and great eyes.On the other hand, the guy playing Manson is pretty forgettable, with precious little screen presence, and brings no signature hypnotic eyes to the table either, for that matter.In his defense, Manson's not the easiest guy to get across on the silver screen.Don't buy into the anti-Murders propaganda floating around on the interwebz out here, see it for yourself before you slag it off.Though not as thorough or sensational as Helter Skelter(1976), nor as embedded in Family psyche as Van Bebber's Manson Family(2003), it really is a pretty well-made slice of true crime exploitation with a killer soundtrack, and ample dark creepiness.Three wops on the scale.Recommended!

Blood, Rope, and Tears? I have all of their albums,maaaaahn.

"The Manson Family"(2003)d/James Van Bebber

Just when I think I was out, you rascals keep pulling me back in...Not that I don't enjoy reviewing movies for you loverly people,in fact,it's quite the opposite.I looooove reviewing movies for you.I just needed a couple of days to recharge the ol' batteries.Much partying was partaken in,and your humble N were very glad of it.Onward. Everything's sneaky up around Sneakyville.Tonight we're covering one of the more recent takes concerning the man who once recorded a song called "Don't Do Anything Illegal" before influencing lysergic acid-drenched members of his flock to go out and "totally destroy everyone...as gruesome as you can" on two consecutive nights in August of 1969,after partaking in a couple of unrelated murders himself a month earlier.Maybe if he took his own lyrics more seriously,he wouldn't have spent the vast majority of his life behind bars,I dunno.In the decades since the outrageous murders,Charlie,or "Jesus Christ" as they used to call him around Spahn's Movie Ranch while wacked out on acid dipped in belladonna and rattlesnake venom,has become somewhat of a cultural icon,appearing on clothing,skateboards,cartoons,trading cards,dolls,you name it and that famous piercing stare with the jailhouse swastika between it has probably graced it.Everybody's got their own opinion on Charlie and his "family",and mine is:Sure,he may have done some questionable things in his day,but at least he almost singlehandedly put an end to the stupid fucking Age of Aquarius.Outside of a Phish or Flogging Molly show,you rarely have smelly hippies to deal with anymore,so thank Charlie for that.
Tonight's review focuses on indie director Jim Van Bebber ("Deadbeat at Dawn","My Sweet Satan",and music videos by Pantera,Skinny Puppy,and Necrophagia,among others)and his labour of love that took over ten years to complete.I've always dug Van Bebber's quirky style of cinematography,and unique visions,so when word began to spread about his follow up to Deadbeat being a Manson movie,I was already on board and eagerly awaiting.Like most of you,I did a whole lot of waiting.I'd read people's takes on bits of footage they'd seen here and there and wonder if I was ever gonna catch a glimpse of what promised to be a memorable ride.Eventually,Dark Sky Films stepped in,financing the end of the film,and since,it has enjoyed both a theatrical release and a lush dvd release,as well,which I was all over like Margot Kidder and the shrubbery outside your house.Did it live up to the years of hype?Absolutely.If you're the CSI:Miami type,you might wanna stick with the 1976 telepic,Helter Skelter,but if you're looking for the story through the eyes and words of those actually responsible for the heinous crimes,then you owe it to yourselves to get copies of Manson Family,sharp-ish.Released unrated in the states,there's plenty of gloriously graphic violence and open sexuality to satisfy any hardcore genre nut,as well as a killer soundtrack by some members of Skinny Puppy and Phil Anselmo,who also provides the voice of Satan.Nice.

Really?Three sugarcubes?You should maybe think about sharin',Tate.Insert rimshot.
At the outset,the viewer jumps from 1969 when the infamous murders took place,to 1996 where reporter Jack Wilson (Carl Day) is assembling a documentary about the Manson Family murders utilizing interviews from both eras with the family members,and reconstructing the crimes themselves.The earlier footage involving Tex (Marc Pitman), Patty (Leslie Orr), Sadie (Maureen Allisse) and Bobby (the director himself!)chronicles the hallucinogenic and orgiastic lifestyle the youth had come to realize,and later,the manner in which their self-imposed hedonism finally turned back into a pumpkin,with a barrage of failed record deals,mounting money problems,in-cult rivalries,and the inability to cope with these problems when you're constantly banged out of your fucking gourd on drugs,culminating in the ritualistic slaughter of several innocent people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.The murders,though slightly hindered by Van Bebber's budgetary woes, are masterfully protrayed with a systemic shock of realism,without the slightest coating of Hollywood gloss,making for a very sobering viewing experience.Make no mistakes about it,Van Bebber's Manson(Marcello Games) isn't the media-concocted,silver tongued sociopath with strange mental powers here,he's simply the uneducated hayseed jailbird with precious little talent,and even less ability to keep his steady flow of indiscernible drug babble to a minimum.That he was able to influence so many people of decent upbringing to such unspeakable acts of sadism remains a historical question mark.The director keeps him mostly in the wings,as a sort of necessary set piece,instead focusing on the "family" themselves.

That's what you get for "Garbage Dump",Charlie.
The reporter,a sensible middle aged man,has little compassion for his subject matter,treating the groups constant orgies and mind-altering acid trips with a moral repugnance and antipathy you'd expect from someone like him.What he doesn't realize,is how deeply intrinsic Manson's iconic status is to many disenfranchised youth,even decades after the fact.Due to his publicized work on the documentary,Wilson is unknowingly stalked by a group of teenaged meth-headed psychopaths,one of which goes by the name Zezozose,the name family member Susan Atkins gave her infant son back in the flowery pre-Death Row days.The group eventually overtake the reporter,explaining the meaning behind "Charlie Don't Surf" before violently stabbing him to death then killing each other.Though I've heard quite a bit of negative feedback from colleagues over the director's fictional framework,I happen to like it as a sort of moral to the whole story.As ineffective a shepherd Charlie was and is,he'll never have a shortage of mindless sheep to wrongfully exhalt him to messianic status,and do his dirty deeds,afterall.

I've hosted this same party quite a few times myself.
All in all,the budgetary limitations(some of the makeup,acting) only add to the grindhouse atmosphere present in tonight's review,raising its stock,in my opinion.I've seen just about everything Manson-related,and this movie sits at the top of my list of such cinema.In conclusion,if you find Manson's story halfway interesting,you'd do well to screen this one.Van Bebber offers seldom-visited insight into young lives that were turned upside down or in some tragic cases,ended prematurely, with some obviously hardcore research hours logged(I've done it myself,so it can be said),and his inimitable verite style of filmmaking and editing equivalent to serving up a satisfying slab of genre goodness for all parties interested.He's a base talent of the rawest caliber,for sure.If you aren't a fan of his work already,this will make you one.The highest scale rating possible and a full recommendation from your humble N for tonight's entry.

They're just scratchin' peace symbols in his tombstone.

"The Manson Massacre"(1972)d/Kentucky Jones

One-sheet:Impressive. Film itself:Eh,not so impressive.
I spent an eternity looking high and low for this obscure little ditty,very nearly impossible to find,as the legend goes,the only other print of the film had been allegedly destroyed in a fire some years back.So it seems,the only print in existence today has a German language overdubbed soundtrack with no subtitles,and being known worldwide as "Big Wop", not "Big Kraut",this could prove somewhat troublesome.Regardless of the obstacles in my path,I secured myself a copy,and what hitherto goes down is the heads and tails I made of it,submitted for your Wopsploitation pleasure.

Hindu-esque Manson is totally bummed out,man.
There are some great works out there dealing with Charles Manson,his "family",and their savage crimes on back-to-back August nights in 1969,such as "The Helter Skelter Murders"(1970),the superlative documentary,"Manson"(1970),and the highly acclaimed telepic,"Helter Skelter"(1976).This 1972 entry,directed by Kentucky Jones(allegedly a pseudonym,as he either feared for his life from Manson-ite backlash,or was himself a follower who changed his name to avoid repercussions from the law and/or victims' families...either or,you gotta admit it's a great backstory)focuses instead on only the most exploitative aspects of the cult and its sordid dealings,and the resulting film surprisingly falls short of other efforts despite this fact.

Love Charlie,love his belt:An angry messiah serves up some tough belt-lovin' to one of his groovy galpals.
Though the film takes a loose creative approach in presenting the facts behind the Maddox-Manson matters,it is structured rather inventively,using liberal black and white flashback sequences interspersed with colour in telling his female cohorts background stories,where Manson murders the beefy biker husband of a buxom babe he's been balling(played by the ever-alluring 70's B-movie queen,Uschi Digard),gets the "Donny the Punk" treatment in the showers by a gang of inmates after being subsequently sentenced,and meets his harem girls for the first time,one of which swoons evermore for our anti-hero after he aids her in stealing a vibrator(!)that her father(!!)declines to purchase for her(!!!).Talk about strict parents,sheesh.Elsewhere, cinematic Charlie takes his belt off and buckle-whips a hippie into tearful submission(I thought he used L.S.D. to dominate their minds,but what the hell do I know) and lies around using his harem as human body pillows and looking more than a little bummed out by the whole affair.Hell,I was probably looking much the same myself by the time the end credits rolled.

Me?No, I wasn't staring at your partner's(Uschi Digard) impressive set of golden bozos... just passin' through,dude.
If the drug-soaked Manson murders intrigue you the way they do me,you'll want to hunt down a copy of this lost film for yourself(e-mail me if your search is fruitless and I'll do you right).If you're familiar with the story to any degree,then the German language won't be much of a barrier.The pint-sized self-proclaimed "slippie" ranting and raving in German does prove pretty humorous,if not entirely reminiscent of another "spiritual leader" and his fiery speeches in the Deutsch tongue from an earlier time.My main gripe with the flick is the choice of actors(the late Blaisdell Makee)in the Charlie role.He looks more Marrakesh than Manson,though few people could duplicate the cult leader's aura/presence,acting or not.Another complaint,is the hazy focus on the murders themselves,which figure very meekly into the storyline.For completists only.

Hindu Manson offers some psychedelic vindaloo to an unsuspecting hippie-ette.