Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Michael_Elliott
Manson (2009)*** 1/2 (out of 4)This made-for-TV documentary takes a look at the brutal and ghastly murders committed by Charles Manson and his "family." Linda Kasabian was on hand for the Tate/LaBianca murders and she's interviewed here as she talks about her life in the family and what happened on those two nights.There have been countless documentaries on Charles Manson so it's hard to find one that offers something new or different. This one here benefits from getting to hear from not only Kasabian but also Vincent Bugliosi, Catherine Share and Debra Tate who discusses what Roman Polanski was like when he got the news. Another benefit is that the re-enactments are quite effective here and we get some nice performances from the actors including Adam Kenneth Wilson who plays Manson.There's plenty of discussion about the main events of this story including Manson's race war plans and of course the two nights of terror. Sensitive viewers should be warned that crime scene photos are shown and it's just amazing how crazed these people were when they were doing these crimes. The interviews themselves are quite good and contain plenty of details. With that said, I honestly can't see Kasabian as any sort of hero even though she did testify against the family.
Shannon Baker
It's an awful story, but it's what happened. There has always been a morbid fascination with these crimes and the Manson family in general. One thing I give this docudrama is that they do tap into the public's interest in the whole Helter Skelter thing; but they also explicitly show how brutal and awful it was too. I don't think it was bloody just for shock value. It's what happened. If that sort of thing is disturbing to you; then I would suggest not watching it. But I think it's important to show the brutality of it, because otherwise you're sanitizing it. I'm sure the last thing the filmmakers wanted was to glorify these murders. But in order to do right by the victims you have to tell the truth. I think they did an excellent job. It's very interesting, but wrong as hell all at the same time. I think they did a very good job with handling the subject matter.
ptb-8
This seriously deranged faux doco about the hideous Manson family killers is peppered with actual photos of the real victims in their heartbreaking stabbed gore. This use of real photos shocked me more than anything and I personally found the genuine police report black and white pic of 8 months pregnant Sharon Tate lying on the floor, all smashed to death particularly distressing. The reenactments are also very gruesome, with repeated scenes of actors stabbing and bashing each other. One scene even has a 3 year old child in an unedited shot where 'Manson' beats and kicks a woman. How this assault looked to the child is horrifying as a 3 year old cannot discern playacting of this brutal magnitude. This doco seems to have a keen eye to explicitly display the atrocity reenactments for maximum gore exposure. Debra Tate, Sharon's sister actually appears and I gasp to think how she dealt with this as a finished product. For a TV movie is contains R Rated violence and would have been a tough sit for anyone involved. The details described in the stabbings are equally pointless as we already know these poor people died in a horrific way but to hear what they said and blood and bone details is simply revolting cruelty to the audience. And unbelievable disrespectful to the real families of the original crime. This is a vulgar exploitive doco with a desire to expose the worst violence imaginable, explicitly re inact it, and show the real crime scene photos....and rub it in your face. Terrible.
scarletminded
It's an average movie done in the trendy styles that What We Do Is Secret did, only a bit better. First the actors did try to act, unlike the Germs film. I liked the prospective of the woman who did escape from the Family in the end, that way you saw the acts as an outsider, which I feel is more gory than showing it firsthand and this is better for those of us who want facts about the Manson Family Murders yet don't want to see every violent second, though there are photos of the victims at the end of it.It should probably be more balanced, like show the victims families and their reactions to the case. Sharon Tate's sister is there, so we get her opinions of it. It is especially moving when she talks about Roman Polanski surviving the terrible things that Nazis were doing in Poland, yet broke down mentally when his wife and unborn child were murdered. And maybe Linda Kasabian should have served some time for her passive accessory activity during the murders (she herself, like Manson, didn't directly kill anyone), but her escape and hiding led to the capture of the Family, so without that, they might have kept on killing. I wouldn't recommend it as your first and only exposure to this story, but if you know about the Manson Family already, the prospective of Linda Kasabian's view of her time there might give you new insight. I only encountered it on late night TV, after I found out a Foetus song, DI-19026 was about Spahn Ranch, apparently it was Spahn Ranch's phone number, as least that is what it says on the record. Anyway, weird meshing of events.
