Customer Reviews

Helter Skelter Murders [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I rented this recently thinking I was going to see a film from my childhood called Helter Skelter. I wasn't even allowed to watch it when it was on but years later saw it on very late night T.V. It was a two-parter which started with the murders and concentrated on the trial which was more of a circus than O.J.'s ever could have been. Now to get back to this particular film. It is not the movie I am thinking of. It is too weird for words. This had barely any dialogue for over an hour, poorly shot and it took forever to find any info on it. Apparently this was some student film made in 1971 or 72' after the trial was completed. I felt compelled to write this so no one buys this by mistake. The real movie was based on the excellent book by Vincent Bugliosi which was very researched and lived through by the author.

This is not the raved about 70's miniseries. It is a bad film with a twisted "re-enactment" of the fateful night when 5 people lost their lives in what is still the most vicious murder and weirdest true plot ever to have taken place.

It looks as if "Dark Angel" (great name, yeah right) missed the point as these pro Manson freaks always seem to. First off, how does this movie keep the watcher entertained? It doesn't, all that happens is (in black and white at that) people dancing around to very hard to hear music with an occasional voice over. Then near the end comes the violence. The viewer from Chicago didn't say anything about being "disturbed" by death and violence as any thinking person would be, these Manson people always bring up this argument. What the Chicago viewer said was that this was not the T.V. movie that is most famous and I'll bet what people are actually looking for. But as far as the violence issue that DA brought up most people are interested in it, it shocks us and there is absolutely curiosity about this case and any idiot that acts like there's hypocracy involved obviously is not listening and hearing only what they WAnt to. But viewers, trust me this is not the film you are thinking about. That is called Helter Skelter and is based on the infamous book of the same name. By the way Manson is so over. C'mon.

Oh it was done in black and white booh hooo! It makes the film work! This stark realism of B/W is especially true in the murders scenes. It also gives a feeling past-tense which is how the script is set up. As for dialogue -- can you say Noir Film? Atmosphere folks, body language, reviewing minds and time-periods through narrative/scenery/cinemaphotograpy, all done well. The lighting could have been better in the beginning but gets better towards the middle. This movie is very dark and moody and quite frankly more than I expected. I think this is the rub with some of the other reviewers on here, they wanted the Docudrama - Helter Skelter - and got another film instead. That isn't a valid reason to low rate a flick. Quite Frankly this film "takes you there" to the crime scenes, insides the killers heads and the victims suffering, an empathic immediacy the the TV docudrama didn't achieve -- check this one out! I was actually surprised!

The interest of this film is that it was made at the time of the Manson trial, so all the (interminable) footage of contemporary hippy events is totally authentic. Unfortunately, as it announces at the start, it was entirely derived from newspaper reports about the Tate/LaBianca murders, not from court transcripts or (because it hadn't yet been written) Bugliosi's book Helter Skelter, so the court scenes are minimal and sketchy, and the bulk of the film's running time is taken up with hippy concerts and dream-like re-enactments of Sharon Tate (not that she - or any other characters - are referred to by name) in Louis XV period dress which feel like filler in a very short (80-odd minute) film. What is there is often wrong. For instance Susan Atkins (Sadie Mae Glutz) is shown doing no more than holding Sharon Tate while 'Tex' Watson stabs her. This was Sadie Mae's original story, but by the time of the trial she had confessed to various cell-mates that she had stabbed Tate herself & got a sexual thrill from it. I get the feeling this film was hacked together very fast so as to make an exploitative buck at the time. There doesn't seem much reason to watch it now. Plusses are the grainy black & white style & morbid atmosphere, and the fact that it was made basically as the trial was going on. Oh, it says on the box two Manson songs will be heard. And then at the start of the film it says only one will - Mechanical Man (very weird and not especially good, by the way) - but that's Exploitation!

This movie was an unrealistic portrayal of the Tate La Bianca murders that occured in August, 1969. If you want the real version buy the 1976 Helter Skelter if you can find it. It is obsolete.

Don't waste your time or money watching this movie. The guy who portrays Manson has a booming voice and Charles Mansion did not. "I am God, I am Satan, I am you, and you are me."

A lot of the film is too dark to see and the photography is very poor. The script is hard to follow and the acting is subpar. Folks, don't waste your time on this version of Helter Skelter.

This is what you would call an "exploitation" movie since it was released at the time when the manson trials were under way. However, i have to give the movie a thumbs up. I actually thought the movie was pretty good. The actual footage of the spahn movie ranch and the family was magnificient. They even had a glimpse of george spahn himself. If youre a nostalgia buff, youre going to like the movie. Even though some of the facts in the movie were different from what was revealed in the trials, its a good simulation of what actually happened at the tate house. This movie actually shows the whole breakdown of what actually happened at the tate house and doesnt hide it in one of those flashback type things that other movies usually do. The only thing that i was disappointed with was the ending in which the family members arrive at the Labianca house and the movie ends with a description blaming drug use for what could happen. They did a great job on showing the tate killings but left us all outside of the Labianca house where they decided to end the movie. They probably did that so that they could rush to get this movie out while public interest was at its height.
If youre curious to see what the spahn ranch was like at the time of the manson trials, i highly recommend it because the footage of the ranch was quite nice and most of the hippie scenes were also authentic.
I'd give this movie about 3 1/2 stars but you may have to watch it twice to get a real feel for whats going on.

I saw this movie first around 1991, though I knew right away it wasn't the tv mini series, as I was well familar with that. Yes this movie is taxing to watch, very long, maybe not in actual time, but it seems like it goes on forever. It's so bad it's almost funny though. I do, however enjoy the way it is filmed. It has almost a early Russ Myers feel to it, which is cool in a way. But story wise there isn't much to it, and factualy it does go astray at times. It does try to touch base on the life out in Spahn and Death Valley, with the lifestyle of the family, which is 'interesting'. Though some of it borderlines on the steamy and racey aspects. There is also a very long boring passage of Sharon Tate as a young teenager, or something at some kind of dance. The actor who plays Manson is dull as is everyone one else. For some reason everytime he speaks he sounds as if he is a southern preacher with a big booming voice.."Tell Me What You Can't Kill?!!". The murder scene is probably the most interesting part of it all, filmed well enough. Certain facts are wrong as someone else has already pointed out. Though, there is an ammusing moment where Tex crouches down to the window of Steven Parent and smiles a evil smile. There is a lot of created stuff in this movie, such as the long ceramony right before the killers leave, the passing of wepons and drugs, which to most info out there didn't happen.

Yes the most interesting part of this film is they use Manson's song Mechanical Man. But a strange thing is, and no one has mentioned this before is that there is quite a few songs by the 1960's garage band The Music Machine in it. They were popular for the mid 60's song "Talk Talk". To my knowledge the Music Machine were not involved in any way to the Manson Family, so it seems strange to me that they use these songs.

I would not suggest to any to buy it, unless you are someone who HAS to have every single thing related to Manson. I am sure you can rent it at some video stores, as I have.

My husband bought this for me when I finished reading the book. He thought it was the movie I had seen bits and pieces of in the early 70's. Well...it isn't! I was terribly disappointed in the incomprehensible crap that's on this video. It was a complete waste of time & money!! I wish that the documentary with Vincent Bugliosi wasn't out of print in the U.S. this one should be out of print!

I bought this movie, basically knowing it would be awful and I wasn't disappointed. All the reviewers on here are right (except the two that gave it 5 stars) -it is a horrible movie. BUT, I gave it two stars.

Why, you may ask? Because I read the great book by the same name, and it was very cool to see the scene with actual footage of Spahn ranch. (burned down not long after), and to see the scene with authentic hippies.

The rest of the movie is throw away. If you want a good movie, don't buy this. If you loved the book, or are very interested in the Manson trial/family and want to see footage of Spahn ranch, here it is. Be warned - you'll get five or ten minutes of hippie/Spahn ranch footage.