Helter Skelter (2004)

A pregnant Linda Kasabian (Clea DuVall) arrives at George Spahn's old western movie set ranch with her daughter Tanya. The group is led by the charismatic Charles Manson (Jeremy Davies). Manson is obsessed making his song with producer Terry Melcher and Beachboys' Dennis Wilson. Linda steals $5000 from her husband's friend for Manson. The Manson family continues their crime spree. Manson goes looking for Terry Melcher but is received coolly by the new leasee Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate's friend. Melcher is giving Manson the cold shoulder. Manson tells the family of an impending race war Helter Skelter. Linda is the driver as Manson directs members of the family to massacre Sharon Tate and her friends.Jeremy Davies has always been great playing crazy. It's odd to say but he may be playing Manson as too crazy. Some of the early outbursts feel a little over the top. I buy his crazy rants when he's in prison. No matter what, he is able to command the screen. Clea DuVall is suppose to be the lead. She gets a bit overshadowed. The one thing I do like a lot is that it lays out the reason why Manson kills Sharon Tate. The story flows well which is a difficult task for such a messy real story.

For anyone who doesn't know, Helter Skelter was a psychopathic idea that criminal Charles Manson had after listening to a Beatles song by the same title (which is really too bad because The Beatles had nothing to do with these horrible murders but were likely blamed once or twice). Charles Manson was the leader of a hippie group in 1969 and he influenced various murders and is now spending his life in jail.This remake of the 1976 movie Helter Skelter is very good if you want some more information on the Charles Manson case and his story. However, if you're watching it for the nostalgia of the Sixties, you won't find it. The soundtrack for the most part sounds obviously 21st century and the actors, especially the hippie girls, talk, act and dress like people in the 21st century do. Most of the actors and actresses look like they should be sitting there texting on their pathetic cellular devices, crouched on an electric recliner wrapped up in Snuggies and eating Pizza Pockets right out of the box. I'm not trying to get too technical or anything, but watch the Hair musical (1979), I Drink Your Blood (1970), Running With Scissors (2006) or the original Helter Skelter (1976) if you want to see what the Sixties and Seventies counterculture was really like.

"Helter Skelter" originally aired on CBS in May of 2004. Like the famous, and still popular 1976 TV movie of the same name (My review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074621/usercomments-53), it is based on the 1974 true crime bestseller by prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi (with Curt Gentry). However, although both movies have the same name, the 1976 film is a courtroom drama told from the perspective of Bugliosi. This film centers mainly around Linda Kasabian, a single mother who fell into the Manson family after her husband abandoned her.I have to give credit to this film for taking a different perspective into the Manson family. Whereas Bugliosi was the moral compass who, in the previous film, finds out more shocking details about this bizarre cult as the case is being solved, Kazabian actually lived within the confines of the cult. She also allegedly maintained her morals during her direct relationship with the Manson family. Such a perspective is unique, and incredibly valuable to scratching the surface of the psychological mess that was sadistic psychopath Charles Manson.That being said, you would never think a film about the Manson family would be boring. Charles Manson and his blind followers who murdered for him, particularly Susan Atkins and Charles "Tex" Watkins, were ruthless, cold-blooded, and incredibly despicable, but they were NOT boring. Here, the actors playing the Manson family were not scary at all, as if they were just going through the motions.In the 1976 film, one look at Steve Railsback as Charles Manson sent shivers down my spine. Even when Railsback had no lines, just the look in his eyes was almost always terrifying. In this movie, Jeremy Davies was not scary at all. I watched his performance go from way over the top, right back down to underwhelming. I kept looking in his eyes and hoping for something to shock me, but there was nothing. Whereas I was convinced Railsback was actually Manson, Davies seemed more like a "Saturday Night Live" impersonation of him with all of Manson's crazy eccentricities but none of his true ruthlessness. In fact, Bob Odenkirk did a better imitation of Manson from the sketches he did on "The Ben Stiller Show" (1992).Simarly, Nancy Wolfe, in the original movie, scared the hell out of me as Susan Atkins, with her matter-of-fact interpretation and senseless pride in her savage murder of Sharon Tate. Margurite Moreau ("The Mighty Ducks" (1992), "Wet Hot American Summer" (2001)) in this movie did not elicit any emotion at all as she recounts the grizzly murders. There was nothing terrifying about her at all, and her devotion to Manson seemed so fake.While Clea DuVall did what she could as Linda Kasabian, I never got any sense of terror out of her both a.) when she decided to leave the Manson compound, and b.) perhaps most importantly, when she is outside Sharon Tate's house as other Manson family members commit their brutal murders. When she said "I'm sorry" to one of the bloody victims as he stumbled out of the house, I really didn't believe her.Since the filmmakers made the huge mistake not to incorporate much of the courtroom drama into this movie, an otherwise great actor, Bruno Kirby ("The Godfather Part II" (1974), "City Slickers" (1991)) was underused as Vincent Bugliosi, which is ironic, since the real Bugliosi served as executive producer for this film, not the 1976 predecessor.Finally, the film ended with a thud as Kasabian chooses to testify against Manson, but no courtroom scenes are shown with her giving her emotional testimony that served as a turning point in the case. Instead, you get a text epilogue about the Manson family being found guilty, sentenced to death, and having that sentence reduced later. You also read about how family member Lynne "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford, but in the end, you find yourself thinking one question: "Who cares?" That's a question I never thought I would think after seeing a movie about the Manson family.

Helter Skelter is a remake of a 1976 TV movie. It is based on the true story of the Tate/Labianca murders committed by "The Manson Family". I will make my opinion clear; this is a tacky, tacky movie. It does not deserve the title of trashy or cult. It is pure tacky through and through, from the insane wigs to the over the top theatrical actor who plays Manson. Jeremy Davis was a convincing Manson, but went a little too far in some places. He got the accent and the body movements down well, unlike the actor in 'The Manson Family' (who came of more like Jesus to me). I felt this was the only redeeming quality of the movie, that and the 17 minute special feature of Jeremy's rehearsal footage, walking around trying to emulate Manson The look of this movie is all over the place, one moment it looks very gritty, the next a famous face appears and trippy camera effects are used and used badly. The news segments of the movie are horribly filmed, the effect used is over the top in an attempt to make the footage look real/old, the shots are unconvincing for news footage and resemble a shot you would see on MTV's head bangers ball, with the weird angles minus the zoom function. Whenever there is a killing scene in the movie the majority of it is shot in negative, to dramatize the event, but it comes off totally conceited, and seems as though they were too lazy to come up with their own experimental ideas.The film is an hour too long, it runs for 2 hours and 10 minutes and is rather drawn out and pieced together badly. The murder scenes are a little more brutal than that of the Manson family in regards to sound effects and the dramatization of the scenes. Some people think this film is so bad its good, but it's so bad its bad. Do yourself a favor and rent/buy 'The Manson Family'. Meanwhile I am going to sit here and curse the fact that I paid $20 for this DVD.