The Manson Family (2003)

Director:

Jim Van Bebber

Writer:

Jim Van Bebber (writer)

Release Date:

23 July 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

You've seen the story through the eyes of the law... Now see it through the eyes of The Manson Family

Plot Keywords:

Manson Family | Based On Real Events | Murder | Charles Manson | Manson

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Marcelo Games	...	Charlie Manson
Marc Pitman	...	Tex Watson
Leslie Orr	...	Patty Krenwinkel
Maureen Allisse	...	Sadie Atkins
Amy Yates	...	Leslie van Houten
Jim Van Bebber	...	Bobby
Tom Burns	...	Clem Watkins
Michelle Briggs	...	Linda Kasabian
Sherri Rickman	...	Snake
Nate Pennington	...	Shorty
M.M. Jones	...	Ronald
Carl Day	...	Jack Wilson
Jim Sayer	...	Bob
Mark Gillespie	...	Terry
Paul Harper	...	Jerry
Norris Hellwig	...	Old George
Joel Pohlman	...	Randy
Valerie Hatt	...	Simi Sherri
Melissa Schlosser	...	Gypsy
Marita Clarke	...	Squeaky
Kellye Morris	...	Sandy
Sara Quoia	...	Nancy
Kim Hall	...	Kitty
Mel Clark	...	Cappy
Don Keaton	...	Lotsapoppa
Kevan Curren	...	Gary
James McCullars	...	Clarence
Alan Joyce	...	Biker / Court House Extras
Jimmy Hearse	...	Dennis
Freddist	...	Mars
Josh Hoke	...	Stevie
Andrea Layne	...	Lucy
Darren Brown	...	Darren (as Darrin Brown)
Michael Krieger	...	El Padrino
Jennifer Rickets	...	Corpse
John Bognar	...	Satan
Dill Bowling	...	Old Charlie
Tom Ramey	...	Todd
Tony Wilson	...	Stan
John Lockwood	...	Steven Parent
Charlie Goetz	...	Voytech Frykowski
Samuel Turcotte	...	Jay Sebring
Daun Edmunds	...	Abigail Folger (as D'aun Edmunds)
Tina Martin	...	Sharon Tate
Geoff Burkman	...	Leno La Bianca
Sharise Parviz	...	Rosemary La Bianca
Meirika Girten	...	Barbra
Alydra Kelly	...	Lil' Patty
Samantha	...	Katie
Ernie Nisley	...	Mojo
Cecilia Horstman	...	Rosina
Denise West	...	Shorty's Wife
Kim Pennington	...	Sleeping Woman
J. Gary Thompson	...	BBC Host Ian (as Gary Thompson)
Dan Crawford	...	Reporter
Mariposa	...	Rose
Steve Riley	...	Dennis
Ann Howard	...	Catherine
Megan Mateer	...	Country Sue
Kym Olsen	...	Stephanie
Cathy Carver	...	Ouisch
Kris Hall	...	Brenda
Annette Reckart	...	Mary
John Gnann	...	Sunshine
Jennifer Orr	...	Kaye
Mary Blacklock	...	Susan
Mike Bazzini	...	Juan
Mike Zengel	...	Biker
H.M. Kelly	...	Bloody Mama
Stacy Valencia	...	Jennifer
Rob Zinser	...	Danny
Tim Hedges	...	Kenneth
Tony Brown	...	Brooks
Lisa Feathers	...	Bo
Andrew Copp	...	Paul (as Andy Copp)
Jimmy Yoe	...	Zezozoze
Elliot Quinn	...	Pooh Bear
Courtney Macy	...	Tanya
Jim Lockard	...	Joe
Brian McKay	...	Al
Scott Thatcher	...	Biker
Henry Pant	...	Police Officer
Candy Johnson	...	Police Officer
Tim Montgomery	...	Police Officer
Linda Struve	...	Police Officer
Phil Anselmo	...	Satan (voice)
Rob Jones	...	Court House Extras
Dan Halverson	...	Court House Extras
Anita Hackley	...	Court House Extras
Ryann Hess	...	Court House Extras
Bruce Vandermolen	...	Court House Extras
Kay Magnuson	...	Court House Extras
Jody Cukovecki	...	Court House Extras
Vicki Cukovecki	...	Court House Extras
Tori Cukovecki	...	Court House Extras
Toria Artis Wyor	...	Court House Extras
Robin Scott Kirksey	...	Court House Extras
Kris Evans Warner	...	Court House Extras
Thanos Fatouros	...	Court House Extras
George Hall Jr.	...	Court House Extras
Paula Trey	...	Court House Extras
Kathryn L. Mulhern	...	Court House Extras
Raymond Mulhern	...	Court House Extras
K. Renné Momor	...	Court House Extras
Kurt Poeppelmeir	...	Court House Extras
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sage Stallone	...	Jay Sebring (voice)
Jim Jones	...	Himself (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jim Van Bebber

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jim Van Bebber		writer

Produced by
Michael Capone	....	associate producer
Carl Daft	....	producer
David Gregory	....	producer
Mike King	....	producer
Samuel Turcotte	....	associate producer
Jim Van Bebber	....	producer

Original Music by
Phil Anselmo		(as Philip Anselmo)
Ross Karpelman

Cinematography by
Mike King		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Michael Capone
Jim Van Bebber

Costume Design by
Sherri Rickman

Makeup Department
Andrew Copp	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
John Mays	....	production manager

Sound Department
Nick Beljic	....	foley recordist
Nick Beljic	....	sound mixer
John Cregan	....	sound editor
William Farmer	....	adr artist
Jeff Gersh	....	adr recordist
Kelli Hughes	....	adr artist
Damon Packard	....	adr artist
Sherri Rickman	....	adr artist
Gar Robertson	....	adr recordist
Bryan Rosenthal	....	adr artist
Bryan Rosenthal	....	foley artist
James Young	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
William Farmer	....	special effects
Jim Van Bebber	....	special effects

Stunts
Mark De Alessandro	....	stunts

Music Department
Tim Arnold	....	composer: additional music
Kevin Engle	....	composer: additional music
Dale Hughes	....	composer: additional music
Don Neibert	....	composer: additional music
Ernie Nisley	....	composer: additional music
Evangeline Noel	....	composer: additional music
Mark Raskin	....	composer: additional music
Kenny Richardson	....	composer: additional music
Jimmy Rodgers	....	composer: additional music
Marty Romie	....	composer: additional music
Sage Stallone	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Mary A. Arnold	....	location manager
Shaun Baker	....	production crew
Jeff Barklage	....	production crew
Steve Bognar	....	production crew
John Bradley	....	production crew
Pat Buckley	....	location manager
Tom Burns	....	production crew
Rob Creager	....	production crew
Greg Doddson	....	production crew
Marco Fargnoli	....	production crew
Thanos Fatouros	....	production crew
Candy Johnson	....	location manager
Matt Kennedy	....	adr artist
Richard King	....	production crew
Tom Mahe	....	production crew
Nate Pennington	....	production crew
Joel Pohlman	....	production crew
Mark Shuster	....	production crew
Herb Tarleck	....	production crew
Rob Wagner	....	production crew
Josh Winteringham	....	production crew
Bill Yoe	....	production crew

Thanks
David Pollison	....	special thanks
Sage Stallone	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Mercury Films

Distributors

• Dinsdale Releasing (2004) (USA) (theatrical)
• Dark Sky Films (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• I-On New Media (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• MPI Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Magna Pacific (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Punto Zero (2008) (Italy) (all media) (as Enjoy Movies)
• Sharada Distribuzione (2006) (Italy) (video)
• Transformer (2004) (Japan) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Screen Time Images  DVD menus and authoring

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for strong grisly violence, strong sexual content/nudity, language and drug use

Runtime:

95 min | USA:84 min (R-rated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:Unrated | Australia:R | Norway:18 (DVD uncut version) | USA:R | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Dayton, Ohio, USA

Company:

Mercury Films

Trivia:

To give the effect of someone being shot, 'Jim VanBebber' would break the top off of an egg, empty the yolk and fill the egg with fake blood which he would throw against an actor, this shot had to be edited quickly though.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The VanBebber Family (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Psychotic

I'll be helpful if I can....

I'm giving the film a 10/10 because of how I feel about it, but ignore that part of this review. What I'd like to do is help you, the potential viewer of The Manson Family, figure out whether you'd love this movie or hate it. It is a polarizing film, as is obvious from the reviews - no genuinely bad films get such an extreme reaction, positive or negative. The worst movies on earth are the ones where you just feel like your time was wasted. At worst, this film will make you feel like your time was violated - remember that the people who give it one star were motivated to find this web page and leave their comments. Go look up any god-awful Fred Olen Ray movie and see what people say: they give 2 or 3 star reviews. I suggest that the only one-star reviews on this entire site are motivated by being offended, not by the movie being "bad" in any objective sense.

Okay, that said, I think this is a well-made film, which I am prepared to support with evidence. The people who said that this is poorly shot ("the camera doesn't move") are clearly out of their minds. Not only does the camera move (and why would it matter if it didn't?), but the filmic technique is a dead-on mimic of the film techniques of the period it is depicting (late 1960s). This is a low budget, 16mm film, so it doesn't have any kind of Hollywood gloss - it is semi-documentary in it's approach. However, I found it to be stylish and evocative of Vietnam documentary footage, Woodstock (the film), and classic drive-in exploitation movies of the period. Again, this is something you'll probably either love or hate, but it is a calculated decision to look "unprofessional" by modern Hollywood standards.

As far as the content of the film, I think it is mistakenly regarded by some as a "message" film, and by others as an "exploitation" film. I think it is neither, or maybe more accurately, both - this is a "depiction" film, intent on depicting the Manson Family as realistically as possible. Why do that? Because Manson and his "Family" is one of the most sociologically interesting phenomena of the 20th century, in many ways comparable to Hitler and the Nazis. Jim VanBebber made a conscious (even a little heavy-handed, lending a little credence to the idea that this is a "message" film) decision to focus on the "family," the actual killers (Manson himself was convicted of inciting the crimes, not participating). Having read a lot of Manson literature including the Vincent Bugliosi book Helter Skelter, I think that this is the most accurate way I've seen the story told, particularly with the "Rashomon"-esque narration of the participants, where they whitewash their own involvement in the crimes, something that frustrated District Attourney Bugliosi to no end.

Now, how will you be able to tell whether this movie is for you, with all the "VanBebber is a genius" or "this is the worst movie ever made" crap out there? Here's the checklist:

1: Do you like low-budget 16mm horror films? It looks low-budget like Evil Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original), a look which I find to be raw and immediate, but that's an opinion. The much-debated quality of the acting is exactly in keeping with this style. If, for example, you thought the acting in the Texas Chainsaw was rough and real, you'll probably like this, too.

2: Can you cope with graphic sex, drug use, and violence? The sex is near-X-rated and the violence, though they use 70's-style Karo syrup blood, is intense, grotesque, and on-screen. And really happened to real people, which freaks me out.

3: Do you find the twisted social mores of the Manson family to be interesting? This is not a film about a charismatic leader - it's a film about lost sheep. This type of senseless killing is only committed by people who have lost their empathy, an effect that is all too easy to achieve - it takes a lot less than what Manson did to subvert a person's ethics (see the psychological research of Milgram, Zimbardo, et al).

I thought the film did an excellent job of making an intellectual point at a (mostly) visceral level. The point is that human ethics are incredibly flexible and that hedonism is ultimately selfish, even when the love is "free." My final statement: A person with a (very?) strong stomach who is willing to engage his or her intellect in something that doesn't seem quite worth it on the surface will probably enjoy this movie, and be surprised at how deep the well runs. A crazy gore fan will probably like this movie. Fans of underground and experimental film (esp. Richard Kern fans) will love this movie. Mainstream Hollywood fans will not; non-genre fans will not.