Helter Skelter (TV 2004)

A new take on the Manson Family murders, with a keen focus on Charles Manson himself.

Director:

John Gray

Writers:

Vincent Bugliosi (book), Curt Gentry (book),

Stars:

Jeremy Davies, Clea DuVall, Allison Smith

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeremy Davies	...	Charles Manson
Clea DuVall	...	Linda Kasabian
Allison Smith	...	Patricia 'Katie' Krenwinkle
Eric Dane	...	Charles "Tex" Watson
Mary Lynn Rajskub	...	Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme
Michael Weston	...	Bobby Beausoleil
Hal Ozsan	...	Joey Dimarco
Rick Gomez	...	Milio
Robert Joy	...	Detective Morrisy
Graham Beckel	...	Jerry
Chris Ellis	...	Sgt. Whiteley
Isabella Hofmann	...	Rosemary LaBianca
Robert Costanzo	...	Leno LaBianca
Yvonne Delarosa	...	Catherine 'Gypsy' Share (as Yvonne De La Rosa)
Cheselka Leigh	...	Kathryn 'Kitty' Lutesinger

Storyline

A new take on the Manson Family murders, with a keen focus on Charles Manson himself.

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Plot Keywords:

charles manson | pregnancy | handcuffs | doctor | title based on song | 

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Taglines:

How did one man turn all-American teens into cold-blooded killers?

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

CBS

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 May 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Helter Skelter - Le folie de Charles Manson

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lakeside Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Wolper Organization

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min 180 min 137 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 2001, Jeremy Davies was in preparations for a different independent film about Charles Manson. He made a tape for the filmmakers of himself playing Manson and the tape became a popular bootleg in the industry. CBS cast Davies and allowed him to rewrite his lines due to his performance in the tape.

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Goofs

The story takes place in 1969 but the phone Sharon Tate is talking on has an RJ10 connector which was not introduced till the late 1970s.

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Quotes

Charles Manson: This court is out of order.

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Connections

References Cry for Cindy (1976)

User Reviews

Great Effort, But Extremely Flawed

Being as hyped as this movie was, not only was it flawed, it was just plain boring.

Although the choice to use Linda Kasabian was a smart one, and interesting to say the least, everything else was yawn-inducing.

The performance of Jeremy Davies as Charles Manson was surprising - he pulled it off perfectly - the performances of those at Cielo Drive were cringe-worthy. Even after spending time with Sharon Tate's sister, Whitney Dylan still couldn't find the spark to play her.

For reasons unknown, CBS took the step of changing the address of Cielo Drive from 10050 to 10000 - do they know that the now infamous house has been gone for 10 years? They also took the opportunity to change some already dramatic scenes from 1969 to pathetic and downright moronic scenes for this film. Yes, Charles Manson did see Sharon Tate at Cielo Drive in real life, but not like it was shown in the film. And, for anyone who has knowledge on this case, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski were not that cozy or loving when they were killed - FAR from it.

Not only did CBS leave many with the wrong idea about those in Cielo Drive, they thought they could get away with overlooking small details of the case. I, for one, noticed them all.

All in all, Clea and Jeremy probably saved this film from being even more boring than it was. They were the only interesting things about this film and should be rewarded by CBS if this dreadful piece gets high ratings.