The most notorious of the “Manson-sploitation” movies, an unabashedly exploitive sixty nine minute spectacle that purports to dramatize the August 1969 killings of Sharon Tate and her companions. Those murders, for the two or three of you who don’t already know, were committed by members of the so-called Manson Family, i.e. followers of the late Charles Manson, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killings.
THE MANSON MASSACRE was written and directed by the late attorney turned prestige producer and eventual trash movie auteur Albert Zugsmith (under the nom-de-plume “Kentucky Jones”). Zugmith’s other directorial credits include CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER (1962), apparently his “best” work, THE CHINESE ROOM (1968) and VIOLATED! (1975). THE MANSON MASSACRE was filmed in 1970 and released in 1971 (and re-released in ‘76 and ‘80), only to quickly vanished. It was widely thought to be lost forever until a German dubbed print turned up in the 00s, which (as of the 50th anniversary of the murders) is the only source for this rarity.
The Charles Manson depicted in THE MANSON MASSACRE is a well-coiffed, robe-wearing longhair tormented by dreams of a rich blond woman with whom he once partied. He’s surrounded himself with a “family” of good looking young women culled, flashbacks inform us, from dumpsters (where one of the gals was dropping off an unwanted baby) and curio shops (where another attracts Manson’s attention by purchasing a dildo). He has a bad habit of strangling his family members in their sleep, and, when he’s awake, beating them with a strap.
Manson and co. drive around LA in a specially designed van-hearse, where he lies in a coffin—at least when he’s not having sex with his charges. Sex, in fact, is about all this film has to offer, as it gets increasingly bogged down in a succession of repetitive fuck scenes (pointing up the fact that it was made for the sexploitation market) until the inevitable killings finally occur in the last ten minutes, when the gang head to the mansion of the rich woman with whom Manson is besotted.
The production values are cheap and the performances downright awful. It’s all decked out with distracting effects common to the psychedelic era: excessive dissolves, fancy cutting, “artful” lens flares and, of course, a very period-appropriate acid rock soundtrack. Overshadowing all that is the portrayal of Charles Manson, who’s quite staid and low energy—criticisms that can be applied to the film as a whole. And the historical accuracy? No…just no.
Vital Statistics
THE MANSON MASSACRE (THE CULT; HOUSE OF BONDAGE; TOGETHER GIRLS; DIE TOCHTER DES SATANS)
Monarex; Astro Distribution
Director: “Kentucky Jones” (Albert Zugsmith)
Producer: Tony Anton
Screenplay: Albert Zugsmith
Cinematography: Robert Maxwell
Cast: Blaisdell Makee, Debbie Osborne, Sean Kenney, Candice Roman, John Vincent, Cindy Barnett, Vicki Peters, Robert Warner, Fern Tom, Tom Welch, Barbara Caron, Ingrid Moore