Review – Helter Skelter (1976)

If you see only one movie about the Manson murders, it should probably be this one. To be sure, you have to take this as the one-sided version from then-deputy-DA Vincent Bugliosi (who I think makes an uncredited cameo as a crime scene photographer early in the picture). All the actors playing Family members deliver completely over-the-top performances, and appropriately enough Steve Railsback outdoes them all as the man himself. As one might imagine from a three-hour-long production that originally ran as a two-part miniseries, coverage is reasonably thorough but bogs down in spots. I’m particularly fond of the flat, almost pseudo-documentary feel and the minor-key, 70s-sounding soundtrack. They both served to remind me how much the whole Manson thing freaked me out when I was a kid. Mildly amusing