Manson Family

Like the infamous CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, MANSON FAMILY is an insidiously violent film presented at least partly in the pseudo documentary format. What distinguishes Van Bebber's feature from Deodato's is the use of real life events as its template and a firm refusal to tie itself in knots with facile message making.

Utilizing a plurality of techniques and film stocks, the film reconstructs the early activities of the Family and their descent into the Tate-LaBianca killings. Van Bebber juxtaposes this with this a contemporary sub plot involving tabloid journalist Jack Wilson's quest to film a documentary on the subject.

The film's narrative operates on a series of doublings and oppositions, operating on the motif of the mirror to evoke the shift from rural hippy life to mass carnage and to also present a future in which the Manson influence lives on. The early stages at the ranch involving "innocent" group sex give way to blood drinking orgies, and Charlie progresses from a peace loving Jesus Christ figure to Satan himself (growing hallucinatory horns).

To sustain this pattern, an incarcerated Tex (Mark Pittman) points out in an interview compiled for Jack Wilson's documentary that Charlie's credo to his followers progressed from "the death of the ego" - to negate the image of oneself and become an extension of Charlie's will - into the more literal "violent physical death", i.e. murder.

This commentary is accompanied by images of a sinister ritual featuring mirrors, through which eagle eyed viewers will see minute glimpses of the future killings. Several murders are doubled from the Tate-La Bianca slayings to the present day Manson influenced Goths, including multiple stabbings, face bashings (providing further parallels with IRREVERSIBLE), and so on to forge a strong link between past and present.

One cannot discuss MANSON FAMILY without delving into Van Bebber's graphic depiction of the actual murders conducted by Tex, Sadie and Pattie. The final third of the film is pure mayhem, presenting its carnage by means of an extraordinarily drug warped aesthetic involving rapid montage, strobe lighting, rippled patterns of shifting colours accompanied by a thumping soundtrack.

The actual presentation of the Tate-LaBianca slayings is gruelling - we are spared little in the way of carnage. But it is a striking depiction and the picture is too complex and nuanced for dismissal. As with DEADBEAT AT DAWN, Van Bebber never shies away from violence but he nevertheless is keen to show its consequences.

MANSON FAMILY features consequences that are both immediate and far reaching. Tate, Folger, and their two companions clearly suffer a great deal during the ordeal, and Folger takes an age to die onscreen. The documentary sub plot involving "Crime Scene With Jack Wilson" is intended as a critique of the media's infatuation with violent crime, the effects of which stretch into the present day to affect the behaviour of confused youths.

Van Bebber's masterpiece is hugely provocative: it not only treads the fine line between art and exploitation but also blurs it. The feature works as straight horror - it has some startling images - but probes deeper in its media critique, and Van Bebber utilizes a brilliantly layered visual style (video interviews, scratchy "docu" footage, crime reconstruction, surrealism) to both emphasise and transcend the format.

MANSON FAMILY, then, is a ferocious, densely textured work of art that will nevertheless provoke extreme responses - physical, moral and intellectual - to challenge even the hardiest of viewers. It remains one of the most controversial, misunderstood and essential films of recent memory.

Anchor Bay's/High Fliers' DVD is presented in the original full screen ratio. The picture quality is wonderful. It looks exactly as it did in theatres - colours are sharp and contrasts are crisp - so you can throw away your worn out old bootlegs and stop reading your dog eared Creation Books screenplays now and view it how you're supposed to.

Review by Matthew Sanderson