Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter DVD

Reviewed by SuperNova

Helter Skelter (Director’s Cut)
Company: Warner Brothers
Rated: Unrated
Year: 2001
Time: 137 Minutes
Color: Color
Genre: Documentary/Drama - Based on a true story
Language: English

Based on the Book By: Vincent Bugliosi
Written and Directed By: John Gray
Produced By: Elliot Friedgen
Starring: Jeremy Davies, Allison Smith, with Clea DuVall, Marguerite Moreau, and Bruno Kirby

Synopsis:

Helter Skelter, based on the book co-written by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (also the source for a 1976 CBS aired two part mini-series centered on the investigation that brought convicted killer Charles Manson to justice), provides a chilling look at Manson and how he controlled his twisted young “family.” The cult. The crimes. The courtroom chaos. All are part of this chilling movie starring Jeremy Davies as Manson, the frustrated would-be rock star and manipulative ex-con who convinced some followers that he was the messiah…but who in reality was a psychopathic and terrifying messenger of death.

Who and why:

Charles Manson was an ex-convict and at the time of the murders he had spent half of his life in jail. In 1969 he was living in the desert at a place called Spahn's Movie Ranch with his group of followers called the "Family" which he started in 1967. To put it simply the Family was a group of around thirty five people ranging from sixteen up to thirty five (35 being Manson himself. He was the oldest.) who had been rejected by society before being taken under the care of Charles Manson. Each member's mind was so warped they were like Charlie's robots. They were convinced he was God and that "Helter Skelter is coming down fast."

What was Helter Skelter:

Helter Skelter was originally a song by the Beatles. Charles Manson believed that the Beatles were talking to him and telling him how to start Helter Skelter. Now, Charlie believed that Helter Skelter would be a war between whites and blacks. He (Charles Manson) would start this war by committing savage murders and making it look like a black person had done it. That way whites would have a war between the blacks. A war which blacks would win. But Charles Manson believed that he and his "chosen ones" a.k.a. the Family would be living in the desert and survive this war. When the blacks won the war they wouldn't know what to do with the sudden power and then Charles Manson and his Family would emerge from the desert, tell the black people in charge that he knew what to do, and in the end he would inherit the Earth.

The Murders, The Lies, The Trial:

Charles Manson himself didn't commit the murders. He had members of his family do it for him instead. Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, were his chosen murderers for the nights of August 9th and 10th. On the first night "Tex", Susan, and Patricia went to the former residence of Terry Melcher, a recording executive who had rejected some of Manson's material (Manson wanted to be a singer). At the time Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski, were living there but Roman Polanski was in Europe shooting a movie.

On August 9th the three members of the Family murdered Abigail Folger (the heiress to the Folger's coffee fortune), Jay Sebring (a men's hairstylist for the stars), Voyteck Frykowski (Abigail's boyfriend), Steve Parent a friend of William Garretson (the estate's young groundskeeper), and Sharon Tate who at the time was 8 1/2 month's pregnant. On that night they had with them another family member named Linda Kasbian who stayed outside and didn't kill anyone. Police would later report that they found Parent in his car, a victim of four gunshot wounds to the head. Frykowski was on the lawn, two bullet holes in him, his head crushed by 13 separate blows to his skull, a total of 51 stab wounds to his body. Not too far away, Folger lay covered in blood. She had been stabbed 28 times. Inside the home, the scene was equally grisly. Sebring had been shot and stabbed almost seven times. A nylon rope was tied around his neck and draped over a beam in the ceiling. At the other end of the line was the gore-soaked corpse of an eight-and-a-half-months pregnant Sharon Tate. She had been cut up and knifed 16 times.

After seeing what the Family was willing to do for Charlie, Linda believed the Family was insane and left them. She eventually became one of the star witnesses for the prosecution. On the second night the killers were "Tex" Watson, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel. After choosing a random house they committed two more murders. That of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca an upper-class couple who had just returned from a vacation, were found slaughtered in a fashion very similar to the Tate killings. Leno had a knife jutting from his throat, 26 stab wounds, and seven fork wounds. The killers had left the dining implement sticking out of his belly. The word "war" was carved in his chest. Rosemary was discovered with a pillowcase over her head and an electrical cord around her neck. She had been stabbed 41 times. They had no pre-existing relationship with the Family.

In October of 1969 most of the Family was arrested for charges such as arson and theft. Early that November, while in jail, Susan Atkins told one of her cell mates that it was she and the Family that had committed these grisly murders. Because of her the police had finally found their killers. After a long and hard trial Charles Manson, Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel were convicted of the seven murders and sentenced to death. However, in 1972 the death penalty was abolished in the state of California so all those on death row had their terms reduced to life sentences including Charles Manson and his murderers.

Today all the members have denounced Manson, even those who killed for him. The only two still devoted to him are Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sandra Good. As to Manson's connection to the Beach Boy's, Charles Manson became friends with Beach Boy's drummer Dennis Wilson. He and almost all of the Family lived with Dennis for several months before the murders occurred.

The Verdict:

To see the world differently and to adhere by it; that is a real test, but none greater than trying to convince others of your prophecy. We are drawn to death, fascinated by its mystery, the apathy it’s eclipsed in, and the splatter of innocent warm blood. But why? What is so unique, so exceptional about death that we must study it, avoid it, and try not to become a part of its bidding? For years we have tried to learn about serial killers, terrorist, and crooks going so far as to entering into their bottomless worlds, confronting the darkness of their souls and finding no moral reasoning. We spend so much time straining our eyes and our voices trying to figure out why they do the things they do, and still to this day, countless books, interviews and many sleepless nights later we find ourselves asking the same unembellished question. When will we realize that “why?” doesn’t exist?

I’ve always looked at it (the fascination) as some ethereal neurotic impulse that eats away at the human psyche because convention has oriented the behavioral pattern of humans in such a way that it is a necessity to go beyond what is impossible. My feelings are that there is nothing someone could say or do, define or defend, as to why these people killed, because there is no justification to murder, there is no validating reason or semi-conscious excuse, there just is no answer. But our society can’t accept that, instead we try to insert science, we try to implement psychology, and we make up claims that someone is imbalanced, unfit, when in reality they are people like you and I. You see there are two types of evils in this world, the evil from outside and the evil from within. Regardless of anything, evil is always present and none more present and no more understanding than inside ourselves. Charles Manson was very aware of this and he was aware just how easy it was to expose the evils of the world and to manipulate innocence.

It must be brought to attention when someone talks about Charles Manson that, somewhere at the very bottom of his imagination must lurk the stark conviction that ‘precious life’ can be easily subjugated and then effortlessly ruined. His mind is distorted by the vacant desire to squander his way through life, through people, and through an image in which he so deliberately disgraces then tries to substantiate with philosophy. People were drawn to him, because they believed he had something to offer that they themselves never experienced; a bond, a loving relationship where freedoms weren’t suppressed. But when you combine this sappy concoction with drugs and free sex the truth becomes clear, only by the time anyone realizes it, it’s too late.

And what’s worse, is this practice of ‘giving away,’ this act where a person offers up everything, where they are no longer themselves, but a pawn of devotion to a corrupt and maniacal satisfaction. And can that really be anything good, this ‘giving away,’ which looks so much like ‘throwing away’ and dismemberment, can it be happiness, joy, progress? No it cannot. But out of this desolate imagination fear is born; fear of acceptance, of isolation, and abandonment. And sadly, we will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not and life will reflect as it always has with apparent negatives and unforeseen positives.

Perhaps Charles Manson can best be described as putting a deadly face on the non-interventionist 60’s, and killing the counterculture dream. More than any other entity, radical or rebellious, Charles Manson gave the establishment, with all its hippie-hating hypocrites, a scapegoat—grounds to declare the battle for the Nation's conscience over and done with. Manson was the face of the youth movement as many considered it to be; a dope smoking, free love lunatic asylum with a secret inset desire to go on a little social slaughtering spree. This diminutive demagogue, raised by the State and its penal system, was the craven, carnivorous Hitler helming his own legion of dirt brown shirts in an all-out assault on the system. But all that really resulted was an inflated ego.

The madness of Charles Manson's scheme doesn’t make too much sense, but Helter Skelter fully exploits the cultist hold he had over his flock of hippie vagrants and killers lucidly. The women and men come off as maniacal zealots with unusual talents for orgies and slaughter. Allison Smith, Marguerite Moreau, and Eric Dane are terrifying with there schizophrenic undertones and dynamic outburst of macabre violence, and Clea DuVall of Identity has a great role as prosecution witness Linda Kasabian whose reluctance to participate in the murders quite possibly shaped part of the outcome of Charles Manson and his family’s arrest. The cultish commitment of the girls to their master is like something out of a deranged horror film with conspiracies of incest, and the snippets of Charles Manson's deception, sex-master control over them are best expressed through his vulgar spewing of lyrical persuasions and his girls' own testimony.

Still, there is so much more that could have been done with Helter Skelter; for all its sensationalistic sentiments and glimpses into cold-blooded killing. It would have been nice to have the Family fleshed out more, removing the fascia of freaked-out deviants to actually provide them with normal faces and plausible personalities. It would have also been nice to know something more about Sharon Tate and her stature as a star. Thirty-plus years removed from her celebrity, we tend to dismiss Sharon Tate as "just another pretty face" taken too soon from the world and even more so she never quite received the respect and rest she deserved, because of the interjection of the conniving media that tried to destroy her reputation in the public eye. The crimes here would have had more impact to future audiences had they been able to understand Sharon Tate's place as a pop culture figure. Charles Manson is also much more than just an evil entity soiling Spahn Ranch with his bad music and sexual desires. He was a classic career case, a profiler's dream of institutionalization and delusion.

But overall, Helter Skelter is a remarkable, gruesome look at one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history and the courtroom mockery alongside it. The Helter Skelter murders signaled the death knell for the turbulent times of the love decade, while butchering the counterculture by giving it a murderous, malicious tag that would last for years. The homicides were, indeed, some of the cruelest and most inexcusable acts of human sickness ever inflicted on society. Helter Skelter brings them to compelling life, even if it fails to explain them fully.

Movie Style and Substance Rating: ***1/2/*****

Audio: How’s it sound?

Whether it’s Jeremy Davies going into a frenzy of passionate complexity totting, mouth frothing expressive opinions or Bruno Kirby speaking in rambunctious echoes, Helter Skelter sounds magnificent. Presented here in a 5.1 English Dolby Digital Surround Sound track, dialogue is lucid and projects disturbingly well through the speakers. The loud bass soundtracks serves to create a wonderful atmosphere that’s dark and brooding and matches the onscreen presence of The Family well. Also present are English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Sound Transfer Rating: ****/*****

Video: How’s it look?

The cinematography is absolutely beautiful in Helter Skelter and what makes it work is not only the rustic desert exterior shots, but the murder encased in a solarized color palette that really manages to capture the essence of anguish, fear, and fatality all in one slow incapacitating shot. Presented here in widescreen format, the film looks wonderfully saturated with dark blacks and rural browns, even the pastel blues and greens are noticeably good. Night time exterior shots are kept to a mute light, bringing out depth and texture in the picture. Daytime shots are as equally intense and skillfully polished.

Image Transfer Rating: ****/*****

Supplemental Material: What’s inside?

- Unaired Scenes
- Commentary By Director John Gary and Executive Producer Mark W Wolper
- Jeremy Davies Rehearsal Footage

Special Features:

Warner Brothers presents a brand new electrifying version of John Gary’s Helter Skelter on DVD in an expanded director’s cut with added footage. The disc opens to a static picture menu with the soundtrack overlaid across four remote access menus. There are a total of 30 chapters running the length of the film, a special features menu, and an audio selection menu.

Commentary By Director John Gary and Executive Producer Mark W Wolper - This is a fascinating commentary with participation from both John Gary and Mark W Wolper, who are thrilled to speak about how the movie came to life, their delight with the actors, and even some history on Charles Manson himself.

Jeremy Davies Rehearsal Footage - The following video excerpts were shot by Jeremy Davies during his personal rehearsal process while preparing to play Charles Manson in a 2001 independent film which was never made. Jeremy Davies took months to transcribe every existing interview with Manson, often sleeping with Manson’s voice looped through headphones. Jeremy Davies’ ultimate goal was to become familiar enough with Charles Manson’s own speech to be able to perform structured improvisation using nearly exclusively Charles Manson’s own words, sayings and beliefs. (Optional commentary with John Gary and Executive Producer Mark W Wolper.)

Unaired Scenes - Warner brothers presents a collection of unaired and expanded scenes from the movie Helter Skelter. I recommend listening to this with the optional commentary on (with John Gary and Executive Producer Mark W Wolper.) as it gives you good insight as to why they felt certain scenes didn’t work.

Extra Material Rating: ***1/2/*****

Packaging Details:
Disc(s): Picture Disc
NTSC
Inside: No Liner Notes
Package: Plastic Keep Case

Closing Thoughts:

The Charles Manson case has always been a mystery that even to this day is still awfully confounding. It’s really hard to say what sets it apart from other capital murder cases or what makes Charles Manson so memorable and unique to the public eye. Many would agree there were far greater acts of depraved violence committed by the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy, but somehow ethically or dissipatedly Charles Manson still hangs on. It could be the reflection of an era coming to a sad close and what it represents to people who lived through the flower generation, or it could be that the propaganda of Manson just never went away, because he just wouldn’t let us forget him. Helter Skelter is a great introduction to anyone wanting to learn about Charles Manson and the murders his Family committed, but if you want the real truth stick to the book by Vincent Bugliosi as this remake feels just a little too modernized.

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