Helter Bloody Skelter

"Helter Skelter" is a 2004 American movie about the Manson Family and the gruesome Tate-LaBiance murders. I'm somewhat ambivalent towards it. On the one hand, the acting is supreme. On the other hand, however, it reminds me of a disjointed documentary rather than a "real" movie. I'm not sure if somebody who doesn't know anything about the Manson cult will become any wiser after seeing it. I filled in the gaps in my knowledge by reading Wikipedia entries!

Jeremy Davies, who stars Charles Manson, is convincing as cult leader and crazy clown. If this is how the real Manson acted like, I don't know, but it's very convincing in its own right. So is the character Susan Atkins, who looks and speaks exactly as I imagine a brain-washed and mad cultist to look and speak like. A stereotype? Perhaps, but still convincing in its own right. Of course, the real star of the show is Linda Kasabian (starred by Clea DuVall), another strong performance.

As for the negatives, "Helter Skelter" never *really* explains Charles Manson's apocalyptic scenario (the Helter Skelter of the movie title). We get it presented in small pieces at a time, and some references are left unclear, for instance the notion of the "bottomless pit". While Manson's philosophy was, of course, barking mad, it did seem to have a certain inner logic and consistency. "Helter Skelter" takes a kind of outsider perspective on Manson's motives, portraying him and the Family as completely incomprehensible. You almost get the impression that Manson ordered the killings to get even with the Beach Boys!

The latter half of the film is so disjointed that it almost gets boring to watch, despite the interesting (if that's the word for it) subject matter. It feels almost as a entirely different movie.