Review originally ran on Examiner.com

It has been 40 years since the infamous summer of 1969 when Charles Manson struck fear into the city of Los Angeles. Now, History™ is taking a look back at the work of Charles Manson, through the eyes of someone that was there in the feature-length docudrama, Manson.

Linda Kasabian was a member of the Manson Family and was there the fateful night of the Sharon Tate murders as the lookout and the getaway driver. She has not been interviewed in 20 years, but now she has come forward to give her first-person account of what it was like to be a part of the Manson Family, to be in the presence of Manson, and what parts she played in these notorious murders.

Manson is an impressively put together docudrama from History™ that includes great performances from the actors for the recreations and incredibly interesting first-person accounts. The main “story” that the film follows is that of Linda Kasabian and her journey into the Manson Family. She talks how during the time of peace and love she set off on her own with her child to leave her husband and landed at the Manson Family Farm. Never feeling more accepted and loved, Linda immediately fits in with the rest of the hippie community lead by Charles Manson himself. As her accounts go on, Linda recounts the gradual change in the family, and in Charles himself as he fails to realize his dreams of a music career and being renowned all across the country. Linda gets sucked into the drugs and the propaganda that Manson provides not knowing that her and everyone else are slowly being molded to do Manson’s bidding. Eventually, we arrive at the Sharon Tate murders and Kasabian recounts her role in the murders. She claims to only have been the lookout and the getaway driver, but watched several of these brutal murders happen with her own eyes as some of the victims tried to run from the house only to be ran down and stabbed some twenty-odd times. Of course, as the summer roles on more and more murders are committed by Manson’s family, each victim more brutal than the last, and all seemingly at random. Of course, as with any good docudrama, Manson is wrapped up nicely in the end as they break down the major players in the Manson family and the sentences they received, including Charles himself. Linda Kasabian received immunity for her testimony for everyone who actually committed the murders.

Using movie-like recreation, rare archival footage and audio, and personal interviews, Manson paints an incredibly realistic picture of Charles Manson and his family during the nine months leading up the the Sharon Tate murders, more-so than many that came before it. All of the interviews and accounts come from people either personally or professionally involved with Manson and the trials that followed. Manson family member Catherine Share; Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor who wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; and Deborah Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister; they all recall their story, from their point of view on camera. The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie is how it painted Manson in a truly human form. They cut through a lot of the myth, a lot of what Manson toted about himself, and presents you with a guy who wanted to make it be famous, who knew how to manipulate and use people using fear, and was/is deeply, deeply troubled and consumed by hate.

Manson is so eerie, but not because it is based on a true story -as everyone knows, but because it is presented so well. One of the creepiest parts for me was when they played the real audio of Charles Manson’s demo tape of him singing; the ironic thing is he wasn’t bad at all.

%f these brutal murders happen with her own eyes as some of the victims tried to run from the house only to be ran down and stabbed some twenty-odd times. Of course, as the summer roles on more and more murders are committed by Manson’s family, each victim more brutal than the last, and all seemingly at random. Of course, as with any good docudrama, Manson is wrapped up nicely in the end as they break down the major players in the Manson family and the sentences they received, including Charles himself. Linda Kasabian received immunity for her testimony for everyone who actually committed the murders.

Using movie-like recreation, rare archival footage and audio, and personal interviews, Manson paints an incredibly realistic picture of Charles Manson and his family during the nine months leading up the the Sharon Tate murders, more-so than many that came before it. All of the interviews and accounts come from people either personally or professionally involved with Manson and the trials that followed. Manson family member Catherine Share; Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor who wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; and Deborah Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister; they all recall their story, from their point of view on camera. The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie is how it painted Manson in a truly human form. They cut through a lot of the myth, a lot of what Manson toted about himself, and presents you with a guy who wanted to make it be famous, who knew how to manipulate and use people using fear, and was/is deeply, deeply troubled and consumed by hate.

Manson is so eerie, but not because it is based on a true s