The Cult

Tawdry T&A filled take on the Manson story, one of the earliest Mansonploitation films out of the gate yet so obscure these days that it has only ever re-surfaced in a German dubbed version complete with hilariously wonky English subs, which might as well be projected upside down and in Swahili for all the sense they make. A mystery production, directed by a man who stole his pseudonym "Kentucky Jones" from a 1960s TV show starring Dennis Weaver. The Manson Massacre resembles an elongated segment of Van Guylder's adaptation of Hollywood Babylon. Sweaty, softcore reenactments are the name of the game here, having connections to other L.A. skin flicks and bearing no resemblance to the people you are meant to be portraying appear to have been the casting requisites. Its notably hung up on incest, a theme the film returns to so many times, you end up suspecting that someone was using exploitation filmmaking as a cathartic way of dealing with their own mental baggage. For sheer insanity though nothing can beat the casting of Uschi Digard as Charlie's mum.