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Directed by Errol Morris and based on the book by Tom O’Neill, Chaos: The Manson Murders makes us privy to the possible reasons behind the murder of actress Sharon Tate and six others in what infamously came to be known as the Tate-labianca murder. Tom has believed since the very beginning that the motive behind the murders, as stated in the court by the prosecutor, was not accurate. In this documentary, Tom provides an alternate theory, though he was never able to substantiate his claims. So, I believe it is up to us to figure out what could have happened and if what Tom claims could be the truth or not.

What was the CIA’s MKUltra program?

The CIA’s MKUltra program began around 1953, and Tom O’Neill, the writer whose book this documentary is based on, believed that it had a crucial role to play in the Charles Manson murders.

Mikey Madison may have just won her first Best Actress Oscar, but that wouldn’t have ever come about if it wasn’t for Quentin Tarantino. That’s not hyperbole; Anora director Sean Baker even admitted this during his own acceptance speech after being presented the Best Director Oscar by Qt himself.

Mikey Madison appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! a few months back ahead of the release of Anora but considering Once Upon a Time in Hollywood just got a little push from her Oscar win, let’s take a look back at how she landed the role of Sadie, modeled after Susan Atkins. “I got this audition, I think I was 19 years old, and I was like, ‘This is my one opportunity to meet Quentin Tarantino’ so I was like, ‘I’m just going to go all out.’ So, I did a lot of research into the Manson family,...

In 1969, the dream died. Chances are you've heard that one before. Also, it is quite likely you know pretty well what dream we are talking about: it's, of course, the hippie dream of a more equal and just world based on free love and community. This dream didn't just die of natural causes. Instead, it was murdered by CharlesManson and his so-called family, stabbed to death like actress Sharon Tate, her friends, and the Labianca couple. That such wide-eyed, peace-and-love-touting youths like Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian were able to commit such heinous crimes is something that continues to shock the American public up to this day. That they seemed to be under complete control of a mad-looking criminal such as Manson is something even more terrifying. But the reality of what happened in the days - or even years - that preceded the Tate-labianca murders...

The Boys from Brazil is a thriller novel by Ira Levin, published in 1976. It tells the story of Yakov Liebermann, a Nazi hunter who uncovers a shocking plan. Dr. Josef Mengele, a Nazi war criminal, has created clones of Adolf Hitler and placed them with families to recreate Hitler’s childhood. Liebermann must stop the plan before history repeats itself.

In 1978, The Boys from Brazil was made into a movie. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and written by Ira Levin and Heywood Gould. The film starred Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, and James Mason. It was popular and got three Academy Award nominations.

Now, Netflix wants to remake the movie into a show. We don’t know much about the project but Jeremy Strong was already confirmed to be part of the remake back in February of this year.

Related: Netflix’s ‘Karma’ Confirms April Premiere

Now according to industry insider Jeff Sneider,...

When Errol Morris was a graduate student in philosophy at University of California Berkeley, he made a “pilgrimage” to the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville. Interested in insanity pleas and murder, the future Oscar-winning documentarian was there to interview the serial killer Ed Kemper. But while at the Cmf, he was given another unexpected opportunity.

“I was asked by the guard following my interview, ‘You interested in meeting Charles Manson?’” Morris recalls in a recent interview. “And I said, ‘Sure! Of course I am.’”

The meeting didn’t amount to much,...

Mikey Madison’s a walking plot twist. She did it all for her comedy-romance film Anora, but there’s another project wherein she literally snipped off her own hair to dive into the role (talk about commitment!) And her audition for Quentin Tarantino? That’s where things get next-level wild. Let’s just say it wasn’t your typical stand, smile, and read a script scenario.

Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in Anora | Credits: FilmNation Entertainment

Madison brought her own flavor of chaos, matching the legendary filmmaker’s unpredictable energy. From jaw-dropping dedication to leaving directors speechless, Mikey Madison’s auditions are basically the stuff of Hollywood lore.

Mikey Madison: From sewing hair for Quentin Tarantino to owning Cannes with Anora Quentin Tarantino | Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Before Mikey Madison stole the Cannes spotlight with Anora — the flick that bagged the 2024 Palme d...

Sharon Tate, a name that once sparkled with promise, became synonymous with tragedy the night of 1969. The very woman who once graced magazine covers with a smile, was now at the mercy of one of the most horrific crimes in Hollywood history. She was the radiant actress, the model, the adored wife of director Roman Polanski, and, above all, the expectant mother who would never see her dreams realized.

Sharon Tate in Valley of the Dolls (1967) | Credit: 20th Century Fox

However, fate dealt a cruel hand on the night of August 9, 1969, when she and four others were brutally murdered by the notorious Manson Family, a crime that rippled through Los Angeles and left a lasting scar far beyond. This devastating event took not only her life but also her unborn child’s.

But beyond the glamorous image Hollywood painted, her last words before her murder, spoken in sheer desperation, remind...

Mikey Madison is getting a lot of Oscar buzz for her powerful lead performance in Anora, but she got her first big break playing Max in Pamela Adlons underappreciated dramedy series Better Things. Madison is one of Hollywoods most promising rising stars right now; Anora is the latest of many high-profile roles shes played in recent years. In 2019, she played notorious Manson Family member Susan Atkins in Quentin Tarantinos 60s-set epic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and in 2022, she played a new incarnation of Ghostface, Amber Freeman, in Scream.

Anora has made Madison a bigger star than ever. Sean Bakers darkly comedic tale of an exotic dancer who impulsively marries a Russian oligarchs immature son is tipped to be a major contender come awards season. Its expected to land a Best Picture nomination, a Best Director nomination for Baker, and a Best Actress nomination for Madison. Madison gives one...

Apart from being a highly appreciated cult classic movie, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Leonardo DiCaprio has delivered a few of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema. One among them is the intense scene involving DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton and the iconic flamethrower.

Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Columbia Pictures

While the flamethrower scene became memorable for its dramatic flair, considering how Leonardo DiCaprio incinerated Manson cult member Susan Atkins (Mikey Madison) to death, it wasn’t as effortless as it was portrayed. Apparently, DiCaprio’s experience filming it was far from ordinary and bordered on a nightmare for the actor.

Stunt Coordinator Revealed Leonardo DiCaprio’s Fear About Using the Flamethrower

Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his dedication to roles, found himself in a particularly unnerving situation while shooting Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

It’s not uncommon for strange events to happen during the filming of a movie, but when the project is from the horror genre, these weird occurrences are often attributed to a curse – and here are some horror movies believed to be cursed. The horror genre is home to some of the best movies ever made, and it has also seen a variety of villains that go from human to supernatural and sometimes a combination of both. The themes and stories told in horror movies are sometimes taboo or delicate subjects, and it's not uncommon for them to draw backlash and controversy, as well as a bunch of rumors.

While movies from all genres have their legends and myths due to the many behind-the-scenes stories that come to light, when the project is from the horror genre, these on-set stories take a completely different meaning. If something strange happens during...

Quentin Tarantino got the stagecoach wheels rolling on The Hateful Eight when he announced it less than one year after Django Unchained hit theaters. In fact, the announcement wasn’t the only thing that was close. The Hateful Eight actually started as a sequel to Django, with parts of it stemming from an abandoned novelization of his revisionist western.

For this western, Tarantino would use western TV show tropes–chiefly the bottle episodes where a band of vigilantes took the lead hostage–as a launching point. He thought, “What if I did a movie starring nothing but those characters? No heroes…Just a bunch of nefarious guys in a room, all telling backstories that may or may not be true. Trap those guys together in a room with a blizzard outside, give them guns, and see what happens.” And what happened was a lot of anger, a lot of snow and a lot of vomit.

Angela Lansbury, who passed away this week at the age of 96, was an Academy Award-winning actress, the voice of the beloved Mrs. Potts and a genuinely wholesome person that could out-charm your grandma. She was also a damn good mother, as demonstrated in a story about Angela Lansbury that involves the Manson Family.

The counterculture movement of the 1960s wasn’t all peace and love. There was also Charles Manson and his Family, whose notorious members included Susan Atkins, Squeaky Fromme and Tex Watson. One of the lesser known members was a teenager named Deidre–and she happened to be the daughter of Angela Lansbury.

In a 2014 interview, Angela Lansbury revealed, “It pains me to say it but, at one stage, Deidre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson. She was one of many youngsters who knew him – and they were fascinated. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways,...

Once upon a time, the idea of a bunch of drug-crazed hippies sneaking onto an Army base and annihilating an officer's wife and two kids while leaving him for dead would have sounded a little farfetched. After what happened to Sharon Tate and eight others over the course of two nights in August 1969, the prospect wasn't quite so unbelievable. Of course, Susan Atkins, Tex Watson and the other followers of Charles Manson who committed the Tate-labianca murders weren't your average hippies. But they were linked enough to the counterculture to put an end to an era and convince plenty of people that those so-called peaceniks were up to no good. And they were certainly scary enough to inspire an...

“American Horror Story” fans who missed seeing Sarah Paulson during last year’s “1984” cycle can now breathe a sigh of relief: she’s returning for Season 10. Sure, the next installment has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Paulson will officially be back when it eventually airs on FX. (See the Season 10 cast list.) This Emmy winner for “The People v. O.J. Simpson” has been nominated for five “AHS” seasons through the years: “Asylum,” “Coven,” “Freak Show,” “Hotel” and “Cult.”

In anticipation of Paulson’s return to the franchise, we’ve ranked all nine of her “American Horror Story” characters from worst to best. Does Your #1 choice match ours? Sound off in the comments section to let us know your personal rankings.

SEEEverything to know about ‘American Horror Story’ Season 10

Captions by Kevin Jacobsen

9. Susan Atkins (“Cult”) — Paulson briefly played Susan Atkins, a member of Charles Manson’s murderous “family.

Sarah Paulson has long been the heart and soul of “American Horror Story,” carrying the flag even after Jessica Lange’s departure in Season 4. Fans are now delighted to hear the news that Paulson is set to return for the upcoming 10th season of the horror anthology series after sitting out of Season 9, “1984,” the only installment she hasn’t been in. The actress has starred as all types of characters throughout her tenure, from badass heroes to creepy villains, proving her to be one of the most versatile actors working today. As we gear up for Paulson’s big return to “Ahs,” here’s our ranking of every character the Emmy-winning actress has played on the show so far.

SEESupremely good news, ‘American Horror Story’ fans: Sarah Paulson will return for Season 10

Her “American Horror Story” debut came in Season 1 (“Murder House”) in the form of Billie Dean Howard,...

Quentin Tarantino movies are defined as much by their sound design as they are by the director’s trademark writing, and over the filmmaker’s last three movies a big part of the Tarantino sound has been crafted by supervising foley artist Gary A. Hecker. For “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” it fell on Hecker to figure out how to create the head-smashing, dog-biting, and flame-throwing murders that make up the movie’s climax. The scene in question finds Manson cult members Susan Atkins (Mikey Madison), Tex Watson (Austin Butler), and Patricia Krenwinkel (Madisen Beaty) breaking into the home of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) in order to kill him. The “Manson murders” are upended when the killers run into Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who along with his dog dispose of the cult members in brutally horrific ways.

Hecker recently spoke with Vulture writer Jordan Crucchiola about the sounds that...

[Editor’s note: Boots Riley’s exclusive follow-up statement to IndieWire has been added to the bottom of the post]

“Sorry to Bother You” writer-director Boots Riley returned to Twitter after a nearly three-month hiatus to share a criticism he has with Quentin Tarantino’s depiction of the Manson Family cult members in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Actors such as Dakota Fanning, Austin Butler, Maya Hawke, and Lena Dunham star in the film as Manson followers, many of which are based on real people. Riley took issue with Tarantino’s script for depicting the cult members as hippies with liberal beliefs and not at all dealing with their racism and right-wing views.

“The Manson Family were overt white supremacists who tried to start a race war with the goal of killing black folks,” Riley wrote to his followers. “They weren’t ‘hippies’ spouting left critiques of media. They were rightwingers. This fact flips Tarantino’s allegory on its head.

The director dials up the stomach-churning violence in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. If only he had something meaningful to say

Warning: this story contains spoilers

Compare and contrast two screen deaths. In Quentin Tarantino’s second film, Pulp Fiction in 1994, John Travolta’s Vincent Vega accidentally shoots Marvin, a minor character, in the face. The killing happens mid-sentence, in the blink of an eye; in the process Vince covers himself and his acolyte Jules in blood and guts. The scene is played for laughs and succeeds: the horror and suddenness of the event coax an appalled hilarity from viewers, exacerbated by the two hitmen’s reaction, which is to bicker about mundane practicalities.

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Manson family member Susan Atkins, who slaughtered Sharon Tate and two others with her accomplices in 1969, is killed in self-defence by Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) and Rick Dalton...

(The following piece isn’t so much a review as a gathering of thoughts and observations about that new movie everyone is talking about and can’t seem to stop talking about. As such, it assumes that the reader is familiar with the film and already knows what it is to which the writer-director is building and is no respecter of spoilers in talking about what happens in and around the controversial ending. So, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and would like to keep certain surprises intact, best to stop reading now and come back to this one later.)

There’s plenty to enjoy about the leisurely pace that characterizes Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, and in the anticipation leading up to its release it was wonderful to consider getting excited about a big summer movie that wasn’t a special-effects extravaganza directed...

For 50 years, the Manson Family murders have had a hold on America, and yet, many people know very little about them. Some are surprised to find out that Charles Manson himself didn’t actually commit any of the nine murders, which took place in Los Angeles on August 9th and August 10th, 1969. Similarly, they’re surprised to find out that it took two months for the cult leader and his followers to be apprehended; and when they were, they were initially arrested for car theft, not murder. It was only...

Actress Sharon Tate was only 26 years old when her life and career were tragically cut short in one of the most brutal murders in Hollywood history. On Aug. 8, 1969, the stunning Valley of the Dolls star - who was married to film director Roman Polanski and eight and a half months pregnant with their son - was spending time with friends at 10050 Cielo Drive, the secluded home she and Roman shared in La's Benedict Canyon. Roman was off in London filming The Day of the Dolphin, so he asked their close pals Wojciech Frykowski and Folger's Coffee heiress Abigail Folger to stay at the house with his pregnant wife until he flew back to La on Aug. 12. The trio had dinner at Sharon's favorite restaurant, El Coyote, along with celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring. They returned to the house around 10:30 p.m.

Shortly after midnight on Aug. 9, the house was broken...

Oxygen’s “Manson: The Women” features four of Charles Manson’s female followers, some of who feel regret for the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends 50 years ago, while others don’t quite feel the same empathy.

The special includes interviews with Catherine Louise “Gypsy” Share, Sandra “Blue” Good, Dianne “Snake” Lake (who was 14 when she joined the Family) and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (who is also known for attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975). None of these women were directly involved with the Tate-labianca murders, but were all sent to prison for other reasons and for a variety of lengths — Share, for example, served five years for armed robbery.

The four women talk about their impression of Charlie, whom they all deemed charming and capable of making someone feel special, what their life was like before and during their time as a Manson Family member, and what happened shortly after Manson,...

Charles Manson had an easy explanation for why he ordered the deaths of the family of Leno Labianca and residents at Sharon Tate’s house at the hands of his “Family”: “It’s the Beatles, the music they’re putting out,” he told the district attorney who sent him to death row. “These kids listen to this music and pick up the message. It’s subliminal.”

A half-century has passed since the Manson Family carried out the brutal, stunning Tate-labianca murders in August of 1969, and their supposed link to the Beatles remains confounding.

[Editor’s note: The following post contains spoilers for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”]

Few moments in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” are as memorable as when Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton gets a flamethrower and incinerates Manson cult member Susan Atkins (Mikey Madison) to death. Rick has a flamethrower in his possession due to his role in the WWII movie “The 14 Fists of McCluskey,” a scene from which is shown early on in “Hollywood” that memorably features Rick’s character burning a group of Nazis. While Rick effortlessly wields the flamethrower, DiCaprio was not as gung-ho about it as his onscreen character.

In an interview with HuffPo, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo says DiCaprio was a little freaked out about using the flamethrower himself and burning up actors on set. Alonzo said he “has a lot of experience with fire-burning” after working as a stunt coordinator for 23 years, so he tried to ease DiCaprio...

August’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are kicking off with an eclectic, but fantastic bunch, led by Arrow Video’s special edition release of Alice, Sweet Alice. Raro Video is resurrecting Lucio Fulci’s Touch of Death this week, and if you happened to miss them earlier this year, both The Curse of La Llorona and Charlie Says will be hitting both formats on Tuesday.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases arriving on August 6th include Room For Rent, The Reflecting Skin, St. Agatha, Division 19, Xenophobia, and Pentagram.

Alice, Sweet Alice: Special Edition

A young Brooke Shields meets an untimely end in this religious-themed proto slasher par excellence from director Alfred Sole. On the day of her first communion, young Karen (Brooke Shields) is savagely murdered by an unknown assailant in a yellow rain mac and creepy translucent mask. But the nightmare is far from over - as...

Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood hit movie theaters last week to critical acclaim. The film — starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie as the late Sharon Tate — follows Charles Manson and his followers leading up to their two-day killing spree in 1969.

Tarantino, an enthusiastic student of Hollywood history, featured some of Los Angeles’ most iconic hotspots from the 60s in his film — including infamous locales such as the home Tate shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski, where she, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski and Steve Parent were murdered by members of the Manson Family.

(Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven’t seen Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”)

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” which takes place around the time of the Manson Family murders of Sharon Tate and her friends, shows Charles Manson himself dropping by her house on Cielo Drive before the killings.

Did it really happen? Or is another example of Tarantino taking artistic license? The answer is, there’s truth to this part of “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” even if it isn’t exactly true.

The film shows Manson (Damon Herriman) getting out of a small ice-cream truck and walking up to the gate of 10050 Cielo Drive, the house Tate and Roman Polanski shared. Tate is home with friend Jay Sebring, who was among those murdered on that infamous night. They see a man walking up to the door,...

(Spoiler alert: Don’t read on if you don’t want to hear lots of details about Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”)

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” takes place around the time of the infamous Manson family murders of Sharon Tate and her friends under the dark influence of Charles Manson. The movie deviates — a lot — from what really happened on the night of Aug. 8, 1969, including in the moment when a young Manson follower bails out on her friends before the home invasion.

Did it really happen? Not exactly. But there’s a grain of truth. And seriously, stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers.

In the film, “Tex” Watson and three female members of the Manson Family drive up to the residence of Tate and Roman Polanski at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles.

They park the car...

(Warning: This column contains major spoilers about the ending of “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.” Read at your own risk.)

I want to talk about the ending of “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” starting around the moment the Manson family shows up on Cielo Drive, and…well, okay, we’ll get into it in a bit. So if you don’t want to know what happens during the last half hour of Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, stop reading now or forever hold your troll. This column hinges on some major spoilers, but my desire isn’t to tread on anyone’s pleasure of discovery. It’s to look at a sequence that needs to be looked at, because it’s one of the defining movie sequences of the year.

Before I deal with the ending, though, I want to talk about the first two hours of “Once Upon a Time…...

Sony opens Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” on July 26, close to the 50th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate and four others. A front-page Variety story on Aug. 11, 1969, two days after the killings, said police described the scene as “a ritualistic mass murder.” Showbiz has since then offered many tasteless depictions of the killings via low-budget exploitation films and TV offerings. Even with a “classy” production like the 1976 “Helter Skelter,” Variety reported that Lorimar intended to “spice up” the four-hour miniseries for overseas by adding more violence and sex.

In November 2018, Debra Tate (Sharon’s sister) wrote a piece for Variety’s special issue on criminal justice reform, American (In)Justice. A victims’ rights activist, she lamented Hollywood’s glamorizing of the Manson family and urged no parole for its remaining members in prison. She offered a few details from 1969 that served as a reminder:...

David Crow Jul 25, 2019

We examine the shocking ending of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and what it means for the film's era and Quentin Tarantino.

This article contains major Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spoilers.

Joan Didion famously wrote in her 1979 collection of essays, The White Album, about the night Sharon Tate died.

“Many people I know in Los Angeles believe the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969,” wrote Didion. “Ended at the exact moment when word of the murders on Cielo Drive traveled like brushfire through the community, and in a sense this is true. The tension broke that day. The paranoia was fulfilled.”

This is often the conventional wisdom about the era: Charles Manson’s so called Family brought an end to the Summer of Love, which also just happened to occur around the same time that the old Hollywood studio system finally collapsed, buried by its massive flops like Hello,...

No other mass criminal or cult figure in American history has garnered as much fascination within Hollywood and popular culture as Charles Manson (though Ted Bundy is coming close). He and his “family” have been the subject of movies, parodies, and he even landed a Rolling Stone cover. “American Horror Story: Cult” had an actor portraying Manson, and Quentin Tarantino is digging up the past for his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” featuring the Manson Family murders. Here is a sampling of actors who have dared to play the notorious figure.

Steve Railsback – “Helter Skelter” (1976)

The memory of Manson was still fresh when this TV special based on Vincent Bugliosi’s book was aired. CBS even made it a two-night special.

Michael Reid MacKay – “Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys” (1990)

This TV special about the career of the Beach Boys explored Manson’s relationship with Beach Boys member Dennis Wilson.

Years after the shocking murders that made the name Charles Manson synonymous with pure evil, the three women who killed for him – Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon), and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón)—remain under the spell of the infamous cult leader.

Confined to an isolated cellblock in a California penitentiary, the trio seem destined to live out the rest of their lives under the delusion that their crimes were part of a cosmic plan—until empathetic graduate student Karlene Faith (Merritt Wever) is enlisted to rehabilitate them. Convinced the prisoners are not the inhuman monsters the world believes them to be, Karlene begins the arduous process of breaking down the psychological barriers erected by Manson. But are the women ready to confront the horror of what they did, including the fabled murder of actress and model Sharon Tate (Grace Van Dien)?

Boundary pushing auteur Mary Harron presents a...

Charles Manson was one of the most infamous cult leaders in history, largely due to his loyal followers. While Manson was associated with some of the most gruesome murders in Hollywood in the 1960s, it was actually his cult members who carried out most of the heinous acts. Often referred to as the Manson Family, the cult consisted of a group of hippies (mostly women) who believed in his plans to start a race war.

After helping Manson carry out multiple murders, including that of actress Sharon Tate - who was eight months pregnant at the time - Manson and a handful of his followers were eventually apprehended in October 1969. The group was initially given the death penalty, but when it was abolished in California in 1972, their sentences were altered to life in prison. Though the famous cult leader died on Nov. 19, 2017, many of the remaining members are still serving their life sentences.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Antichrist (Lars von Trier)

Like the majority of Lars von Trier films, from the first moments of Antichrist, one will be able to discern if it’s an experience they want to proceed with. For those will to endure its specific unpleasantness, there’s a poetic, affecting exploration of despair at its center. Chaos reigns, indeed. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: Mubi (free for 30 days)

Apollo 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)

On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin embarked on a historic lunar odyssey, successfully landing on the moon and then returning to Earth. Free of talking heads, reenactments, and newly-recorded narration, the new documentary Apollo 11...

2019 is shaping up to be the year where Charles Manson and his horrific crimes are repeatedly depicted on screen. So far, we’ve seen the atrocious film The Haunting of Sharon Tate turn the Manson Family’s spree into exploitation horror. If you’ll recall, I listed it as one of the worst movies of 2019 so far. Later on this year, Manson will be a figure on the periphery of events in Quentin Tarantino’s hotly anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That has the possibility of being one of the year’s best. Now, this week sees the release of Charlie Says, a contained look at the women in Manson’s circle. It’s an interesting flick, though one that ultimately ends up underwhelming. The film is half told in flashbacks, filling in gaps as needed. Essentially, the story for Charlie Says centers around the young women who...

2019 has been a very busy year so far for the horror genre, as we’ve been getting a ton of films coming out over the last few months, which can make it hard to keep up. Here’s a look at a trio of projects that I recently had the opportunity of viewing: Mary Harron’s Charlie Says, which arrives in theaters in Los Angeles today, writer/director A.T. White’s Starfish, and In Memory Of from filmmaker Eric Stanze.

Charlie Says: For Charlie Says, filmmaker Mary Harron explores the manipulative spell that the infamous Charles Manson (Matt Smith) cast over his followers, and in this case, three different women—Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray), Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón), and Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon)—who were incarcerated for their involvement in the brutal killings that rocked Los Angeles (and the entire world) in 1969. The trio were incarcerated together, kept away from the general population,...

Everyone always focused on Charlie, the cult leader, the “Helter Skelter” Svengali, the failed musician who had to settle for becoming one of history’s most famous modern representations of human evil. People wrote about him, or they wrote about “the family” as a single unit — the spokes that emanated out from his hub of batshit craziness. Sure, names like Tex Watson and Squeaky Fromme became well-known among folks who viewed serial killers as true-crime celebrities. But whenever most folks talked about the followers that did his bidding, it was...

“Maybe these women are victims too.”

That’s the chin-scratcher at the forefront of Charlie Says, director Mary Harron and her American Psycho collaborator Guinevere Turner’s look into the Manson family – or rather, the women inside the Manson family. Uttered by Karlene Faith (played compassionately and marvelously by Merritt Wever), a grad student who works to revamp the psyches of three incarcerated girls who did their part in the notorious and savage Tate-labianca murders of 1969, the film uses her outsider perspective to form a tragic and empathetic narrative around the three and their ultimately abusive relationship with ringleader Charles Manson (Matt Smith).

The title refers to the trio’s go-to answer whenever Karlene gently questions their seemingly indestructible loyalty. As Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray), Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon), and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón) spout out some of the mis-truths implanted and endorsed by Manson, such as a race...

Looking back on her childhood, Guinevere Turner recalls the usual mixed bag of good times and incidents she would rather forget. But unlike most people, she was born into a tightly knit commune of 100 adults and 60 children.

“So much of my childhood is full of really fond memories — I never thought that there were kids out there who had a better life,” Turner says. “I felt bad for everyone else because we were the chosen people who were going to be taken by UFOs to Venus.”

Turner grew up in the Lyman Family,...

"Everything was to teach me something." That's what Linda Kasabian told Joan Didion, a confidante during her first few years after being arrested for helping Susan Atkins, Charles "Tex" Watson, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel commit murder at the behest of Charles Manson. Didion, like any number of writers, was fascinated by the idea that something like the Manson Murders could just rip a hole in the fabric of time and space. California's crimes had been kept well-hidden from the rich and comfortable and suddenly Manson's snarling face was all over newspapers, and all because they didn't accept him as one of “them.” He wanted to be a singer so badly and no one would give him a record deal, so he sent his followers out to kill the producer Terry Melcher who refused to sign him. By that logic any one famous enough could be next if some...

Certain events enter our collective consciousness and change its landscape forever. We watch news footage and listen to interviews. We read firsthand accounts. What we miss is the day to day unfolding of the plot, and as it turns out, the devil is in the details. Mary Harron’s latest film, Charlie Says, provides a unique look at the Manson family. Its emphasis lies not with Manson but his girls, their relationships, activities, and specifically, the incarceration of Susan Atkins, (Marianne Rendon) Patricia Krewinkle, (Sosie Bacon) and Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray). While never offering excuses for the actions of its principal subjects, it illustrates how the perfect storm of insecurities, a cultural movement, and a misguided need to be loved led to one of the most infamous crimes of the twentieth century.

Harron grasps the subject matter with the same elegance she brought to American Psycho. A sense of...

Some months in advance of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” a film about the Manson murders, comes Mary Harron’s “Charlie Says,” a very strained attempt to understand the motivations of the women who killed for Charles Manson.

“Charlie Says” is based on a book by Karlene Faith, a teacher who started working with three of Manson’s “girls” three years after they were put in prison for murder. The title comes from the constant refrain of these brainwashed young women, who still believe outlandish things that Manson told them about becoming winged elves after a race war.

The sound design is atmospheric and subjective in the first scenes, where we see Leslie Van Houten showering after the stabbing of Leno and Rosemary Labianca, but this subjectivity is abandoned once the film takes us to the Spahn Ranch where Manson holds sway.

Also Read: 'The Haunting...

Matt Smith and Mary Harron's Charlie Says attempts to shift the focus of Charles Manson's mythology to the women he brainwashed.

Charles Manson is having a big year. Actually that moment occurred back in 1969, during a fateful summer he and his cult ended in mass murder. But with the grisly 50th anniversary upon us, we’re getting every sort of cinematic reworking from exploitative dreck like The Haunting of Sharon Tate to whatever the heck Quentin Tarantino is up to these days. Despite being a small, pathetic little monster desperate to act the big man, folks inexplicably can’t let Charlie go.

Charlie Says wisely avoids the cult of worship around Manson and even attempts to do the rare thing and change the often male gaze of the madman to a female one that’s studying the young women he brainwashed into murdering for him. The result attempts...

The 18th Tribeca Film Festival launches this Wednesday 24th April at New York’s iconic Apollo Theater with the world premiere of Oscar-winner Roger Ross Williams’s documentary The Apollo, which focuses on the history and legacy of that very venue. Before the 2019 edition of the festival closes on Sunday, the 5th of May with the world premiere of Danny Boyle’s comedy Yesterday, Tribeca audiences will be treated to a vast array of TV, short film, online work, narrative feature and documentary screenings, plus special musical performances, onstage talks, anniversary screenings and reunions, as well as podcasts, video games and Vr experiences.

Our man in Manhattan James Kleinmann will be at Tribeca once again for HeyUGuys and here he takes a look at this year’s full documentary and narrative feature film lineup. For the full festival schedule and to buy tickets head to the official Tribeca website.

Spotlight...

Drunken Devil returns with its immersive dinner theater experience, To Live and Di(n)e in L.A. Guests will get the opportunity to dine with some of the most notorious serial killers and even some of their victims, including the Black Dahlia, the Glamour Girl Slayer, and the Night Stalker. Also in today's Horror Highlights: Hellboy Original Soundtrack news as well as release details / wildfire relief donations for anthology novel Tales for the Camp Fire.

To Live and Di(n)e in L.A. Event Details: Press Release: "After three successful, sold-out seatings since 2017, Drunken Devil will remount its immersive theatrical dining experience, To Live and Di(n)e in La, giving guests a chance to once again dine with notorious Los Angeles serial killers and their victims. Partially inspired by the infamous Devil’s Night episode of American Horror Story: Hotel, this four-course dinner will see guests mingling...

Welcome to Trailer Binge, a recurring feature where we get a chance to catch up on some of the recent trailer releases in the past week. Whether it be indie releases, or recent movie and TV trailers that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks, Trailer Binge allows us to catch up on the seemingly constant onslaught of new new content being released each week.

In this edition of Trailer Binge, we have brand new trailers Shazam!, the upcoming comedy Long Shot and an unnerving trailer for Charlie Says. Plus, we have an interesting new trailer for The Art of Self Defense, followed by a new trailer for Santa Clarita Diet Season 3. Without further delay, let the binge begin!

Shazam! Chinese Exclusive Trailer

A new Chinese exclusive trailer for Shazam! has arrived. The latest DC superhero film stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer and Mark Strong, with David F. Sandberg...

Matt Smith is taking on his most menacing role yet.

The Crown actor, 36, stars as Charles Manson in Charlie Says, which follows how Manson convinced his so-called family to commit gruesome murders — and what happened to the women afterwards.

The movie, set to hit theaters May 10, is directed by American Psycho‘s Mary Herron and also stars Chace Crawford, Marianne Rendón, Game of Thrones‘ Hannah Murray and Sosie Bacon (Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick’s 26-year-old daughter).

All the actors play the real-life members of Manson’s murderous clan. Manson died while serving life in prison in 2017 at 83.

Murray, Bacon...

Years after the shocking murders that made the name Charles Manson synonymous with pure evil, the three women who killed for him—Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray), Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon), and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón)—remain under the spell of the infamous cult leader (Matt Smith). Confined to an isolated cellblock in a California penitentiary, the trio seem destined to live out the rest of their lives under the delusion that their crimes were part of a cosmic plan—until empathetic graduate student Karlene Faith (Merritt Wever) is enlisted to rehabilitate them.

Convinced the prisoners are not the inhuman monsters the world believes them to be, Karlene begins the arduous process of breaking down the psychological barriers erected by Manson. But are the women ready to confront the horror of what they did?

Charlie Says premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival and will be released theatrically by IFC Films...

The first trailer has been released for the latest film about Charles Manson and the Manson Family called Charlie Says. Matt Smith takes on the role of Manson in the movie and as you’ll see, he seems to disappear in the role.

The film comes from director Mary Harron and screenwriter Guinevere Turner who worked together on the cult classic film American Psycho. They've reunited for this movie that tells the story of the three “Manson Family” women who were sentenced to death in Charles Manson’s infamous murder case.

Here’s the synopsis:

Years after the shocking murders that made the name Charles Manson synonymous with pure evil, three women who killed for him—Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray), Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon), and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón)—remain under the spell of the infamous cult leader (Matt Smith). Confined to an isolated cellblock in a California penitentiary,...