The Other Side of Madness

As the title suggests, it focuses almost solely on the famous murders in the Tate house - interspersed with flashes of the preliminary court hearings and flash-backs to life on Spahn Ranch. These scenes at the ranch have an authentic kind of feel - due to a mixture of stuff (supposedly) being shot on the actual location and the film's own low-budgetness that works in it's favor... the actors all look and act like lost kids (although all are much better looking than the majority of the real Family members). The "documentary" footage the film purports to have seems isolated to one scene - a pretty good one, though: the hippie-rock-jam in the desert.. a real far-out scene, man... It's good and some of the Family actors wander in and out of it to connect it to the rest of the film. But that's it as far as documentary footage goes. The settings, however, have authenticity and a sense of place that give a good, if limited, glimpse into the L.A. of the time. The look of the film, in general, is really inspired - beautifully shot with many creative choices that, sometimes, get a little TOO arty... but, for such a seemingly low-budget movie - it does have a really polished look. (And a great soundtrack.. well scored and with good period-rock - including Manson's own recording of "Mechanical Man"...) It does, however, have some major flaws - the hardest to get past being the complete lack of characterizations... not one person has a personality. No one is developed - not even Charlie. This leaves us with a film we can only look at - there is no one to feel for - even the victims are only that: bodies that get victimized. In a way, it's interesting - we don't need or want to feel a human connection to these killers - but, by stripping all human-ness from everyone all we can do is watch. There's very little to FEEL, here - save a creepiness in the playing out of the murder scene. It is brutal and flatly played - and, maybe, that was part of the point in the film... it does have a strangely haunting quality to it. There's the real-ness of the settings and Family group, the disquieting night drives up the canyon - headlights on a dirt road - and the bleak, almost real-time playing out of the murders, themselves - that linger after it's over. Also, the unfamiliarity with any of the actors - none of whom seem to have done any thing other than this - give it an even creepier, too-real quality. There's a feeling that the filmmakers were trying to show a kind of "facts as they're known" at a time very close to the actual events - when not all the facts were really known. This adherence to what, supposedly, happened; combined with it's lack of characterization and lack of scope outside of just the night of the murders - leave the film somewhat one dimensional and, ultimately, drains it's emotional impact.

I watched this production because I was watching every piece on the Manson murders I could find for research on a Discovery Channel doc I'm producing on the Manson family. It has been two days since I watch the DVD and I am still bored. I cannot imagine that a movie could be worse than this one. Words fail me. The best indication of the talent of the participants is to look at the other IMDb credits (or should I say "blames") of the cast and crew. Only cast member Duke Howze is listed as appearing in any other production...ever! The director/cinematographer/editor, Frank Howard, has no credits before or after this joke of a flick. No need to search further. This IS the all time celluloid turkey, without question.

I first heard of 'The Helter Skelter Murders' (under its alternative title 'The Other Side of Madness') when reading about the 8/8/88 Satanic rally, organised by Zeena (daughter of Anton) LaVey and founder of the Werewolf Order Niclaus Schreck. During that rally, held on the anniversary of the Tate slayings, the movie was shown and when the depiction of the murders began the crowd actually cheered. Whilst certainly ghoulish, I was nonetheless intrigued and sought out the movie and soon saw why it was chosen: the film is a grimy, low-budget, quasi-documentary style exploitation movie shot mostly in black and white which gives it a creepy and authentic feel. The first half is a bizarre collection of scenes including a (pretty cool-looking) desert rock concert, life on Spahn ranch (where Manson and his family lived), court-room scenes, and, in the movie's only colour scene, a fairytale introduction to Sharon Tate. Actually, this first half is not particularly well-done as the aforementioned scenes don't gel together and, crucially, even though it was presumably made to cash-in on the notoriety of the Manson Murders, which were then very much in the news, apart from a few shots of vaguely Manson-looking guy and a recording of Manson's 'Mechanical Man' (not his best composition by a long shot) there is very little mention of Charlie and little-to-no development of the various members of his family who appear in the court-room scenes. However, it's with the shift to the second half that you really see the appeal to LaVey and Schreck as the whole remainder of the film is given over to a detailed, brutal, and drawn-out recollection of the Tate murders by one of the defendants. This section is quite well directed as it takes its time, building tension which is accentuated by the fact that we know what will happen but we don't know when the movie will show it (and how much it intends to show) and it certainly doesn't disappoint when it kicks off. It's unsettling to think that the scenes drew cheers from people and, for me, this knowledge added an uncomfortable post-script to an already uncomfortable viewing experience. All told, the movie is an interesting addition to the Manson mythology although just barely managing to raise itself above its limitations by the impact of the murder scene. Gruesome and sensationalist it may be, but then so were the murders it depicts.

The Other Side of Madness (1971)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This here is a rather fascinating docu-drama about the Charles Manson murders. We see a trial going on where people are testifying about the "family" and then we see re-enactments of the events. The drugs and the sex parties are discussed but the main focus of the film happens at the end during the murder spree.

THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS isn't the greatest film ever made but for a low-budget exploitation movie it's pretty good or at least gets the job done. This was a rather interesting film in the fact that it was released while the media frenzy with the real case was going on. This film never names any of the characters in the film but it's rather obvious who this is about and I'm a little shocked that the filmmakers didn't find themselves getting sued.

Naturally, the main reason people are going to check this out is to see the infamous murders. The murders take place at the very end of the movie and I must say that I thought they were shown in a quite effective way. The film is certainly well-made considering its budget and I thought the murder scenes were rather effective. There's no graphic violence or gore and in fact there's really not much blood seen. The Tate murder is very much in the exploitation field but thankfully it never crosses the line.

With that said, there are some problems with the picture including the first twenty-minutes, which are rather boring. Some of the re-enactments just aren't overly interesting and the beginning of the film had a hard time holding my attention. I'm also a little shocked that the film was shot B&W considering this was well past its prime during this era. There are a couple songs on the soundtrack by Manson himself, which might be another thing that draws people to the movie.

THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS certainly isn't a masterpiece and it's not even a good movie but at the same time it has enough going for it to make it worth watching.

Not to be confused with the much superior TV movie Helter Skelter made in 1976, The Helter Skelter Murders is an unusual film to say the least. With some footage shot at Spahn Ranch (where the Manson Family lived before their arrest) and Charles Manson himself singing his song "Mechanical Man" on the soundtrack, the movie has a bit of an authentic, albeit bizarre, feel to it. The first half of the film is a weird, disjointed mix of scenes, ranging from rock concert to urban riot, set against the backdrop of the court trial; this part of the movie is not particularly entertaining and is hard to follow at times. Later scenes, such as the one with an actress portraying Sharon Tate on a movie set, are better. The scene recreating the murders in August 1969 is brutal and difficult to watch but from a directorial standpoint is well done; the sequence of events also matches the factual accounts given about the crime, which makes it an even more powerful and disturbing.

Helter Skelter Murders is far from a classic; it is a strangely directed film that could have been made better. As it deals with a tragic event and an evil group of people, it is also not easy to watch at times. But anyone who has seen the later TV movie Helter Skelter should watch this movie, as you will see the differences in style and technique and also a different telling of the same event from 1969.