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Manson Family Movies | 
 enlarge | Actors: A.j. (vii), Sister Audress, Ms. Brad, Bryant, Knarly Dana
Studio: Cult Epics
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $12.40
You Save: $17.55 (59%)
New (29) Used (10) from $7.99
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 89726
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: RKOD900032D
UPC: 881190003299
EAN: 0881190003299
ASIN: B0009WFEQ4
Theatrical Release Date: 1984
Release Date: July 26, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed- Official US Release Version, Region 1, Not an Import or Bootleg- Ships within 24 Hours- Excellent Customer Service, 100% Fully Guaranteed- Buy with Confidence from a 5 Star *****... Reliable Seller! Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any problems or concerns about your order, We will resolve it ASAP!!!
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Product Description
Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 07/26/2005 Run time: 30 minutes Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Watchable, in a horrible kind of way. September 21, 2007
Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Manson Family Movies (John Aes-Nihil, 1984)
I'm honestly not sure what to say about Manson Family Movies, which is a wonderful idea with woeful execution. Aes-Nihil, riffing on the rumor that the Manson Family had stolen TV equipment from NBC and filmed pieces of their lives, imagined what sorts of things they might have filmed, and spent five years shooting the result. He utilizes a gender-bending cast, purposefully archaic equipment, amateur actors, and, as far as I could tell, a special effects budget that came in under ten bucks. The end result is, bluntly, horrible, but it has an eerie compulsion about it, a combination of being "so bad it's good" and being the kind of thing that you see when your parents pull out the projector and you watch home movies (if you're as old as I am, that is, before there were such things as VCRs).
If you know anything about the Manson family, you know what's here. Aes-Nihil did take a bit of creative license with a few scenes, but surprisingly less than I would have thought, assuming the information scattered across various books is accurate. And, yeah, it plays like a bunch of kids from the early seventies play-acting the Manson family, but that kind of adds to its creepy charm. (After all, they are a bunch of kids play-acting the Manson family, just ten years later.)
I just wish they'd spent more on special effects. How much does a joke knife with a retractable blade cost, anyway? **
 Had potential, but failed badly. December 14, 2006
Tom G. (Mesa, AZ USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I liked the basic premise the film was based on, the amateurish home movie rumor of the Manson family. I didn't even mind the fact that it is silent. The movie is awful because like other reviewers below said, the guy in this movie doesn't even resemble Manson, except he's got a beard. There is no acting, or even attempt at acting. When several of the characters that are supposed to be women are actually men in obvious drag, and they act ridiculous, the movie lost all hope for me. It fails in every category. Tongue in cheek or not. This movie is wasted money. It's sad when the best part of a DVD are the extras, and indeed with Manson Family Movies, you should skip watching the movie and go directly to the extras. Avoid wasting precious 88 minutes of your life.
 FilmFanaddict.com Review of Manson Family Movies (by David Carter) May 25, 2006
David Carter
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The killings attributed to the Manson Family are, in their essence, no different than crimes that happened on a daily basis in the 1960's. Though gruesome, multiple homicides and even serial murder were not new concepts at the time. Why, then, did these particular crimes capture America's attention to such a degree? Much like it's films, Hollywood's most famous murders were tailored perfectly for public consumption. The most well known victim, Sharon Tate, was a beautiful young starlet. Playing opposite her as the villain was Charles Manson, a larger-than-life character that seemed to embody the worst aspects of the permissive sixties culture. Conservative America was distrustful of the youth movement, and Charles Manson's very existence confirmed all of their fears. Many have attempted to bring the killings to the screen with varying degrees of success. John Aes-Nihil's MANSON FAMILY MOVIES brings a fresh perspective to this familiar topic.
MANSON FAMILY MOVIES is structured to resemble just that: home movies shot by members of the Manson Family. Working without dialogue, Aes-Nihil attempts to bring a narrative structure to a collage of images that are both graphic and disorienting at times. The viewers are taken through key events in the Manson Family's history. Additionally, the omniscient camera also shows the victims prior to the murders. Aes-Nihil uses a blend of concrete facts (to which he brings a high level of detail) and urban legends surrounding the crime, which are shown in gloriously exploitive sequences.
The lack of dialogue is going to be the main stumbling block for most viewers. In lieu of dialogue, Aes-Nihil will occasionally use crudely drawn title cards to convey character's speech. The film is not silent, however, the soundtrack is compiled from the recordings of Manson and his Family members, lending a macabre authenticity to the proceedings. The lack of dialogue creates a problem for viewers unfamiliar with some of the subtle details of the case. This is clearly a film for devotees of the crime, as an intimate knowledge of it is all but required to follow the film closely.
Though it shows the Family and their crimes in great detail, MANSON FAMILY MOVIES does not glorify them. By using the "home video" format, Aes-Nihil is presenting the Family's activities as part of the collective memories of a nation. Just as your trip to the beach when you were nine is a part of your memory and an event that shaped your life, the Manson Family murders are part of the memory of America. It's an event that seems less than real now, like a movie you've seen in the past. Aes-Nihil's film shows the murders as an event that transcends a mere crime story and instead a crucial event in shaping society after the sixties.
 One-star "Buyer's Regret" reviewers don't get the joke January 13, 2006
D. Hartley (Seattle, WA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you approach this low low budget "shocker" as an armchair "criminologist" thinking it will give you a detailed police procedural of the infamous Tate-LoBianca slayings, then you probably expect yet another rote re-telling of attorney Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter". Well, it's not. Someone's tongue was firmly implanted in cheek while making this film, and its entertainment value depends largely on how developed your sense of "camp" is (the glowing endorsement from bad taste meister/ironist John Waters on the jacket should be clue #1!). The film was PURPOSELY shot "amateurishly" on grainy super-8 to simulate what the infamous Manson "family" home movies might have looked like. Supposedly, some footage does exist, although it would have likely been of "daily life" activity at the Spahn Ranch (only a moron would believe that they would have had time to film the actual murders while perpertrating them!). This is one film that benefits 100% from the director's commentary track, and I highly recommend watching with it "on". The commentary actually makes this the "JFK" of Manson films, because you learn some interesting "counter-myths" as to what may have motivated the murders. To tell you the truth, the director's take-that several members of the Tate household were using and selling "MDA" and dealt the drugs through members of the Manson family, pointing to a classic "drug deal gone sour" scenario, actually seems more pragmatic than the "zombie hippie killers held in thrall of a messianic cult leader" explanation. At any rate, I think the director makes it quite clear that this was designed as a work of entertainment, not of enlightenment-and taken in that spirit, it works. Obviously not for all tastes, but definitely worth a spin for the jaded viewer.
absolute garbage! December 19, 2005
Turbo
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire 40 years of life. The acting (if you call it that) is low rent, the entire filming is a giant charade. The guy playing Manson is pathetic and doesn't even resemble him. Some of the actors playing female family members are actually men wearing wigs.
This is so bad I can't even put it in words. If you are a Manson buff, look elsewhere, nothing could be worse.....PERIOD!
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