The Manson Family

An underground legend some 15 years in the making, writer-director Van Bebber’s dense, impressionistic evocation of Manson-family madness will never replace the 1976 TV movie Helter Skelter. But it does accomplish the near impossible by conjuring an unremittingly bad vibe that speaks volumes about the group’s evolution from sex-driven hippie commune to drug-fueled slaughter machine.