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Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Chaos: The Manson Murders' Review: Errol Morris' Netflix Documentary Captures The Frustration Of This Ever-Lasting Enigma
In 1999, Tom O'Neill was commissioned by Hollywood-centric film magazine Premiere to investigate exactly what had — by then — happened a mere 30 years earlier, when a small-time criminal, Charles Manson, was unveiled as the mastermind behind one of the most brutal and defining crimes of the 20th century. It must have seemed like an easy job back then, but by the time the title ceased trading in 2007 O'Neill still didn't have a piece for them — as he explains with great honesty in his self-deprecating and far-ranging 2019 book CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. That book took all his research — exhaustive and authoritative but frustratingly inconclusive — and threw it all up in the air in exasperation, which is not something many writers are inclined to do. It's also not something that documentary legend Errol Morris is wont to do either, so it's interesting to see what happens when these two minds meet. The result is fascinating, as Morris homes in on the crux of O'Neill's book — that the official narrative of what have now become known as The Manson Murders was a sensationalist plot hatched by prosecuting D.A. Vincent Bugliosi to sell his true-crime book Helter Skelter — and leaves the viewer to, well, as the internet says, let that sink in. More from Deadline Doc Talk Podcast Debates Oscar Results And Travels To The True/False Film Fest 'Separated' Director Errol Morris Says Ultimate Goal Of Trump Border Policy Was Meanness, Not Deterrence – Guest Column Why Netflix Boss Ted Sarandos Is Making Acting Debut On Seth Rogen's 'The Studio' For Apple TV+ To recap, if it's needed, Manson came to notoriety as the hippie cult leader whose followers murdered Roman Polanski's pregnant then-wife Sharon Tate on August 9, 1969, along with three of her friends (hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and screenwriter Voytek Frykowski) plus a random guest (Stephen Parent) of the property's pool boy. The next night they struck again, killing supermarket owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in an even-now shocking display of excessive violence. Nothing of value was taken on either occasion, but at both crime scenes, there were significant words daubed in blood: 'Pig,' 'Death to pigs,' 'Rise' and 'Healter Skelter' (sic). So far, this story has been told and told (and told), but scholars of Mansonology might be pleased to hear that Chaos: The Manson Murders represents something of a reset. Far from being a checklist of Manson Family members — you can play that game yourself with some incredibly good archive footage — Morris' film concentrates on just two people: O'Neill and Manson. Manson comes off as he always did, the cornered shaman who, having been a lifelong inmate, refuses to say what went down a) perhaps because of the drugs he'd taken, so he may not have remembered anyway, and b) because he was never a snitch. This latter point will take you where Morris' film declines to go, but the whole film is an invitation to the giant rabbit hole that is the Tate-LaBianca murders. One can sense that Morris might have hoped to bring the forensic approach that he used so successfully with The Thin Blue Line (1988), but then pivoted to something closer to 2010's underrated Tabloid. It's particularly interesting that Morris skirts all the possible scenarios for the Tate murders; one being that the Manson Family were retaliating after a bad drug deal, another that it was a copycat murder to get Family member Bobby Beausoleil out of jail for the killing of Gary Hinman (the events of which are semi-thoroughly covered), or they simply didn't know who was at home at 10050 Cielo Drive that night (always contentious). And didn't Charles 'Tex' Watson actually kill pretty much everyone that died, so why aren't they called The Watson Murders? Morris' presence is gentle throughout, and it could have been so easy for him to turn his lesser-seen comedic eye (have you seen Tabloid?) on O'Neill as a modern Don Quixote and suggesting that this is his Zodiac. But Morris seems to realize very early on (if he didn't know already — that this is a story that will never end, and he embraces O'Neill's uncertainty. Which brings us to the point. Dotted throughout the film, and more present in the book, are O'Neill's observations about America's fear of the rifts in its society. Morris doesn't indulge in the personality cult of Manson's family — the Sadies, the Blues, the Reds, Texes, the Clems, the Snakes and the Gypsys — which could have turned this stand-alone doc into a miniseries. But he does do very simply, which O'Neill couldn't quite do with his enjoyably digressive book, is to locate all of these events within the possibilities of mind control. Which opens another door… Title: Chaos: The Manson MurdersDistributor: NetflixRelease date: March 7, 2025 (streaming)Director: Errol MorrisRating: TV-MARunning time: 1 hr 36 mins Best of Deadline 2025 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys & More Broadway's 2024-2025 Season: 'Redwood' & All Of Deadline's Reviews New On Prime Video For November 2024: Daily Listings For Streaming TV, Movies & More
Broadcast Pro
05-02-2025
- Business
- Broadcast Pro
Film and Beyond: Leapfrogging into the global screen industry
As the global screen industry evolves, the GCC has a unique opportunity to become a leading film hub. With cutting-edge technology, a young workforce, diverse landscapes, and rich storytelling, the region is primed for success. The Strategy& team explores how the GCC can attract global productions to drive economic growth and cultural exchange. Ongoing transformation in the global screen industry has created an opportunity for GCC countries to establish themselves as prominent players. As the industry grapples with the future of content creation and the demands of a global audience, the combination of an appetite for investment in state-of-the-art technologies and media hubs, a focus on attracting investors and producers, a young and digitally-savvy workforce, and a culture rich with stories and landscapes could enable the GCC region to become a centre of cinematic innovation. Success in this endeavour will require a collaborative effort between governments and the private sector to bridge the silos of geography, technology and media industry verticals. The screen industry, which has expanded beyond movies and movie theatres, is facing the uncertainties that accompany the impact of new technologies on its production value chain, particularly GenAI (simply defined here as artificial intelligence that can generate video content from text, image and video prompts). Video tools like Runway and Meta's Movie Gen, along with virtual production and other advancements, are raising questions: Will content be generated versus filmed? Will soundstages and physical locations still be needed? What talent and skills will be essential? How will budgets and timelines be affected? Creatives are soul-searching. Infrastructure investors are hesitating. Media conglomerates are experimenting. Big Tech is pouring billions into new tools. Yet the value is there to be captured. Strategy& forecasts that global video revenues – cinema, OTT services and TV – will increase by approximately $165bn to $564bn by 2028. Simultaneously, audience and economic dynamics are changing, driven by shifting viewer preferences and industry budgetary pressures. Audiences are fuelling demand for locally-produced content as they search beyond the once-dominant Hollywood-centric model in search of relatable storytelling, cultural representation and authentic experiences. Film producers must do more with less as distribution and streaming platforms focus on profitability and tighten their budgets, thus making cheaper international content more appealing. This uncertainty and the changing dynamics create an opportunity for the GCC's forward-leaning economies to position themselves as a global film production hub with five actions: First, link disconnected investments in technology startups, global media companies, AI models, media hubs and skills improvement programmes to create a next-generation pool of talent and infrastructure. Known for embracing technological innovation, the region is well-placed to lead in the provision of state-of-the-art resources and training programmes for filmmakers. While other markets deal with legacy infrastructure and entrenched business practices, the GCC countries can be agile, building a talent pool and production hub for the screen industry's future, not its past. Second, tap into and highlight the region's rich cultural tapestry to produce compelling local narratives with global appeal. Whereas Egypt pioneered local storytelling, Saudi Arabia and the UAE can ride the global streaming wave and take their stories beyond regional borders. The opening of cinemas in Saudi Arabia has inspired a new generation of filmmakers. GCC countries can connect with wider audiences by honing this talent and investing in its development. Third, use the GCC's under-exposed landscapes and central location as a differentiator. As virtual productions and generative landscapes become the norm, producers will value unique and under-used locations. The region's diverse blend of settings – historic and new, desert and coast – is complemented by a central geographic location and ease of access. Fourth, maximise the attractiveness and ease of doing business for producers. GCC countries have already instituted substantial rebates for filmmaking, including 40% in Saudi Arabia and 50% in Abu Dhabi. Extending these incentives to cover a broader range of costs can improve the net rebate impact and compensate for the higher production costs in some areas. Additional financial tools, such as production loans, rebate advances and national film funds, can boost the region's appeal. To accelerate attracting producers, the GCC countries should also streamline regulatory and production processes. The combination of broader financial incentives and ease of doing business can be packaged into tailor-made deals with international producers aimed at establishing production hubs and gaining regional spend commitments, thus assisting in developing domestic talent and ecosystems. Fifth, reframe the view of GCC governments as stand-alone competitors to that of a cooperative ecosystem. The path to success in the global screen industry requires increasing the overall level of activity across the region, not one country snatching business from another. The GCC needs an inter-connected regional ecosystem that transcends borders: aligned incentives, large service providers, multiple production hubs and a fluid talent base. Such an ecosystem could overcome the challenges of talent retention, crew availability, cost competitiveness and infrastructure gaps. The global screen industry is on the cusp of a new era, an opportunity that GCC countries should grasp. With an attractive ecosystem that combines talent, incentives and infrastructure, GCC countries can become an international screen hub that promotes cultural exchange and drives economic growth. By partners Tarek Matar, Karim Sarkis and Maansi Sagar, Manager at Strategy& Middle East, part of the PWC Network.
