Cease to Exist

Cease To Exist is a riveting doc on the Manson murders which explores the Dennis Wilson/Terry Melcher music/business connection to the case. With archived footage and liberal use of Mansons own music and rarely seen Family footage this well produced project from first time film maker Ryan Oksenberg has you hooked from the beginning. Starting with the naivete of Dennis Wilson who never passed up a chance to party, to Terry Melcher, who I believe was the direct cause of a least the Tate murders it exposes the underside of the music business and they way artists are exploited. I am curious about what was the actual financial offer to Manson on the use of his material or was he and the Family crashing at Dennis Wilsons home and spending his allowance considered a fair trade for the song. I believe it was. Manson and the Family were back and forth between Spahn Ranch and Wilsons home. I believe Dennis took Mansons song and recorded it to recoup the money he lost while supporting Manson & The Family in late 68 and early 69. When Manson found out he was livid, especially with the changing of some lyrics and demanded to be paid. When Wilson and the Beach Boys refused Manson he moved his Family back into Wilsons house until be has paid. This caused Dennis to flee and left Melcher to deal with Manson with tragic results. Melcher I believe did make promises to Manson and when he didn't deliver they came looking for him and found Sharon Tate living in Melcher home with tragic results. Many twist and turns in this whole affair but the film maker keeps everything flowing nicely with a well written and edited production. Other poster here do not seem to feel the way I do. Watch for yourself and decided.

The connection between Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson is not really focused. It's all about Manson leading up to the Tate murders. Seen it all before and there are better docs about this topic. Manson was in fact after Doris Day's son Terry Melcher and supposedly killed Tate out of frustration he couldn't find him. For years he and Wilson lived in fear. The only interesting thing about this doc is that it shows the many faces (literally) of Manson. Bearded, long hair, no beard to bald. Also members of his group were interviewed. It seems they are still behind Charley. Polanski is only seen briefly in the press conference which took place after the murder.

I didn't know that Charles Manson was also a musician and, not quite bad, since The Beach Boys stole a song from him, I only knew that he was just a crazy murderer, the perpetrator of several crimes, Sharon Tate being the most famous. Very stupid man Dennis Wilson, the drummer of The Beach Boys!

Cease To Exist depends entirely of footage lifted directly from other Charles Manson and Beach Boy documentaries/specials that were decently edited together to tell the story of the meeting of two families, one of rock, the other of murder.

It's at it's best when contrasting the good time rock and roll of the Beach Boys with the creepy folk music of Manson and his followers. I wish it would have done more to contrast the relationships of Manson with his "family" and the Wilson family.

Too many times it strays away from the story of Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson's relationship with one another and goes into more familiar territory.

My advice to the filmmaker: Film some new interviews with some new, never before heard stories. Get some of the people from the archival footage to repeat some of their anecdotes for your cameras and put it in place of the old. Drop the weak narration from Colin Moneymaker(!) and re-record it with a recognizable voice like Gary Busey or Kris Kristofferson.

I admit that I've seen more than my fair share of Charles Manson films and documentaries, so my review is probably slanted a bit toward the negative. People less familiar with the other films would probably give this a couple more stars than I did.

The list of acknowledgments at the end were incomplete. I noticed portions of The Helter Skelter Murders, Helter Skelter (1976), and even a few frames of Manson Family Movies.