User reviews

Charles Manson: The Final Words (2017)

**** (out of 4)

Rob Zombie narrates this extremely fascinating documentary that tries to prove soemthing that many (including myself) have thought for a very long time and that's the fact that perhaps what came out at the Charles Manson trial wasn't really the truth.

Vincent Bugliosi really comes under attack here and epecially the entire "Helter Skelter" idea of a race war. Evidence is shown that pretty much proves that this here probably wasn't the case and there's a good theory introduced that the only reason this was brought up was to try and tie Manson to the crimes since you really can't prove that he "told" someone to do something. By saying he was the mastermind behind such a crazy scheme, that's something you could connect him to.

I've seen so many documentaries on Manson that it's hard to find something that offers up something new. This one here certainly does that as we get some fresh interviews with some members of the family that I've never seen. We also get to hear from the person in jail who Susan Atkins ran her mouth to. We even get someone who tries to defend the original trial and get to see him completely stumped when evidence is presented to him.

Also on hand are some audio conversations with Manson himself. Of course, it's hard to know what to believe when it comes to the stories he tells but he says some very interesting things here. The film doesn't try to say Manson was a good guy or an innocent man but it does make you question some of what is out there. This is especially true when it's quite clear that the really evil ones were the likes of Atkins.