MANSON AND DRACULA: CLOSER THAN WE THINK 2022
“Manson and Dracula” is a film that came out in 2022, and it immediately starts off as stupid, using pictures of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, not talking about the historical figure, really at all. There’s a couple of pictures used at the very end of the film though.
The movie uses a lot of stock photos and videos between actual pictures of The Family and Manson. It comes off as a bad youtube video in many ways, which made me laugh. It was like a bad version of “Down The Rabbit Hole” by Fred Knudsen.
The movie talks about Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and film versions of the character. The repeated phrase about “groundwork” being laid, made me laugh.
I bust out laughing when the three Manson women from the trial, Susan, Leslie, and Pat, were compared to Dracula’s three brides in the story.
Despite being clearly satirical, the movie strangely brings up many facts about the Manson Family, even bringing up the attempted assassination of President Ford by Squeaky Fromme.
The women of the Manson Family are also compared to the vampires of the story; interestingly, Susan Atkins was compared to a vampire, when she lured Shorty Shea to his death.
The movie even talks about Bobby Beausoleil and the murder of Gary Hinman. I’m actually surprised with how much of this film got right.
The use of the Dracula comparison was obviously done for comedic reasons, but it’s very interesting how much of the facts were correct, not made up for the film. They even talked about “Creepy Crawling”, comparing that act to how the vampires would stalk their victims.
The movie brought up how the Manson Family didn’t make things easier for themselves during the trials with their behavior, in and out of court, which I agree with.
One error though, was the use of a photo that people commonly mistake for Susan Atkins. Granted, the movie is satire anyway, so I’ll “allow” it.
I was surprised though, how the film used actual crime scene photos from the Cielo Drive residence.
The strangest part about all of this, is that if you ignore all of the parts about the vampire, this is a very educational and accurate film about the Manson Family. It even brings up how the “Helter Skelter” theory used by Vincent Bugliosi was “far-fetched”. The movie also brings up how Bugliosi stalked a milkman that was thought to have been having an affair with Bugliosi’s wife, and it brings up the assault Bugliosi commited to his pregnant mistress, which resulted in a miscarriage! I pleasantly surprised that the film talked about this, as many seem to gloss over Bugliosi’s past.
Overall, a satirical film that made good points. I don’t think any family members of the victims would care for the movie that much, but the average person might actually like this. I wonder if the creators to this film were long time readers about the case, or if they just randomly stumbled across the Manson Family before creating this film. Considering how points and details about the Manson Family were right though, it’s clear that somebody did their research. There are even clips in the film from the 1976 movie “Helter Skelter”.
The movie of course uses clips from many vampire films, while also using some of Charlie’s music, and clips from the Tate-LaBianca trials. Some of the clips had Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pit, and of course Bela Lugosi.
I do find it interesting though, how none of the footage from “The Fearless Vampire Killers” was used.
Overall, I think that this film was a great piece of satire. Funny, though true. I think that’s one of the best types of observational humor. It can make you laugh, because in many ways, the comedian is right.
I give this film 3/5 slimes.
My video: https://youtu.be/bAeGiJNcW0Q
