The Other Side of Madness (1971)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This here is a rather fascinating docu-drama about the Charles Manson murders. We see a trial going on where people are testifying about the "family" and then we see re-enactments of the events. The drugs and the sex parties are discussed but the main focus of the film happens at the end during the murder spree.
THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS isn't the greatest film ever made but for a low-budget exploitation movie it's pretty good or at least gets the job done. This was a rather interesting film in the fact that it was released while the media frenzy with the real case was going on. This film never names any of the characters in the film but it's rather obvious who this is about and I'm a little shocked that the filmmakers didn't find themselves getting sued.
Naturally, the main reason people are going to check this out is to see the infamous murders. The murders take place at the very end of the movie and I must say that I thought they were shown in a quite effective way. The film is certainly well-made considering its budget and I thought the murder scenes were rather effective. There's no graphic violence or gore and in fact there's really not much blood seen. The Tate murder is very much in the exploitation field but thankfully it never crosses the line.
With that said, there are some problems with the picture including the first twenty-minutes, which are rather boring. Some of the re-enactments just aren't overly interesting and the beginning of the film had a hard time holding my attention. I'm also a little shocked that the film was shot B&W considering this was well past its prime during this era. There are a couple songs on the soundtrack by Manson himself, which might be another thing that draws people to the movie.
THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS certainly isn't a masterpiece and it's not even a good movie but at the same time it has enough going for it to make it worth watching.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This here is a rather fascinating docu-drama about the Charles Manson murders. We see a trial going on where people are testifying about the "family" and then we see re-enactments of the events. The drugs and the sex parties are discussed but the main focus of the film happens at the end during the murder spree.
THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS isn't the greatest film ever made but for a low-budget exploitation movie it's pretty good or at least gets the job done. This was a rather interesting film in the fact that it was released while the media frenzy with the real case was going on. This film never names any of the characters in the film but it's rather obvious who this is about and I'm a little shocked that the filmmakers didn't find themselves getting sued.
Naturally, the main reason people are going to check this out is to see the infamous murders. The murders take place at the very end of the movie and I must say that I thought they were shown in a quite effective way. The film is certainly well-made considering its budget and I thought the murder scenes were rather effective. There's no graphic violence or gore and in fact there's really not much blood seen. The Tate murder is very much in the exploitation field but thankfully it never crosses the line.
With that said, there are some problems with the picture including the first twenty-minutes, which are rather boring. Some of the re-enactments just aren't overly interesting and the beginning of the film had a hard time holding my attention. I'm also a little shocked that the film was shot B&W considering this was well past its prime during this era. There are a couple songs on the soundtrack by Manson himself, which might be another thing that draws people to the movie.
THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS certainly isn't a masterpiece and it's not even a good movie but at the same time it has enough going for it to make it worth watching.