halloweenfest evening three: manson and cabin in the woods

Manson: (2009. dir: Neil Rawles) Every element of this real life monster movie is impressive. A documentary created for The History Channel, it has at its core filmed eyewitness interviews, most substantially with Linda Kasabian, who was on hand (although apparently not sanguinely involved) at both the Tate and LaBianca murders. The lighting, the camera work, the sound and music, and especially the acting in the reproductions, are charged and adroit. (The girls, of course, are way too pretty, but this is Hollywood, and, to be fair, the actor playing Tex Watson is too pretty, too.)

Adam Kenneth Wilson is upsettingly sexy as Manson, employing a southern drawl which may or may not be accurate (Manson was born in Ohio but raised partly in West Virginia), but is disarmingly soothing to the ear. Wilson also has the kind of chilling verisimilitude in playing violence that probably condemns him to a repeat of the career of Steve Railsback, who played Manson in the old Helter Skelter miniseries from the '70s, and, more recently but just as disturbingly, Ed Gein.

There's a scene where Tex, Linda, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins have just returned from the Tate house murders and are still sitting in the car. Charlie leans in the driver's window and asks each in turn, "You got any remorse?" After Linda dutifully and untruthfully answers no, he watches her, drumming his fingers on the door. It's a simple scene, and completely unnerving. The way the suspense builds up to Linda's planned escape is mesmeric.

There's a danger with this kind of true horror, as Trent Reznor found out after he purchased the Tate/Polanski house for its notoreity: in a 1997 Rolling Stone interview, he speaks of meeting Tate's sister, who asked him if he was exploiting her sister's death. Reznor realized there may have been truth in it, and moved out. Reliving the story all these years later, experiencing the horror of it in the same way one would a fictional horror, is it disrespectful?

the Cabin in the Woods: (2012. dir: Drew Goddard) Co-writers Drew Goddard (who wrote for both Buffy and Angel before penning Cloverfield) and Joss Whedon (who requires no introduction) have created a meta-fictional zombie movie which is so delightfully clever as to breathe new life into a weary-assed old genre. I wish, in fact, it were a television series instead of a film, to see where these two would go with it. Some old Joss-head favorites are on hand (Amy Acker, Tom Lenk, Fran Kranz) along with some more recent ones (Chris Hemsworth). It's funny, it's well acted, it takes the Evil Dead zombie cabin and explodes it into the realm of the Lovecraftian by way of the Orwellian. It's best to know as little as possible before you watch it; suffice to say that the idea is great, the execution is great, and wizened horror-film fans are in for a big party.