[Film Review] The Resurrection of Charles Manson (2023)

When a couple takes a last minute mini vacation into the desert to work on an audition tape for a film about cult leader Charles Manson, they soon realise the script’s content is beginning to reflect their reality.

Directed by Remy Grillo, The Resurrection of Charles Manson opens with newsreel footage of the Tate house murders, as well as sound bites from interviews with the real Charles Manson. It is with this introduction where the film firmly establishes its lens from the beginning, especially as the media clips focus on female Manson Family member Susan Atkins. As the news clips fade, a man (played by Marvel’s Frank Grillo) dressed in a striking orange three-piece suit is seen ordering henchmen to chase a man into the desert, as the camera pans out and the film’s environment is introduced as vast and terrifyingly inescapable.

Tiana is an aspiring actress who, with the help of her supportive yet slightly hapless partner Mitch, is attempting to shoot an audition tape for a film portraying the Manson Family murders. As Tiana and Mitch drive to an Airbnb in the desert to film on location for added authenticity, Mitch describes his hesitation about the film portraying Manson as God-like. Tiana reassures her boyfriend that the film is arthouse and depicts the cult leader from the viewpoint of his followers. This conversation between Tianna and Mitch reflects the current media obsession with true crime documentaries and biopics of serial killers starring Hollywood heartthrobs that, whilst fascinating and thoroughly entertaining, are consequently exploitative of victims and their families and further celebritize perpetrators of the most heinous crimes. 

From their arrival into the isolated desert community, Mitch begins to notice depictions of a serpent eating its own tail following him, whether it is on the wrists of a local shopkeeper or drawn in the sand outside of the couple’s airbnb. The Ouroboros is a symbol of eternal rebirth and the cyclical nature of life, reminding audiences of the title of the film itself. As Mitch prepares to propose to Tiana things take a Get Out (2017)-esque turn and a Manson obsessed cult, led by Frank Grillo’s Robert, set their sights on Mitch as the perfect vessel to resurrect the late Charles Manson. 

Whilst The Resurrection of Charles Manson seems to be a conversation about society’s obsession with “resurrecting” the crimes of infamous serial killers and dangerous madmen, it doesn’t quite break ground on the subject matter, instead focusing on an unnecessary background narration of how Tiana met Mitch and the nature of their relationship. It skirts around the edges of the intended subject matter and never quite reaches its full potential. At little over an hour in length, perhaps a longer running time would have caused characters like the enigmatic group leader Robert and his clan to feel fully developed in characterisation, resulting in a film that would be less hypocritical in its portrayal of society’s treatment of serious criminal offenders. 

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