The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter

The documentary covers the Manson killings of 1969 in Los Angeles by going to the places themselves. The guide is Scott Michaels, who runs tours of Hollywood's dark history. The camera visits the addresses where it happened: Cielo Drive, Waverly Drive, the Spahn ranch. It shows what is still standing, what was torn down, who lives there now. Case documents, photographs and music the group recorded themselves are threaded through. What it describes is less Manson himself than the mark those killings left on the city. Mike Dorsey directs; a hundred and five minutes, built to move from address to address. Seven people were killed, among them Sharon Tate, who was pregnant. Manson and the members of his group were sentenced to life.