Beginning with the murder of Gary Hinman (a music teacher who supposedly owed Charles Manson money) the movie goes through the events of 1969 that led up to the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders.  Also, Manson's struggle to become a musician and his dealings with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys is shown.   And of course there are the murders themselves.  The Manson family members are shown going to the Tate and LaBianca residences but initially little of the actual murders is shown.  The movie also details how the members of the Manson family were caught and how the murders were solved.  There were three separate pairs of detectives assigned to the murder cases - the Gary Hinman murder, the Tate murders, and the LaBianca murders.  Initially the Tate detectives believed that they were dealing with separate killers and that the Tate murders were the result of a bad drug deal despite alarming similarities at all three crime scenes.  The details Tate/LaBianca murders are told in a flashback sequence and shown in very graphic detail when Susan Atkins testifies to the grand jury.  

There were some strong performances in this movie.  Margeurite Moreau was convincing and creepy as Manson killer Susan Atkins, she managed to be sinister while maintaining a bouncy child-like demeanor.   Clea Duvall was strong in bringing forth the emotional roller coaster that Linda Kasabian had been on from the time she joined the Manson clan, through the murders and her eventual disillusionment and horror.  Jeremy Davies was superb as Charles Manson.  He essentially became Charles Manson, affecting his voice, manner of speech, movements, and even his walk and posture.  He wisely avoided portraying Manson in the typical fashion of the one-dimensional evil killer.  Davies' portrayal had depth, he not only showed Manson's dark side but also his cool seductiveness and even a humorous side.  He was also very incredibly powerful without even speaking, using just his eyes he conveyed many moods, going from maliciously threatening to mischievously playful.

The dvd includes rehearsal footage of Jeremy Davies that he filmed during his preparation for his role as Charles Manson.  This footage is fascinating to watch as he transformes himself into Manson.  Interestingly this footage was passed around among various directors and resulted in Davies being cast in Solaris and Rescue Dawn.

There are some factual errors in this movie but overall I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Manson case and true crime.