The Haunting of Sharon Tate

How many times does poor Sharon Tate have to die before audiences leave her alone? For better or worse, famous serial killers get the biopic treatment all the time (most notably in the imminent Zach Efron as sexy Ted Bundy feature), but none focus so extensively on the victim and their ordeal as the crimes of Charles Manson – depicting the brutal slaughter of Sharon Tate over and over again.

The latest of these thinly-veiled exploitation movies is The Haunting of Sharon Tate, which re-tells the story of the Manson Family murders as though it were a Blumhouse supernatural home invasion movie; with heavily pregnant movie star Tate (Hilary Duff) suffering horrific premonitions of her own death at the hands of Manson’s cult.

Director Daniel Farrands plays fast and loose with history, and the events as recorded in the likes of Helter Skelter, including his recasting of Tate as the traditional horror heroine believed by no-one, even in the face of mounting evidence. While this grants Tate more agency in her own story than reality itself allowed, it also has the unfortunate effect of painting several of the other victims in a less than sympathetic light; negligent, stupid and mean at best, actually responsible at their worst.

Even within its pocket universe, The Haunting of Sharon Tate is irresponsible and exploitative, playing Tate’s terror for cheap shocks while trying to pass it off as catharsis and offering mealy-mouthed ponderances on ‘fate’ as an excuse for what this really is – a cheap cash-grab trying to get in on the recent interest in Manson and his crimes. Alas, it too was beaten to the punch, by the similarly cynical and nasty (but technically far more competent) Wolves at the Door. 

While the film does try to say something new about the Manson murders, and its attempts to grant Tate some agency and dignity are appreciated, those things simply aren’t this movie’s to give – and ultimately does Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Steven Parent a massive disservice. Not least in its shockingly wooden performances, which do nobody any favours – but especially not Sharon Tate herself. Talk about adding insult to injury.

In spite of limited good intentions and solid storytelling, The Haunting of Sharon Tate is an insulting failure, trampling over the lives of real people and manipulating tragic events for its own purpose. There’s a place in cinema for true crime biopics and depictions of real life atrocities, but this probably isn’t it. Low-budget horror filmmakers, just let Sharon Tate be.