The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019)

It is an absolute waste of time, it is predictable until it annoys one. It's bad acting and an even worse story. I can by no means recommend others to waste their time on this piece of amateur movie. That this at all can reach final production and publishing can simply wonder me.

Fmovies: On the surface 'The Haunting of Sharon Tate' could seem like a very insensitive movie to make. As I was watching it I kept wondering how writer/director Daniel Farrands pitched this to studios and the cast to get them on board. Then the end of the movie rolled around and I realised how he'd done it (I won't spoil anything). The way the film ended was probably the best thing this film had going for it because at least it gave it somewhat of a purpose. The problem is the rest of the film is so poorly put together a lot of people may not make it to the end.

The first thing that strikes you about this film is how incredibly out of place Hilary Duff is. Both as a casting choice and in terms of her acting ability - terrible. To be fair the whole cast is pretty ordinary, but her in the lead role is the most distractingly bad of the bunch. The film also has a very strange style of direction. Some scenes are filmed in a very bizarre way that doesn't seem to add anything to the film (although thinking about it now perhaps this could play into the ending of the film which I again won't go into details on). There are some action sequences though which are unforgivably bad, like the scene where a car backs up and hits a fence. You'll understand what I mean when/if you see it.

There were a couple of genuinely creepy moments though. All the scenes involving the Manson girls were quite unsettling and the way the final sequence played out was quite disturbing. It does help the filmmakers that this was based on actual events though to be fair, which adds a degree of horror to what you are watching. For the most part though 'The Haunting of Sharon Tate' is a poorly constructed and ill-advised venture that would best be avoided.

Then this movie is made about the Manson murders that is so far removed from the official story that one feels like they did some of that 1969 LSD! if i could have i would have rated this a negative 8! ABYSMAL is being kind!

The Haunting of Sharon Tate fmovies. Life is tough out there for 90's stars. They had it all..awesome fashion, cool thin eyebrows, ecstacy and a ton of money. But what do you do when those lucrative tv show parts dry up? You get desperate And decide to exploit one of the most repulsive moments in American history. This is truly a horrific film, with hilary heavy breathing and trying to look gorgeously startled throughout, whilst cradling her prosthetic bump murmuring "I think those people are a threat to me and my baby". Sharon Tate was so much more than a murder victim, yet we always overlook her talent and contribution to fashion and films in favour of morbidly sifting through her (and her friends who always seem to be a footnote) murder. But this film goes much further by mashing up the worst horror cliches (I'm tired of seeing people in the mirror-gasp- turn around and no ones there) with deeply offensive notions that Sharon prophesied her own murder. Sharon tates family have been through so much, and the fact that they have to deal with trite schlock like this really makes me feel even worse for them. It means that theyre not allowed to heal, and it perpetuates the murder porn that permeates throughout our society and it's sick. Two stars as the music, whilst cliched, is decent.

Horribly distasteful and disrespectful exploitative movie about one of the most horrific murders in American history. SHAME on everyone involved in this sick travesty, including Hillary Duff. May you all learn from the errors of your ways.

Daniel Farrands' latest film tells the tragedy of Sharon Tate, one of 5 deaths in an infamous real-life mass murder committed by the members of Charles Manson's cult. The release comes close to the 50th anniversary of those events.

I entered hoping for a fact-based biopic of Sharon Tate and what happened that night, giving life to the people that were killed and showing us who those people were during their short lives and final days. What we actually get is a rather dull sensationalistic take on the facts, used purely to create a horror film off the back of the tragedy. Had I seen his previous film based on Amityville murderer Ronald DeFeo (which I watched after this and is better executed while feeling narrowly less exploitive), I would've know what to expect - a mostly fictional horror story based on real victims of a real tragedy.

While it uses the real life events as an influence on the characters and story, there's clearly a lot of artistic license used and the result is a sub-par horror film that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth due to its exploitation of the real tragedy that took place. There was an opportunity to pay respect to the people that lost their lives, but unfortunately we get a forgettable home-invasion horror film with a particularly odd plot point, which feels absurd for a film which wants to give the impression that it's a fact-based biopic.

I can appreciate why Sharon Tate's sister was so against the film.

There's nothing particularly interesting about this film and it doesn't do justice to the innocent victims, nor reveal much of anything that we didn't already know. It invents more than it enlightens. Without revealing spoilers, Farrands could have easily made this horror film as a fictional story, with fictional characters, and the result would probably have earned slightly better ratings. But at its core it's a by-the-numbers horror with attempted jumps, moments of suspense, and cat-and-mouse chases, but it definitely does not give the impression (to me at least) that it wants to pay homage to the victims, nor deglorify Manson.

The acting is okay, but it's hardly top class, and Duff seems to fade in and out of using an odd accent in her portrayal of Tate. Some of the script feels unnatural, the characters are underdeveloped and some of the acting and dialogue is wooden. The story moves along at a decent pace, but it doesn't really offer enough to hold interest or build suspense, possibly because we know what's coming.

Farrands seems to have found himself a new niche, making films about real life tragedies, the next of which will be the murder of OJ Simpson's wife. Unfortunately, the tragedy of Farrands' new-found inspiration for his films is that they're exploiting these horrific real-life events for entertainment and profit.

I give it 1/10 due to the combination of it being an unoriginal and dull horror film, as well as an insensitive exploitation of the tragedy. Had it been presented as a fictional story, with fictional characters, it may have earned closer to 3 or 4 out of ten, but it still wouldn't have been anything special.