All About Chaos: The Manson Murders- The Documentary that Challenges the Official Accounts

Chaos: The Manson Murders is the latest Netflix true crime documentary that is all set to hit the streamer. In August 1969, Charles Manson told his seven followers to end the lives of seven people in Los Angeles. One of the victims was Sharon Tate, the wife of Roman Polanski. 

These brutal killings shook the nation due to the macabre nature of it all. Since then Manson and his motives have been portrayed in the media countless times. Damon Herriman played the man in Mindhunter and also in Once Upon A Time In America. But this documentary is trying to look at that killing spree in another way- by challenging the official accounts. 

From shadowy government operatives to the influence of drugs, Chaos: The Manson Murders is looking at other connections to dig deeper into why those murders happened. Want to know more about what this upcoming film will offer? In this article, we will discuss them all. Also, stay tuned as we will update this page with new information when it arrives. 

Release date and Where to Watch

The feature-length documentary, Chaos: The Manson Murders, premieres on Friday, Mar. 7, 2025, on Netflix.  

What is Chaos: The Manson Murders About?

Based on the 2019 book by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring called CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties; this documentary will explore the covert motives that could have led to the Tate/La Bianca murders. 

The documentary will cast light on the possible links between the perpetrator and the CIA, LSD, and more. Also, the motives of Jack Ruby and Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutors whose 1974 book Helter Skelter talked about the Manson trials will be discussed as well. 

In doing so, the aim is to invite more questions into the role these powerful institutions and people could have played in the crime. Director Errol Morris said in an interview with Tudum, “I’ve found myself trapped in a number of different true-crime stories, and the Manson murders are peculiar. You could encapsulate the mystery in just one question: How is it that Manson managed to convince the people around him that killing was okay?”

The film will feature interviews with people who were involved in one of the most brutal murders in the nation’s history. Along with this there will be archived visuals along with music of Charles Manson as well. 

What are the Charles Manson Murders?

On August 8, 1969, actress and wife of movie director Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, was hosting a party at her home on 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. During the event, members of Charles Manson's cult family rushed in and stabbed Tate as well as four of her friends to death. The next day, the Manson cult murdered two more.

The victims were: 

• Sharon Tate and her unborn child
• Abigail Folger, a coffee heiress
• Steven Parent, a friend of Sharon Tate's caretaker
• Jay Sebring, a Hollywood hairdresser
• Wojciech Frykowski, a Polish writer
• Leno Bianca, a grocery shop owner
• Leno’s wife, Rosemary 

These murders caused mass hysteria in the LA area. A manhunt led to the arrest of the Manson family. It was found that at the Spahn Ranch, cult leaders would wrongly interpret The Beatles song, Helter Skelter, as a war between the races. 

On April 19, 1971, Manson, Krenwinkel, Atkins, and Van Houten (his three followers) were sentenced to death. Manson was being led after telling the judge and jury, "You don't have any authority over me. You're not nearly as good as me." (via BBC) His accomplices were dragged out screaming from the court.

When the death penalty was scrapped in California in 1972, the four were re-sentenced to life in prison. Charles Manson passed away in 2017 when he was 83.

Chaos: The Manson Murders Trailer

The official trailer features a man narrating, “Manson was able to gain control of his followers. He could get them to go out and kill on command without remorse. How did he learn how to brainwash those kids and turn them into monsters?”

Another man says that the followers were on drugs and that Manson was preaching about race wars to them. There are allegations that when this story was beginning to get out to the public, it was managed and manipulated by secret government agencies who hosted experimental programs. Check it out below:

Behind the Scenes 

Chaos: The Manson Murders is directed by Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line). It is produced by Morris, Robert Fernandez, and Steven Hathaway. Paul Leonard-Morgan has given the music and the cinematography is by Robert Chappell and Igor Martinovic.