Fifteen years in the making, The Manson Family, formerly known as Charlie's Family in film circles, is the second feature from filmmaker Jim VanBebber. VanBebber found a cult following in the late '80’s with his feature Deadbeat At Dawn as well as for his short films and music videos for such bands as Skinny Puppy.

A self-financed labor of love, the film's scope expanded over the years to become a multi-layered final word on the tragic events of August 9 & 10, 1969 as well as the impact those events continue to have on popular culture. The film combines detailed recreations of the Family members' lives, chronicling of the events on the Spahn Ranch that led to the Tate-LaBianca killings and contemporary jailhouse interviews with the Family as well as a chilling look at a group of Manson-obsessed, nihilistic punk teenagers. Connecting these narrative strands is a tabloid television journalist producing a special focusing on the Family. Stylistically, The Manson Family fuses classic grindhouse horror with an experimentalism rooted in the underground, referencing the transcendent death trip of the Cinema of Transgression to Kenneth Anger's hallucinogenic occultism.

The production of The Manson Family has become the stuff of legend. Starting its life as Charlie's Family, rumors circulated about VanBebber's means of funding his epic; rumors ranging from flipping burgers at a Wendy's to armed robbery. Fueled by a handful of work-in-progress screenings (including an unadvertised midnight preview which stunned a standing room only crowd at the 1997 Chicago Underground Film Festival), the screenplay has been published (Creation Books, London) and the soundtrack CD released (Metropolis) but the film seemed cursed to never be completed. Finally, thanks to an angel deal with Blue Underground UK, completion money was secured and the finished version premiered in England in late 2003. VanBebber refused to compromise his ultimate portrait of the American nightmare. Be warned, once seen this film will not be forgotten.