The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf August 12, 2019

Six months ago, writer/director Daniel Farrands revisited the true crime tale of Ronald DeFeo Jr., hoping to squeeze a little more misery out of “The Amityville Horror” franchise with “The Amityville Murders.” It was a dud, but a strange one, turning to the supernatural as a way to explain mental illness and moral dissolve, with Farrands attempting to make a ghost story in a way, with hopes to approach well-worn material from a different, fictional perspective. Feeling good about his creative choices, Farrands does the same thing for the Tate Murders, reimagining a mass murder as some type of elongated descent into nightmares and premonitions, depicting Sharon Tate as somewhat aware of her horrible fate. Distasteful doesn’t even begin to describe “The Haunting of Sharon Tate,” with Farrands going the B-movie route with a delicate situation of death, toying with the details of the case to manufacture yet another crime tale situated deep in the cartoony unknown.

In 1969, Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff) has arrived at the Hollywood Hills home she shares with her husband, Roman Polanski, who’s away tending to his directorial career. Sharon is pregnant, ready to give birth soon, and she relies on her friend, Jay (Jonathan Bennett), for comfort, settling into the house, which has been cared for by Abigail (Lydia Hearst) and Wojciech (Pawel Szajda), with the couple staying during this time of transition. Sharon tries to remain positive about the relocation, but she’s troubled by visions of a massacre happening inside her dwelling, with Charlie Manson (Ben Mellish) and his “Family” storming the compound, slaughtering all inside. Wrestling with her fate and fears of Manson’s menace, which arrives early through music recordings, Sharon teeters on madness, aware that something horrible is coming for her.

“The Haunting of Sharon Tate” opens with an Edgar Allan Poe quote and interview time with the young actress (as portrayed by Duff), who describes a nightmare where she’s murdered along with Jay, filling her with a sense of finality she can’t decode. The story jumps forward a year to Sharon’s arrival at 10050 Cielo Drive, her new home with Polanski, which represents a fresh start with the philandering director, bringing a baby into a problematic relationship, putting down roots in Los Angeles. The future isn’t bright for the actress, but she’s ready to settle in, keeping Jay around for support while dealing with Abigail and Wojciech, two housesitters who’ve overstayed their welcome, interfering with their friend’s hope for quiet reflection on the challenges ahead. The essentials of the Tate Murders are established, but Farrands soon indulges his own interests, emphasizing Sharon’s dalliances with the Other Side, including participating in an off-brand game of Ouija, with her death foretold by plastic and a steel ball.

Expectations are set for Manson’s arrival and brutality to begin, and Farrands does indulge such barbarity, but he does so through dreamscape freak-outs, with Sharon experiencing the lurid details of her death during sleep, jolted awake by such visions. “The Haunting of Sharon Tate” pulls this trick multiple times, developing repetition, which only manages to diminish any possible fear factor. A single usage of such misdirection is already abusive, but Farrands doesn’t have anything new to bring to the saga of Sharon Tate, once again going the mysticism route to invent challenges to sanity. Minor subplots are tended to along the way, including Sharon’s flirtation with Steven (Ryan Cargill), a teenage caretaker (and conspiracy theorist) living on the property, and her obsession with fate and reincarnation, marching her down a spiritual path she doesn’t immediately understand.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation offers an appealing level of detail on faces in the feature, with pained looks and period make-up on full display. Textures are also found on costuming, which enjoy 1960's fabrics, and house interiors are clear enough for study. Property tours as well. Colors deliver expected stability, with interiors favoring orange and green, and clothing offering a contrast of Tate's pinkish style and Manson Family browns. Delineation is adequate. Compression issues arrive during some evening encounters, finding banding periodically coming into view.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix secures dialogue exchanges, which remain crisp and emotive. Scoring is commanding, with a cooler synth presence that delivers some low-end swells for suspense purposes. Surrounds aren't excitable, but atmospherics are acceptable, contributing to the expanse of outdoor encounters.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features writer/director Daniel Farrands.

• "Premonitions" (14:01, HD) is the making-of for "The Haunting of Sharon Tate," offering interviews with the cast as they attempt to justify their appearances in the film. Story is recounted and perspective is offered, with the interviewees sharing their interest in the "survival" angle of the feature. Personal research is recounted, and cast camaraderie is detailed, with Hilary Duff and Jonathan Bennett longtime friends. Some discussion of violence is offered, but nothing in-depth, with more time devoted to freezing shooting conditions and praise for Farrands who, curiously, is only seen from afar once in the featurette.

• A Theatrical Trailer has not been included.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's no need for "The Haunting of Sharon Tate," which is nonsensical and exploitative, especially with a climax that strives to inject some degree of hope into a grim situation of survival, with Farrands presenting one final fake-out in a desperate effort to add some surprise to a movie that demands more facts than fantasy. After two releases in 2019 that basically strive to send the same message of magical influence, Farrands is not the guy to be tackling such true crime tales, taking the subgenre out of bounds, inventing alt-realities instead of dealing directly with the facts. It's a dangerous game, and one he doesn't play very well, armed only with low-budget filmmaking tools and Duff, who obviously wants to stretch as an actress (also taking a producer role), but doesn't make the smartest career move, participating in a picture that stops just short of lampooning the Tate Murders.