TEHRAN- The Cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) will screen American film director Errol Morris’ 2025 documentary film “CHAOS: The Manson Murders” on Sunday.

Iranian film critic Fatemeh Shahbandeh will attend a screening of the film followed by a review session.

“CHAOS: The Manson Murders” is an adaptation of the 2019 nonfiction book “CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties”, authored by investigative journalist Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring. 

This documentary explores the infamous Manson murders through a lens of deep investigation, aiming to uncover hidden truths and challenge conventional narratives surrounding one of America's most notorious crimes.

In an interview published by Screen International in December 2023, Morris revealed that after completing his then-upcoming film “The Pigeon Tunnel”, he planned to begin production on the Manson documentary for Netflix. By late January 2025, Netflix officially listed the film under the title “CHAOS: The Manson Murders”.

The film had its world premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City during the Documentary Fortnight series on March 6, 2025. It was subsequently released globally on Netflix on March 7, 2025, making it accessible to a wide audience interested in true crime and historical investigations.

Critical reception to “CHAOS” has been mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 56 percent approval rating based on 34 critic reviews, with the consensus noting that while the documentary attempts to untangle numerous threads surrounding the Manson case, it ultimately emphasizes the enduring fascination with the murders rather than providing definitive answers. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews from critics.

Among the critics, The New York Times’s Alissa Wilkinson found the film compelling, highlighting how Morris shifted focus from the murders themselves to the psychological and manipulative aspects of Charles Manson’s influence over his followers. Wilkinson, however, expressed some disappointment that the film adhered to what she described as the "now-established Netflix true crime style," implying a certain formulaic approach.

Conversely, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the documentary for its pacing and storytelling approach. He described the film as "a story about the need for stories when it comes to explaining the unexplainable," lamenting that Morris’s approach resulted in a somewhat dull presentation with 45 minutes of "bland regurgitation." 

Charles Manson was a notorious American cult leader and convicted murderer. Born in 1934, Manson was a charismatic figure who led a cult-like group known as the Manson Family in the late 1960s. The group was responsible for a series of brutal and shocking murders, including the deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others in 1969. Manson's ideology, a twisted mix of counterculture ideals and racist hatred, led to the brutal killings. He was arrested in 1969 and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty in 1972. Manson died in prison in 2017.

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