Manson Exploitation 2 – The (Love) Cult Together Girls of The Manson Massacre

9-11-71, York, PA

Get ready for a massive ad-a-rama! In Sordid-Vision!

Although The Other Side of Madness was the first direct Manson-sploitation planned during the trails, the “Kentucky Jones” film The Cult was seriously the first Up-Chucked flick (possibly!) out of the gate while the Wade Williams flick took time and possibly had some problems in getting it released. Unlike the planned-out (but still kind of cheap) Wade Williams production, this one cut right to the chase by focusing on a group of women that was based on the Manson Girls but not a dramatic presentation of the news. That’s the way to really do it – point the camera, shoot, go freaky, and be done with it!

Clovis, New Mexico, 3-22-72

Duffy Films, a small sub-division of Maron (as in Mel Maron), unleashed this flick in quick time around Mid-1971 which played in any theater or Drive in that would carry such a film among heavy competition. According to reports, including the one linked below, this opened in Philadelphia on 2-26-71, about a month after the main part of the case was being wrapped up…that’s pre-Squeaky/Ford, pre-keeping Manson alive after the the Death Sentence ruled unconstitutional, pre-Parole Hearings, pre-Willett death findings, pre-everything else you care to mention. That’s also pre-all of the other titles of this film!

Somehow, with such a big story to exploit, this trend died very quickly. The only drawback to these films was what I could think as a public burn-out of the whole Manson case which was serious front page news for at least two years, leading to a serious lack of success for these films before the Helter Skelter TV movie sparked the interest once again while interest in Hardcore was starting to rise thanks to the media and the controversy surrounding it. Another quickly thrown together Manson-sploitation film called The Slaughter, made by Michael and Robert Findlay was also branded X in March of 1971 and a small release of Sweet Savior did not exactly re-start Troy Donahue’s career after it’s Sept. 1971 X-branding, while this film went into another company’s hands by 1973 knowing that at least the girls are a major focus to promote.

The only true success out of this bunch, the classic Manson Documentary, will be examined later on.

4-7-72 saw The Cult make an appearance at the Monroe with the Low Loop Price. Then…

4-21-72…a little “Love” was thrown in for it’s suburban DI and B-screen run in the same area. “They will never notice” and possibly didn’t! A month before, this title made the rounds in Atlanta.

Another Chicago ad with a more obvious hint that it night have played somewhere in the area a couple of weeks back.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh in 1973…

3-2-73 – Two years after The Cult’s opening in Philadelphia, that familiar image showed up again in the Pittsburgh area, this time under the Together Girls title. Again, I don’t think anyone took notice

3-30-73, Mansfield, OH – the least effective ad in the series.

It’s possibly round this time that Howard Mahler got a hold of the film, still with the X Rating. In the Midwest, this usually got paired with Scandal in Denmark.

Uniontown, PA, 2-28-73

Indiana, PA, 4-4-73

Follansbee, West Virginia, 4-2-73

4-12-74, this one with the Howard Mahler-distributed film Threesome.

5-25-74, Beckly, West Virginia, this one with Jess Franco’s Bloody Judge as Night of the Blood Monster!

7-5-74, Piqua, OH, this time with Love Times Three, a UIP release possibly also handled by Mahler

10-12-74, a more fitting double bill with Jess Franco’s Nunsploitation epic The Demons (another Mahler release, later aka She Demons!) and the re-title of Max Pecas’ Libido: The Urge to Love (Mahler release).

10-25-74, Bennington, Vermont

In 1975, all was quiet on the Mansonploitation front, but then as quick as you can say “LOOK OUT!!!”…

8-6-76, Pittsburgh…hey, those girls look very together and very familiar…All New? RIIIIGHT!

The Manson Massacre was the title promoted by Hallmark, the company that was behind The Last House on the Left and other Exploitation classics of the 70’s, with a little help by Allied Artists. With true gusto, this film was hyped in the biggest way after the showing of the classic Helter Skelter TV movie, making this the final run for this flick. This time, it was safe to bring out Ivor…although he’s still no Steve Railsback!

10-1-76, Detroit, the same day as Snuff played for the second time in the year, this time with a fake R in the ad (possibly to get that Detroit News advertising!)

10-1-76, Chicago…reportedly Allied Artists was the Canadian distributor, but obviously it got the film in the Windy City!

I’ll just leave this here…

10-1-76, Spokane…at last, truth in advertising!!!

10-8-76, Terre Haute, Indiana with The Hooked Generation!!!

10-16-76, New Philadelphia OH

10-22-76, LaCrosse – again with the 1968 Hooked Generation!

10-26-76, Ottawa, getting ready to shot the DI for the winter after this!

11-5-76, Toledo!!! (hey, it’s my area of the map!)

12-3-76, Monroe, Louisiana

10-15-77, Burlington, NC

And that’s possibly all for now! WHEW!

For more on this, read up on this article…

http://templeofschlock.blogspot.com/2009/03/lost-and-still-not-found-case-file-26.html

~ by screen13 on December 15, 2015.