The Manson Massacre
1971 film directed by Albert Zugsmith
The Manson Massacre is a 1972 sexploitation horror film directed by Kentucky Jones and starring MaKee K. Blaisdell and Debbie Osborne. It is based on Charles Manson and the murders perpetrated under his influence in California in 1969. The film was originally released as The Cult, re-released as The Manson Massacre in 1976, again in 1980 as House of Bondage.
Premise
The film follows the charismatic leader of a religious cult, Invar, who coerces a group of women into committing murders via coercion, beatings, and sexual games.
Cast
MaKee Blaisdell as Invar
Debbie Osborne as Nana
Sean Kenney
Candice Roman
John Vincent
Cindy Barnett
Vicki Peters
Robert Warner
Fern Tom
Tom Welch
Barbara Mills
Ingrid Moore
Release
The Manson Massacre was originally released under the title The Cult in 1972, and used advertising materials that downplayed its association with the Manson murders; a trade advertisement characterized the film as "so close to the Manson story... it's scary!" The film screened in March 1972 in Clovis, New Mexico, as a double bill with The Brazen Women of Balzac.
It later was released as The Manson Massacre in the summer and fall of 1976, with screenings beginning in Boston on August 4, 1976. It was subsequently released September 3, 1976 at various theaters and drive-ins in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. At some drive-ins, the film was paired as a double bill with Tender Flesh, and as a triple bill with Twitch of the Death Nerve and Psychic Killer. The film opened in Los Angeles on October 22, 1976.
The public source identifies “The Manson Massacre” as 1971 film directed by Albert Zugsmith. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Manson, Massacre and film.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q56241183. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 1969, 1976 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Manson Massacre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.