by MATTHEW HAYS

Talking to Jim Van Bebber is a bit eerie for the obvious reasons. His 15-years-in- the-making underground movie, The Manson Family, is finally getting released to strong critical reception. And Van Bebber knows a great deal about one of America's most notorious serial-killing cult leaders.

But timing is everything, and today is Dec. 9, but one day after a man identified as a "disgruntled fan" shot heavy metal star Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott dead on stage in Columbus, Ohio. The fan managed to kill three others before being shot himself. Van Bebber had directed videos for Pantera, the band Dimebag was once the guitarist for.

"Yeah, he was a friend. This is a bad day for rock and roll," sighs Van Bebber. "The worst since John Lennon was shot, I'd say."

It's a sad day to catch Van Bebber, who otherwise has been relieved of late to see his Manson feature finally hitting repertory screens around the world. The film once more revisits the gruesome case of Manson, the madman who led a commune of young people into a series of horrific murders.

Catching the Manson bug

Van Bebber says the Manson bug first hit him when he watched an '88 episode of Geraldo, the staple of trash tabloid TV. "They were really dusting off the case simply to grab ratings," Van Bebber recalls. "I was sickened by the way the media exploited it. Without any money in place, I dove right into making the film."

Van Bebber then did extensive research on the Manson Family. What intrigued him was that the landmark '70s book and made-for-TV movie Helter Skelter told the story entirely from the prosecutor's perspective. Van Bebber wanted to delve into the cult's story, employing a number of faux documentary techniques (cinéma vérité sequences as well as interviews with Family members).

The result is a highly effective take on the notorious string of murders and the events that led up to them. Van Bebber manages to capture the undeniable, maniacal charisma of Manson, a man who drew so many into an orgy of bloody carnage. "Definitely, there are clear reasons why people are still drawn to this case," says Van Bebber. "There's a Hollywood starlet murdered. There was free love and drugs, everything the '60s was supposed to hold out as promising turned upside down. When Manson actually speaks, he uses the rhetoric of Timothy Leary, but throws a homicidal monkey wrench into it." Van Bebber did not, however, talk to any of the Manson Family to research his script. "You really couldn't trust any of them. Immediately after the trial they all began to whitewash their own involvement in the murders in a desperate effort to get out of prison early. They all had wildly different stories."

This led Van Bebber to shoot multiple versions of the story within his film; one segment will portray the story subjectively from one perspective, cutting to another version and then back to what the filmmaker suspects really occurred.

Beyond Helter Skelter

Van Bebber did see the CBS made-for-TV remake of Helter Skelter in May. "I thought that they must have got their hands on a bootleg tape of my film," he says, laughing. "It was well done. They went into more depth in terms of what led up to the trial, not just the trial itself. It was as daring as you could get on network TV, but couldn't quite go the distance in terms of sex, drugs and violence, the way that I've been able to."

Van Bebber concedes the lengthy struggle he faced in terms of getting the film done and finding reliable financing led to personal strains in his own life. Things looked good in '97, when he presented a work-in-progress cut of The Manson Family at a then-fledgling Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal. The crowd ate it up.

But then there were more painful setbacks. After a particularly trying ordeal, in which a financier yanked the funding out from under Van Bebber's feet, the filmmaker says that "frayed nerves" led to a domestic dispute, one that landed him in county jail.

"That's really nobody's business," Van Bebber says, clearly a bit uncomfortable that it's being brought up. "That's all in the past now.

"Now I'm looking forward. And I'm really glad this film is getting out there, in the version that I wanted. I didn't have to compromise. I just wish it hadn't taken 15 years."

The Manson Family opens at Cinéma du Parc, Friday, Jan. 7

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