Midnight Horror Review: The Haunting of Sharon Tate

This year marks the fifty anniversary of mass murders that were committed by the Manson Family. And, of course, Hollywood is going to make new Manson-themed movies, including Once Upon A Time In Hollywood from director Quentin Tarantino (though it's only a subplot) and the horror flick The Haunting of Sharon Tate (R; $21.99; 95 minutes).

Written & directed by Daniel Farrands, The Haunting of Sharon Tate stars Hilary Duff (Yep, Lizzie McQuire!) as pregnant actress Sharon Tate who had a premonition dream involving the death of her friends and herself. With her husband, Roman Polanski, directing a movie in another country, Sharon's friend (and former lover) Jay Sebring (played by Jonathan Bennett), screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski (played by Pawel Szajda) and his lover Abigail Folger (played by Lydia Hearst) are looking after Sharon at her rented Los Angeles home.

Sharon has disturbing visions of a man named "Charles." Her friends try to console her, but it doesn't help a bit as she keeps having more detailed premonitions of three strangers breaking into the house and brutally murdering them. She must use her sixth sense to save their lives and change history.

Blu-ray Special Features include:

Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Daniel Farrands
Premonitions: The Haunting of Sharon Tate

Final Thoughts

It was pretty obvious by the title that this film is nothing more than a filmmaker trying to make a little bit of cash off of the 50th anniversary of the Tate murders. Instead of a dramatization of the actual events, writer-director Daniel Farrands decided to go the horror route with a supernatural twist, which is loosely based on the real Sharon Tate's dream that she'd mentioned in an interview prior to her murder in 1969. With a cleverly written script and a good director, the premise could have been interesting, but instead what we get is a poorly made exploitation film that is too similar to 2016's Wolves at the Door.

I'm not for sure whose bright idea was it to cast Hilary Duff as Sharon Tate, but they must have done it as a joke, as she gives a horrible performance! The rest of the cast is just as bad with Jonathan Bennett being the worst. The dialogue is cringeworthy, the cinematography is terrible, and the directing is awful.

This dumb film actually won three awards at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. I have no idea how a film like this won an award, let alone three!

Overall, The Haunting of Sharon Tate is hands down the absolute worst horror film ever made!!! Don't waste your time watching it!