Charles Manson and his followers were behind one of the most gruesome murders in Hollywood, and a new Netflix documentary, Chaos: The Manson Murders, will give viewers a closer look at the crime. True crime enthusiasts are curious about the premiere date, the trailer and more.

When Does ‘Chaos: The Manson Murders’ Premiere?

The grisly documentary lands on Netflix on March 7, 2025.

What Is ‘Chaos: The Manson Murders’ About?

Chaos: The Manson Murders isn’t the first documentary to tackle the story of Charles Manson and the murder of Sharon Tate in 1969. However, most of the documentaries take a straight-forward look at the crime, going into detail about how Manson lured his followers in and what led to the eventual murder of a pregnant Hollywood starlet. Chaos takes a different route. It’s based on the 2019 book CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring.

“In a new documentary, director Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Gates of Heaven, Wormwood) delves into the shadowy and complex narrative of the Manson family murders, challenging the official accounts of the most infamous killing spree of the 1960s. CHAOS: The Manson Murders, premiering on March 7, explores the darkest corners of recent history, casting light on newly revealed links between the CIA, LSD, Charles Manson, and the likes of Jack Ruby and Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor whose 1974 bestseller Helter Skelter chronicled the Manson trial,” a description from Tudum read.

In the trailer for Chaos, author Tom O’Neill’s voice can be heard saying, “It’s one of the scariest true stories out there. An eight-and-a-half-month pregnant beautiful woman getting stabbed to death. Manson was able to gain control of his followers. He could get them to go out and kill on demand without remorse.”

O’Neill continued, “How did he learn how to brainwash those kids and turn them into monsters?”

Stephen Kay, who worked alongside Vincent Bugliosi as a prosecutor in Manson’s trial, was also featured in the trailer. He claimed that Manson was “on LSD” and “preaching all the time.” A few of the things Manson spoke about were race wars and how “murder was OK,” according to Kay.

Director Errol Morris Dives Into Charles Manson Conspiracy Theories

In Chaos, Morris pulled at threads that seemingly connect Manson to the likes of the CIA and whispered theories of MKULTRA, a rumored program created by the government that studied mind control that was typically spoken about in the same conversations as those that believe in aliens and Area 51. During a February 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Morris described the documentary as “a strange, surreal excursion into some no man’s land of investigation.”

“I’ve probably read [Chaos] more times than I would like to admit,” Morris told the publication. “Reading Tom’s book, knowing Tom, and interviewing Tom has been an experience in and of itself. It’s a very odd thing to say but true: Tom’s book has caused me to reflect on the nature of investigations and the nature of truth.”