This August will mark 50 years since the murder of 26-year-old Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson Family, and to coincide with this somber anniversary, several projects depicting the late actress are currently on the horizon. The one you may have heard the most about is Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which features Margot Robbie in the role of Tate, but before that much-hyped crime drama reaches cinemas, Daniel Farrands’ The Haunting of Sharon Tate will see Hilary Duff offer her take on the title character.
The controversial flick will serve as a horror-themed reimagining of Tate’s last days, with the film’s new poster summing up Farrands’ contentious approach in the tagline: “Based on the story of Sharon Tate’s dreams and the Manson Family nightmare.” To elaborate, The Haunting is said to take inspiration from an actual quote from Tate published a year before her death, in which she recalls having dreams about ghosts haunting her house, with the implication being that she envisioned her own murder.
If the official poster and the previously released trailers are anything to go by, then the film will use this dubious basis as the set-up for what’s looking to be a pretty conventional horror movie, complete with jump-scares and a spooky tape that contains secret messages.
Needless to say, the film already has its share of detractors, including Sharon Tate’s own sister Debra Tate, who’s condemned it as “tasteless” despite also giving her blessing to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the Kate Bosworth-led Tate. Nonetheless, we’ll see if The Haunting of Sharon Tate can find its fans when it comes to theaters and VOD on April 5th, 2019.
