On paper, the premise of The Haunting of Sharon Tate suggests an ethically dubious take on the life of the late actress, and coming from the writer of Halloween 4 and The Amityville Murders, we’re not expecting a lot of tact in its execution, either. That being said, we can always hold out hope that Daniel Farrands and his team have the skill and the sensitivity to pull this thing off, and to be fair, this is a perfectly nice photo of Hilary Duff in the title role.
The film is said to offer a “reimagining” of Tate’s final days leading up to her murder at the hands of the Manson Family, taking inspiration from a quote published a year prior in which she recalled having dreams of ghosts haunting her house. Needless to say, to use this alleged premonition of death and the tragedy that followed as the basis for a psychological horror film is really walking on eggshells, and the accusations of exploitation have already hit this one, with Sharon Tate’s sister Debra Tate decrying the project as “tasteless.”
Haunting is just one of at least three upcoming films to portray the late actress. For another, Kate Bosworth is set to star in Tate, and this one actually got the approval of Debra Tate, who said that the feature is “telling her story as a woman aside from the murders.” But the one you’ve probably heard the most about is Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a work which sees Margot Robbie in the role, and which Debra Tate also gave her blessing to a few months ago.
We’ve yet to find out when The Haunting of Sharon Tate will be getting a release, but when it does, you can bet there’ll be backlash for this one.