I had high hopes for this one. A stop action animated film about the Manson murders? Hell yes. Unfortunately after 10 minutes you realize that the creative forces behind this film bit off far too much for them to chew. I have a basic sense of what Mr. Roecker was striving for, and it's a shame that the richness of the ideas didn't have a chance to be properly realized here. The concept that history isn't always what happened, but how people perceive what happened is an important and mind-blowing concept to lot's of folks – however, I doubt many will walk away from "Live Freaky…" with much more than a headache and a strong sense of wasting 75 minutes. The "outrageous shockiness" of seeing puppets do things that puppets normally don't do on screen wears off after the scene in which Charlie is introduced, the songs sound like they were written during the car ride to the recording session, and the voice acting is atrocious. I can't totally blame the actors, though. The script could have used some serious editing.Very disappointing, considering the caliber of the folks involved with this project.

I loved it! Maybe I have a twisted, weird, sick sense of humor...but damn, I thought this movie was funny. Disturbing, but funny. (Davey Havok and Mike Dirnt are especially hilarious, in my opinion.)Now, don't get me wrong. I also saw past the dark, sarcastic and absurd humor, and actually thought that this movie was brilliant. Cut out the sex scenes (and the rabbit intestines spilled on the street) and it could have been shown in schools for its educational value. No, really. Since most of the people who commented on this movie are Green Day fans, I assume you're familiar with the line "Question everything". Right? Good; because it's exactly what Live Freaky! Die Freaky! is telling you to do, by making a caricature to show the absurdity of the Charles Manson cult...and of many other things, as you'll see.I'd gladly give Live Freaky! Die Freaky! a 10/10...if it wasn't for the fact that the first "puppet sex" scene will haunt me forever. So 9/10, ha. Anyways. Watch it. Order it on Amazon.com, because it's totally worth it. Some will love it just like I did...and some will hate it. But it's the kind of movie that will make you think and react, no matter how much you liked (or didn't like) it. Wasn't that precisely the point?

I saw this tonight at a mid-night show at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX. The theater was about half full, and had a good mix of Austinites (from mall-punk kids to grad students to grunge slackers, yay Austin!). All told, I think the theater laughed out loud twice during the entire film. If a midnight movie crowd in Austin isn't moved, then I don't know who would find this film amusing. Even more disconcerting than the images on the screen was the silence in the theater during this unfunny film.The filmmakers try so hard to be offensive, but along the way they forgot to check if it was actually funny. And after hearing twenty-five variations for "c0ck", "p0le", "meat drapes","hatchet wound", "a$shole","anus", etc the movie stops being funny or offensive, and merely turns into a painful joke that goes on for too long, until the point that you feel sorry for the person telling it.

I saw a midnight screening of this movie in Chicago last night, and had to fight very hard to stay awake. The idea of a remarkably vulgar stop motion musical about Charles Manson isn't such a bad one in and of itself, and there's about a ten minute stretch after the opening sequence that's really quite funny. However, once the novelty of seeing explicit puppet sex wears off, it's not shocking, it's not offensive, it's not subversive, and and it's not funny - it's just boring, and there's a good hour left to go. Once you've established that the real agenda is to shock and offend by any means necessary, it's hard to find anything really offensive. One or two of the songs is kinda catchy, in that "here's a show tune written by the drama teacher from the local high school," Guffman-esquire sort of way, but most are instantly forgettable. About the only thing to break the monotony of puppets trying their hardest to be shocking and offensive is when they take breaks to let Charlie do some ranting - and then it's even more boring. The movie even jokes about how dull Manson's rants would get, but makes you sit through them anyway. The live action sequences from the 31st century at the beginning and end seem pointless - could the guy in them even read in the first place? Would he sit through all of Helter Skelter if he could? I'm not sure which kind of people are going to get a thrill out of this - some might see Manson's scenes and feel really rebellious, like they're questioning authority and "seeing something they don't WANT me to see." Who's the "they," exactly, that would find this so threatening? While there's a segment of the population that will always be ready to object to people seeing violent and/or naked puppets, you can disturb those people just as much by watching CNN - and that would be a much better way to spend your time than watching puppets try to offend you.