The critics’ view – Marilyn Manson: Unmasked

Huge congratulations to Karen McGann on a slew of great reviews in the press for her chilling three-part documentary series Marilyn Manson: Unmasked which has been screening on Channel 4 this week. The final episode airs on the channel at 10:00pm tonight, while the whole series is available to stream on catch-up here.

‘Marilyn Manson: Unmasked’ is a meticulously assembled three-part account of the shock-rock musician’s career and what was allegedly happening behind the scenes. Beyond setting out the timelines and testimonies that must form the spine of this kind of documentary, it teases out the question of how able people should have been to distinguish between performative transgressions designed to shock (and build the notoriety upon which his career depended) and a man hiding terrible proclivities in plain sight.

Lucy Mangan, The Guardian ★ ★ ★ ★

With legal battles still ongoing, ‘Unmasked’ can’t provide definitive answers. But what it does is tell a depressingly familiar story of a man with too much power and too much protection allowed to exploit and abuse the women in his life. This isn’t just a documentary about Manson, but about the structures that allow men like him to do whatever they want – and apparently get away with it.

Emily Baker, The I ★ ★ ★ ★

A gruesome insight into music fandom and the undeniable appeal of Manson’s gimmicky goth play on lonely young people… Was he a genius who knew how to get attention with phoney fantasies, or a monster who used his grim persona to hide his misdeeds in plain sight?

Ben Dowell, The Times ★ ★ ★

Channel 4’s ‘Marilyn Manson: Unmasked’ makes for horrifying but essential viewing… Maybe after this documentary, the next time a rock star tells us they’re a monster, we’ll believe them. 

Roisin O'Connor, The Independent ★ ★ ★ ★