Cult movies & docuseries worth watching
As a scholar of marketing and religion and the author of Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, I’ve watched more cult documentaries than I can count. (I’ve also read a lot of books, but that’s for another post.)
As streaming services proliferated, so did the need for content. Cults are catnip for a certain audience (including me), but over time the quality has gotten, well, variable. Bring Me the Beauties on HBO Max, for example, introduced me to a cult I had not heard of before but left me wondering why anyone would follow the leader who in archival footage came off as bizarre rather than charismatic. Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult was not my favorite. I didn’t think it was possible to make a boring documentary about a cult, but these filmmakers proved me wrong. You can also avoid Cult of Fear. I’m even in that one, and I think it’s just God awful.
In the service of saving you time while making the most of your cult fixation, here are my recommendations for the best cult documentaries. I have provided a link if they are free to watch. Otherwise, I have provided information about the streaming service they are on.
Waco: Rules of Engagement: I have used this documentary in my class to teach how media outlets frame a message. This documentary uses original footage showing how the government turned this into such a horrific disaster and how little reporters or the government understand religion.
The Vow (HBO Max): The documentary series that introduced a lot of us to the NXIVM cult led by Keith Raniere in Albany, NY. The series provides Raniere’s history as a huckster and his ultimate takedown through the work of Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames (who now host the podcast A Little Bit Culty) and Mark Vicente, director of the New Age film, What the Bleep Do We Know. Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (Starz)is also good, while focusing more on India Oxenberg who became a devoted cult member.
The story of Ruby Franke and her family became shocking headline news when one of her sons appeared at the doorstep of a neighbor obviously abused and utterly emaciated. A slew of docuseries followed trying to understand how a mother could so neglect her children. Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin & Influence (HBO Max), Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (Hulu) and Evil Influencer (Netflix). These cover a lot of the same information so choose whichever one you have access to. You’ll get the idea. This story brings two important ideas to light: 1) how performative the social media space is, and 2) cults can exist with only 2 people.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (Amazon Prime): Like Ruby Franke, what appears on camera is a far cry from what is going on behind the scenes. This program introduced people to the fundamentalist philosophy—the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP)—behind this overly large family. Personally, I would have liked to see TLC called out a bit more for their part in normalizing this practice. (I co-edited a book called Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism, if you are interested in digging deeper into this topic.)
Escaping Twin Flames (Netflix) and Desperately Seeking Soul Mate (Amazon Prime): These were fairly similar, so you’d be fine watching either one of these docuseries about a cult that purports to find one’s soulmate. The manipulation and gender issues are particularly disturbing. After watching one or both of these, I highly recommend watching this follow up report for CTV called We’re Not a Cult: Inside Twin Flames Universe (YouTube). In it, the founders attempt (unsuccessfully) to fight back against accusations brought out by the documentaries.
Breath of Fire (HBO Max): I’m not a fan of yoga (I know, right?) but I found this documentary interesting because it was about a white woman as the head of a celebrity yoga cult. The docuseries presents the history of Kundalini yoga and the rise and fall of Guru Jagat. Another docuseries on this theme is Twisted Yoga (Apple TV). This presents how coercive mind control is used in the service of human trafficking across multiple countries.
The Deep End (Hulu): Teal Swan is an online influencer who reportedly claimed suicide was “a reset.” Swan is stunning with long, black hair and piercing blue eyes—no doubt something that contributed to her success. While Swan railed against the producers of this series, she never sued them, which suggests the content is legit.
The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin (HBO Max)is about The Weigh Down Diet that started in the 1990s. People are expected to focus on God instead of food in order to lose weight. I’m rewatching this now as background for my new book about the intersection of cults and the weight loss industry. It definitely stands up to a second viewing.
The Secrets of Hillsong (Hulu): Some people might say this shouldn’t be included on the list because Hillsong is a megachurch and not a cult. But Hillsong was not just any megachurch. It has all the trappings of a cult, including a young, charismatic leader and numerous power abuses related to labor, sex, and money. They even said the quiet part out loud: They told people to their face they would be accepted into the church because they wanted their money. They weren’t saying the same things behind their backs.
Brandy Hellville: The Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO Max): This documentary presents the quintessential extreme brand cult. Most brand cults, like Apple or Harley Davidson, don’t fundamentally take over your life. Not so for the people who work for teen brand, Brandy Melville. I use this example in my public talks all the time. (Let me note here that Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel is a quintessential example of trying to use the language of cult to sell a program. There is nothing in this episode that raises American Apparel to the level of a cult.)
The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping (Netflix): Paris Hilton has done yeoman’s work in trying to expose the “troubled teen” industry. This series looks at a one such institution, directed by someone who lived it.
SCIENTOLOGY: For this, I recommend Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (HBO Max) and Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. While this originally appeared on A&E, it is now available for free on Tubi.
JONESTOWN: Like Scientology, a lot of stories from multiple perspectives have been presented about this granddaddy of cults. It is important to be aware that some of these have the actual audio of what happened in Guyana, which can be particularly disturbing to listen to. Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People’s Temple was produced by PBS and has additional information available here. CNN’s report Surviving a cult: How 30 people escaped the Jim Jones murder-suicide is available on YouTube. Trigger warning: this one has the original audio in it.
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I’m sure there are other documentaries that I have not included here, like Love has Won: The Cult of Mother God and The Synanon Fix, but for me these didn’t rise to the level of engaging filmmaking. I also didn’t include Secret Lives of Mormon Lives, because I just couldn’t watch it—and as a media studies professor, I’ve had to watch A LOT of bad television.
There are a lot of other great cult documentaries I didn’t cover but I stopped because this is already getting too long. If you would like more recommendations, let me know.