‘Cult’ Classics: Best Documentaries Now Streaming About New Religious Movements
From “Love Has Won.” Photograph courtesy of HBO
There’s no denying the popularity of true crime media in the non-fiction genre. In addition to shows and novels, true crime makes up a massive portion of the podcast market and fuels content creation on social media.
Though there are more than a few ethical concerns that come with recounting the most gruesome details of crimes for a rapt audience, demand for this type of content is high — and there’s no shortage of it.
Even within the genre, a subset of documentaries exploring cults in many of its forms has emerged over the past few years. Some recount the horrors from groups that thrived decades ago, while others are made seemingly as a warning not to get involved in groups that are currently active.
In many cases, they’re important chronicles of history and markers of harmful behavior within religious groups.
Here are some of the most popular cult documentaries currently streaming:
‘Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God’
Amy Carlson, who ran the “Love Has Won” cult, believed she was a reincarnated spiritual leader and a messiah for a new age. She believed she had the ability to channel dozens of celebrities and political leaders, while attracting people to her with the ability to “heal” them of past wounds.
Her beliefs became more bizarre and harmful, to herself and others. Before her death, she drank so much colloidal silver her skin began to turn blue, and her followers kept her corpse for 12 days because of an unfulfilled prophecy she’d preached.
This three-part series explores her rise to power and the ultimate downfall of “Love Has Won.”
“Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God” is now streaming on Max.
‘Escaping Twin Flames’ and ‘Desperately Seeking Soulmate’
These two documentaries from Netflix and Amazon, respectively, that were released last fall. They both explore the Twin Flames Universe, a cult who promises all its members they’ll be able to find their soulmate within the group.
“Desperately Seeking Soulmate” was based on reporting from a 2020 Vanity Fair feature; journalist Alice Hines is to date the only journalist who’s met leaders Jeff and Shaleia Ayan in person.
They charged money for classes, but soon began encouraging harmful behavior like stalking because it’s your twin flame and meant to be. There have even been allegations of Jeff and Shaleia pressuring gender reassignment to create male and female “twin flame” pairs. Jeff has gone so far as to claim that he himself is God.
“Escaping Twin Flames” is now streaming on Netflix. “Desperately Seeking Soulmate” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
‘Daughters of the Cult’
Mormon Ervil LeBaron was the leader of the Church of the First Born Lamb of God, a fundamentalist sect of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.
LeBaron believed in blood atonement, a doctrine not practiced by the LDS church at large that advocates for the murder of those who have sinned too greatly to be forgiven through any way but sacrifice.
“Daughters of the Cult” is told through his two daughters, Anna and Celia, who grew up indoctrinated and are now reckoning with the harm they were forced to be part of.
“Daughters of the Cult” is now streaming on Hulu.
‘How to Become a Cult Leader’
Lighter in tone than the rest of these picks, “How to Become a Cult Leader” is more of an anthology series than anything.
Each of its six episodes, narrated by Peter Dinklage, focuses on a behavior to enforce within a cult — “Promise Eternity,” “Control Your Image” and “Become Immortal,” to name a few — and provides specific examples from throughout history.
“How to Become a Cult Leader” is now streaming on Netflix.
‘Stolen Youth: The Cult of Sarah Lawrence’
This three-part docu-series “Stolen Youth: The Cult of Sarah Lawrence” wouldn’t exist without a 2019 feature that first exposed Larry Ray for his years-long manipulation of his daughter and several others in her circle and beyond.
After being released from prison in 2010, Ray moved in with his daughter Talia and her seven roommates on the Sarah Lawrence campus. He began as a caring, motivating and fun authority figure for the group, but their relationships quickly devolved.
He pressured them into revealing dark secrets — connecting everything back to childhood trauma, real or not — invaded their sex lives, demanded money from them and isolated them from their families and the rest of the world.
In January 2023, Ray was sentenced to 60 years in prison for charges including sex trafficking, racketeering and extortion.
“Stolen Youth” is now streaming on Hulu.
‘Let Us Prey’
“Let Us Prey,” originally released on Investigation Discovery, exposes years of abuse within the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. It uses reporting from Sarah Smith at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who initially investigated over 400 allegations.
The abuse ranges from grooming to physical and emotional abuse of all kinds. Victims describe being starved, locked away and forced to endure cruel punishments — like eating their own vomit.
“Let Us Prey” is now streaming on Max.
These picks only just scratch the surface of available cult documentaries from the past few years.
For more, check out these documentaries, many of which we’ve written about at Religion Unplugged.
“Shiny Happy People”: The Duggars, once TV stars for their TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” but for years the family has been under controversy for a handful of public scandals. “Shiny Happy People” unpacks these scandals as well as patriarch Jim Bob Duggar’s connections to the harmful fundamentalist non-profit Institute of Basic Life Principles. We reviewed the documentary and former Religion Unplugged executive editor Paul Glader wrote about his own experience inside IBLP.
“Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey”: We interviewed director Rachel Dretzin about this four-part documentary detailing the harrowing abuse inside the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the hands of Warren Jeffs. Told primarily through the stories of ex-FLDS members, the documentary avoids sensationalism that often accompanies retellings of Jeffs’ actions.
“In the Name of God”: This Netflix docuseries exposes an ecosystem of cults in South Korea who prioritize evangelizing and often prey on young students who don’t have communities of their own. Esther Ku, a comedian who grew up in one of these cults, spoke to Religion Unplugged about her experiences.
“Sins of Our Mother”: Lori Vallow, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, believed she had a personal and spiritual relationship with God that allowed her to speak with angels. Her beliefs ultimately resulted in the murder of her two children, her first husband and her lover’s wife.
“Our Father”: In the 1970s and ‘80s, church elder and family man Donald Cline was regarded as one of the best fertility doctors in the business. By the time “Our Father” released on Netflix in 2022, it had been proven that Cline had nonconsensually inseminated patients with his own sperm and fathered 94 children. He was later found to have been involved with the Quiverfull sect of Christianity, which believes having a large family is the most important biblical instruction for Christians to follow.
“The Secrets of Hillsong” and “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed”: A series of scandals and harmful behavior has been reported from the global network of Hillsong churches over the past several years, these two documentaries detail allegations of sexual assault, racism, theft, abuse of prescription medication and more. We previously wrote about “The Secrets of Hillsong” here.
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more. Find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.