Cult Documentaries
Documentaries about cults.
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- StarsMa Anand SheelaPhilip ToelkesJane StorkWhen Osho, the world's most controversial guru, builds an Utopian city deep in the Oregon country, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal.
- DirectorTim WolochatiukStarsTed BiggsStephan JonesVernon GosneyCult leader Jim Jones leads his followers to a mass-suicide.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsPowers BootheNed BeattyIrene CaraThe real-life story of the Peoples Temple cult led by Reverend Jim Jones and the events involving its move to Guyana and its eventual mass suicide.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsRebecca MooreJanet ShularTim CarterFeaturing never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
- DirectorRobert HendricksonStarsMary BrunnerBruce DavisLynette 'Squeaky' Fromme'Inside the MANSON Gang' The incredible behind the scenes, exclusive footage and true story of the most notorious white gang in American history, and the Trial of the 20th Century. Robert Hendrickson films the actual Charles Manson Family, over 35 years ago. This is a 25 year old filmmaker's personal journey as finally revealed decades later.
- DirectorRobert HendricksonLaurence MerrickStarsBobby BeausoleilMary BrunnerVincent BugliosiDocumentary on Charles Manson and his family. Has a number of insightful interviews with many family members most notably Squeaky and Sandy (Blue and Red). There is also a history of Manson from his birth to the family formation to the Tate/La Bianca murders. Plenty of footage of the family playing at Spahn Ranch.
- DirectorJames Buddy DayStarsCharles MansonBobby BeausoleilBarbara HoytMANSON: THE VOICE OF MADNESS is an explosive documentary that will change the conversation about CHARLES MANSON and the notorious "MANSON FAMILY" murders..
- DirectorOlivia KlausStarsPatricia KrenwinkelDot KrenwinkelCharles MansonLife After Manson is an intimate portrait of one of the world's most infamous crimes and notorious killers. An exclusive interview with Manson Family member Patricia Krenwinkel reveals an unlikely relationship with charismatic Charles Manson that led her to cross every line of moral consciousness, culminating in the brutal murders she committed to win approval of the man she loved. Life After Manson offers a provocative character study that exposes a broken woman struggling with her past, her arduous effort to evaluate the cost of her choices, and the possibility of self-forgiveness. Can society offer her the same, and even identify with a woman who took life only to lose her own in a desperate effort to find love?
- DirectorNikolas SchreckStarsCharles MansonNikolas SchreckZeena SchreckFor forty years, Charles Manson has survived most of his life in what he calls 'the hallways of the all ways,' the reform schools, jails and prisons that have been his home and tomb. His thought was born in the hole of solitary confinement, apart from time and beyond the grasp of society. In his cell, he created his own world and speaks his own language: he has concluded that there is only the mind. This DVD will relinquish to you the extreme story of the killer of all killers: Charles Manson. From convincing his followers to move into the desert to train for the apocalypse, to leading a murderous crew through a string of devilish murders, you will see and hear from Manson himself of how he created a preconceived terror based on his philosophy of life. Manson claims that the so-called 'straight' world outside of prison is but an inverted reflection of the underworld in which he has lived. To him, the reality that presidents and law-abiding citizens accept begins in the hermetic alternate universe of criminals, cons and outlaws. Much as simplistic historians have dismissed Hitler's 3rd Reich as the overcompensation of a failed artist, Manson's vision of a holy war has been generally categorized as nothing more than the jealous rage of a spurned musician.
- DirectorPeter BateStarsVincent BugliosiBruce DavisSandra GoodThe events of the night of August 9th, 1969 changed the face of the '60s. The brutal murders of starlet Sharon Tate and her friends shocked the world, and when the Manson Family murderers were found, flower-power culture came under the spotlight.
- DirectorMaria DemopoulosJodi WilleStarsAhom AquarianIsis AquarianDon BollesA charismatic leader founds a commune in Los Angeles in the early '70s based on natural food, spiritual practices and psychedelic rock. This short-lived era is recreated with archival material and the memories of participants.
- DirectorJohn SmithsonStarsHelen MirrenSylvia PadillaDebbie PadillaA family describes their time within a religious cult, one that perpetuated pedophilia, sexual abuse, and prostitution.
- DirectorNoah ThomsonStarsDavid BergRicky RodriguezJoey ThomsonA first-person account of growing up in an evangelical Christian cult.
- DirectorRosie JonesStarsSung Yun ChoLex de ManJordan Fraser-TrumbleAn incendiary, heartbreaking investigation into one of Australia's most notorious cults, and the scars its survivors still bear today.
- DirectorMia DonovanStarsBalavanta DasHridayananda Das GoswamiTed PatrickDeprogrammed chronicles Ted 'Black Lightning' Patrick's rise as the notorious 'Father of Deprogramming'.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsNick CaveElaine AndersonSam BrowerWhen Warren Jeffs rose to Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, he took control of a religion with a history of polygamous and underage marriage. In a short time, Warren managed to expand these practices and the power of his position in unprecedented ways. He bridged the gap between sister wives and ecclesiastical rape, befuddling the moral compass of his entire congregation. The film examines Warren Jeffs' life and shows how he became a worshiped and adored Prophet. Warren has a devout following numbering in the tens of thousands, many of whom would give their life at any moment with just one word from the Prophet. Despite a trail of abuse and ruined lives, Warren has maintained his grip on power.
- DirectorTyler MeasomJennilyn MertenStarsBruce BarlowDeloy BatemanMichelle BenwardAn inside look at former FLDS teens who have become religious refugees in mainstream America.
- DirectorSally HowellStarsBrent JeffsWarren JeffsRebekah SchmiererI Escaped a Cult talks to survivors of a polygamist breakaway Mormon sect (Warren Jeffs's FLDS) and a fundamentalist Christian community (Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps). They talk about the abuse they suffered at the hands of the cult and the problems they had in leaving it.
- DirectorWilliam GazeckiStarsDan GiffordJim CavanaughDick DeGuerinA reassessment of the tragedy at Waco that left 76 members of the Branch Davidian religious sect dead.
- DirectorBen AnthonyStarsAlex HannafordDanielle SayerEsther SayerMichael Travesser says he's the Messiah and that God has told him the world will end with an apocalyptic event at midnight on 31 October 2007. As leader of a cult in a remote corner of New Mexico called Strong City, this 66-year-old former sailor, previously called Wayne Bent, has spent nearly 20 years preparing his 56 unquestioning and devoted followers for Doomsday. They say they are all preparing for death, to go to a better place. As the programme delves into the world of Strong City, the program find out whether Michael Travesser is about to lead his cult to suicide. Will this be another tragedy like Jonestown or Waco? Or is Travesser just a skilful manipulator, who undermines his subjects before convincing them that he is the route to all wisdom? Our world did not come to an end on 31 October 2007 - but did theirs?
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsPaul HaggisJason BegheSpanky TaylorA documentary looking at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology.
- StarsLeah ReminiMike RinderMary KahnA series featuring stories from former members of the Church of Scientology whose lives have been affected by the Church's alleged harmful practices.
- DirectorJohn DowerStarsLouis TherouxTom CruiseMarty RathbunLouis Theroux documents his investigation into what goes on behind the scenes of the infamous Church of Scientology.
- DirectorSarah KernochanHoward SmithStarsAgnes BenjaminMarjoe GortnerVernon GortnerThis Oscar-winning documentary explores the life of one-time child evangelist and faith healer Marjoe Gortner. The son of professional evangelists, Gortner was preaching on the Southern tent-revival circuit by the age of 3.
- DirectorRena Mundo CroshereNadine MundoStarsRena Mundo CroshereNadine MundoIn 1970, 1,500 hippies and their guru Stephen Gaskin founded a commune in rural Tennessee. Members forked over their savings, grew their own food, delivered their babies at home and built a self-sufficient society. Raised in this alternative community by a Jewish mother from Beverly Hills and a Puerto Rican father from the Bronx, filmmakers and sisters Rena and Nadine return for the first time since leaving in 1985. Finally ready to face the past after years of hiding their upbringing, they chart the rise and fall of America's largest utopian socialist experiment and their own family tree. The nascent idealism of a community destroyed, in part, by its own success is reflected in the personal story of a family unit split apart by differences. American Commune finds inspiration in failure, humor in deprivation and, most surprisingly, that communal values are alive and well in the next generation.
- DirectorK. Ryan JonesStarsBill BuntenWarren CarterKelly FranzThe shocking story of Rev. Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church, those who oppose it, and those who chose to leave it all behind.
- DirectorOndi TimonerStarsRaymund MelzDeborah MelzJoaquin SullivanAward winning filmmaker, Ondi Timoner, follows four families as they leave an abusive church in South Carolina and realize they have been in a cult. The film documents them as they enter Wellspring, the only accredited, live-in cult treatment facility in the world, where they learn the true extent of the brainwashing they have all experienced. Eventually they return home to bring the Pastor and his wife to justice and try to begin to rebuild their damaged lives.
- DirectorTatsuya MoriStarsHiroshi ArakiAum Shinrikyo, the Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara and responsible for the 1995 Sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway, becomes the subject of this documentary.
- DirectorRobert StoneStarsRuss LittleMichael BortinTimothy FindleyThe story of the 1974 kidnap of teenage heiress Patty Hearst, which set off one of the most bizarre episodes in recent American history.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorEvangeline GriegoStarsAnna FlowersDaniel GarciaMarcyThe film examines the modern-day phenomenon of religious "intentional communities," or as they are often called, "cults." It takes as its focus "The Church," also known as "The Brotherhood," the 35-year-old ministry of shadowy messianic figure Jim Roberts. Since 1971, this secretive organization has recruited (hundreds) of adherents who live together in austere, separatist, communal groups, preaching salvation and damnation, and turning their backs on the outside world except when proselytizing for new members. They observe strict ascetic values and rigid standards of dress, presentation and gendered behavior, and live off of discarded food and other refuse. And they mutually reinforce the belief systems that brought them into the fold, including a focus on the narrow path to salvation, and obedience to the will of spiritual leader Roberts. The film examines this microcosmic society, and by implication, the "cult" phenomenon itself, with a rare insider's view. Featuring interviews with former group members, it implicitly reveals the sorts of stresses and spiritual longings that make outwardly average young people "ripe for the picking" by opportunistic outsiders. It also reveals the anguish of parents and loved ones left stunned and confused by the defection of their children and siblings, some of whom have been members of the Church for decades. We are present as parents groups, utter strangers brought together by a shared trauma, map the movements of the group from town to town, and compare notes about the lives their children lead, and about their own feelings of helplessness and despair. The film also brings us along as certain family members set out to find their loved ones through detective work and determination, leading to surprise confrontations and just as often to the group's immediate flight to new, secret quarters. In this way, the film traces the tenuous balance that families must strike between attempting to rescue their loved ones, with the psychological, emotional and tactical impediments that so often get in the way of reconciliation. The experience of the families, so close and yet so far, is poignantly and powerfully evoked by extensive surveillance footage and photography, showing Brothers and Sisters in their daily comings-and-goings, moving through the everyday world without seeming to be involved in it. Rare, candid footage of one parents' successful but brief rendezvous with her daughter, provides searingly painful evidence of the seeming hopelessness many of these bewildered families feel. Testimonials from ex-group members detail the tortuous processes by which some adherents regain their psychological independence, only then to have to face the world again, with all its strains - but sometimes, with greater strength than before.
- DirectorSamuel StefanNick OakleyStarsJim BerginUrs EschmannBetty Sue FlowersA film about cults and the the indomitable human soul.