Whether you’re a first time watcher or a veteran, there’s no denying it: cult documentaries are wildly fascinating. That’s probably why the genre — much like the meteoric rise of its cousin, true crime — has grown so rapidly in recent years. With new titles added to the lineup of best cult documentaries faster than you can stream them, it begs the question: why do we collectively flock to stories about cults?
There are a lot of theories out there. Amanda Montell, author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, explained to Teen Vogue that “historically speaking, people’s attraction to cults, both the tendency to join them and the anthropological fascination with them, tends to flourish during periods of larger existential questioning.” It’s during uncertain times — say, the sociopolitical, environmental, and economic climate we live in now — that people feel compelled to seek out answers and explore alternative ways of living. Pair that impulse with skyrocketing rates of loneliness and many cults’ promise of built-in community, and you’ve got an easy recipe for vulnerability and manipulation.
And it’s not only traditional, hierarchical cults that prey on this vulnerability today; for anyone who’s lost a family member or friend to the cult of conspiracy theories on platforms like Facebook and X, cult documentaries can offer a window into an all-too familiar psychology. For others, the draw is less personal. If you count yourself in the latter group, the best documentaries about cults might simply scratch your voyeuristic itch to see good intentions — which some of these groups do start out with — go bad.
Regardless of your fascination’s root, the best cult documentaries offer as much warning as they do spectacle. From utopian communes gone wrong to megalomaniacal leaders who cultivate truly out-there personal faiths, we’ve rounded up the best docuseries and documentaries that look into Heaven’s Gate, the Manson Family, the Branch Davidians, and more.
Note: Many of the documentaries on this list deal heavily with themes of suicide, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and religious trauma. Before streaming, understand whether any topics that could be triggering for you are present, and take care when watching.
1. Wild Wild Country (2018)
When it comes to cult documentaries, you’ll probably find Wild Wild Country mentioned in every list — and if you’ve dipped your toes in the esoteric pool of enlightenment gurus, you’ve probably heard the name Osho at least once. But before he was known as Osho, leader of the Rajneeshpuram cult, Bhagwan Shree Rajnesh allegedly started out with the goal of establishing a self-sustaining, independent commune in rural Oregon. Despite his surprisingly quick success, a series of escalating disagreements with the neighboring Christian town ultimately culminated in the first known bioterrorism attack in U.S. history — and that’s not even the whole story.
Streaming on Netflix.
2. Children of the Cult (2024)
Speaking of Wild Wild Country: Like a lot of us, Dutch director Maroesja Perizonius binged the wildly popular cult documentary when it came to Netflix. Unlike most of us, though, she was watching it through a very specific lens — as someone who grew up within that very cult. By the end of all six episodes, Perizonius noticed something missing: namely, herself, and the experiences of other children like her who’d survived Rajneeshpuram. In a statement made to a film festival platform, she said: “Imagine seeing a six-part documentary series about the cult that dominated your childhood. But the children weren’t mentioned at all.” Her 2024 documentary Children of the Cult aimed to correct that, addressing what Wild Wild County didn’t: child sexual abuse within Rajneeshpuram.
Streaming on Apple TV.
3. The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping (2024)
Part true crime, part cult documentary — if a line between the two even exists — the horrors at the heart of The Program are ones the wider zeitgeist was first exposed to via Paris Hilton. Hilton has gone on record about the abuse she experienced as a teen when kidnappers hired by her parents abducted her from bed, taking her to a boarding school for “troubled teens.” (In related news: The Stop International Child Abuse Act, which Hilton testified to Congress in support of, was signed into law in December.) Through fellow survivor and director Katherine Kubler, The Program tells the stories of other teens who, like Hilton, were subjected to this style of behavior-modification boarding school.
Streaming on Netflix.
4. Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult (2024)
When we first learned that 7M, the so-called “TikTok cult,” was the basis for a new cult documentary, we’ll admit it. We were skeptical. Leading up to the series’ release, there was little more than a name, a seemingly last-minute trailer, and some super-thin PR out there, despite the documentary being a Netflix vehicle. Ultimately, though, the enigmas gave way to a well-reviewed three-part series that exposes a still-inchoate subject: the vulnerabilities of young social media talent today, and those ready to prey on them.
Streaming on Netflix.
5. Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997)
Produced only four years after the intense, 51-day-long standoff in Waco between law enforcement and David Koresh’s Branch Davidian cult, this engrossing documentary tells the story of how things got out of hand, culminating in the deaths of Koresh, 76 of his followers, and four federal agents. Posing questions about cult legality, and when law enforcement intervention is justified, Waco: The Rules of Engagement is an engaging look into cult-led extremism and its very real consequences.
Streaming on Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV, and Google.
6. Secrets of Polygamy (2024)
This 10-part A&E series pulls back the curtain on multiple Mormon fundamentalist sects, including the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the Kingston clan (also called “the Order”), and the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). Outside of polygamy, what do these groups have in common? Per this investigative documentary: Underage marriages, financial exploitation, and a growing number of survivors who are speaking out. If you’ve already watched Keep Sweet, this docuseries will take you even further into the ecosystem that made it possible.
Streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
7. The Doomsday Cult of Antares de la Luz (2024)
A self-declared messiah, an off-grid community in Chile, and doomsday-driven religiosity are the starting ingredients of a story that spirals into violent, irreversible consequences. This Netflix cult documentary dives into the case of Ramón Castillo Gaete, the aforementioned self-appointed messiah known to his small group of followers as Antares de la Luz. Under the mantle of new-age philosophy and a belief in a fast-approaching apocalypse, he submitted followers to increasingly extreme demands that ultimately turned deadly. The documentary capturing those demands asks big questions about belief, power, and how people end up following someone like him.
Streaming on Netflix.
8. The Dark Money Game (2025)
What happens when billions of dollars in political influence flows with no paper trail? Call it the cult of corporatocracy. Call it an oligarchy. Whatever you call it, it’s happening in America today, as this two-part docuseries from Alex Gibney (of Going Clear fame) maps out. The Dark Money Game traces how corporate money and religious conservatism joined forces to reshape U.S. democracy, from a bribery scandal involving Ohio energy companies to a behind-the-scenes look at judicial appointments and the Citizens United ruling. It’s not a cult documentary in the traditional sense, with one group of manipulated followers at its core — it’s about a political ecosystem we’re all caught up in.
9. Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence (2023)
This buzzed-about documentary tells the story of a group of eight former Sarah Lawrence college students and roommates whose lives were infiltrated by Larry Ray, a decades-older master manipulator and the father of one of the students. Peeling back the layers of Ray’s calculated coercions and psychological abuse, what viewers are left with is a lesson in red flags and in reclaiming agency in the face of manipulation. As director Zach Heinzerling told Vanity Fair: “I think in cult situations, there can be judgment of the victim — how could you fall for that? There’s no acknowledgement of the complicated nature of that experience. And how, over a slow, methodical progression, it metastasized into something horrible.”
Streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
10. Escaping Twin Flames (2023)
Netflix’s Escaping Twin Flames casts a spotlight on Twin Flames Universe, a matchmaking service and online community founded by Shaleia and Jeff Divine (formerly Shaleia and Jeff Ayan, if the name change tells you anything). The couple has been accused of cult-like manipulation tactics — including allegedly coercing members into isolating themselves from their families and transitioning genders — and of pressuring members to buy a costly series of books, classes, webinars, workshops, and diet plans in order to find their “twin flame.” A new age-y spin on soulmates that borrows loosely from Hinduism and Buddhism, here, the twin flames concept becomes a revenue-generating tool often leveled at lonely, vulnerable people. Whether the still-active group truly qualifies as a cult — something its founders vehemently deny — will be up to you. Afterward, compare it to Amazon Prime’s telling of the same story, Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe (2023).
Streaming on Netflix.
11. Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults (2020)
Sexual coercion and abuse are unfortunate recurring themes when discussing cults. Heaven’s Gate, however, actively discouraged engaging in sexual activity. Its leaders, “Ti” and “Do,” promised their followers an everlasting life by transforming them into sexless, genderless aliens. This documentary does a deep dive into their beliefs by speaking to former members, including someone who still believes their teachings, in the hopes of shedding light on the events that led up to the group’s tragic mass suicide in 1997.
Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
12. Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (2023)
This docuseries sent shockwaves with its disturbing portrait of the Duggar family, known for reality TV shows like 19 Kids and Counting as well as for promoting the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a Christian fundamentalist group that’s been described as a cult and as abusive by former members. A pattern of abuse was connected to the Duggars as early as 2015; the revelation that the family’s oldest son, Josh, had sexually abused multiple young girls, including some of his sisters, ground the reality series to a halt that year. Amazon Prime’s docuseries further chips away at the wholesome-family veneer patriarch Jim Bob Duggar constructed, revealing a pattern of alleged abuse within IBLP, Jim Bob’s exploitative treatment of his children, and a number of extremist, oppressive views on gender — views intended to have a very real impact on U.S. politics and policy.
Streaming on Amazon Prime.
13. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator (2019)
Cults and buzzy health-focused groups today can feel like they’re occupying two halves of the same Venn diagram. Nowhere was that truer, perhaps, than in Bikram Yoga. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator chronicles the rise of self-styled “guru” Bikram Choudhury and his eponymous hot yoga community, the imbalanced power dynamics he carefully put in place, and the allegations of sexual abuse, rape, and manipulation from several women in the community that ultimately followed. A cautionary tale, it exposes the ease with which spiritual communities — not just religious ones — can become engines of power abuse while handing over the microphone to survivors.
Streaming on Netflix.
14. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Exploring the rise and fall of the Peoples Temple cult led by Jim Jones — which ended in the tragic mass suicide/murder of more than 900 people — this documentary is a must-watch for anyone interested in understanding the psychology behind cults and their destructive power. Jones preached a mix of Christianity and a warped version of left-wing ideology, bewitching thousands with his supposed divine wisdom, and the cult is ultimately credited, incorrectly, as the source of the expression “drinking the Kool-Aid”. Unlike other sensationalized narratives, this documentary is a sobering account of the cult's evolution from a religious non-profit to an apocalyptic commune that came to a tragic end in Guyana. After watching, keep learning about the Jonestown saga through a more focused viewpoint in Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre.
Streaming on YouTube.
15. The Source Family (2012)
Delving into the story of Father Yod, the founder of a spiritual commune in the Hollywood Hills during the late 1960s, the documentary exposes the darker side of this cult and its charismatic leader. Their community practiced vegetarianism, took drugs like marijuana and LSD, and formed a rock band, making them arguably one of the least harmful cults in this list, but a cult all the same. The film features a thumping soundtrack from the cult's psychedelic rock band, Ya Ho Wha 13, and offers a glimpse into the alternative ways of living during the 1970s.
Streaming on Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, YouTube, and Tubi.
16. Holy Hell (2016)
Directed by Will Allen, a former member of the Buddhafield cult who documented his time in the group, the film features interviews with Allen and other former members who share their experiences of being drawn into the group's idealism and the charismatic leadership of Jaime Gomez, who believed he was divine (as many cult leaders do). Featuring archival footage and lingering shots of Gomez, Holy Hell is likely one of the creepiest cult documentaries out there.
Streaming on Peacock, Tubi, and Amazon Prime.
17. Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015)
Going Clear is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the Church of Scientology's alleged practices of psychological manipulation and pseudoscientific beliefs. Despite the Church's widespread and devoted following, this documentary's interviews with former members present a compelling argument that Scientology may actually be a cult or, at the very least, has very cult-adjacent qualities. Filmmaker Alex Gibney's unflinching portrayal of the church's controversial history and its science fiction-writing founder L. Ron Hubbard, and its zealous followers snagged a Best Documentary Emmy award, and since the film’s release nearly a decade ago, more ex-Scientology members have come forward with allegations. That includes actress Leah Remini, who made a TV show, Scientology and the Aftermath, about her experiences and whose lawsuit against the Church remains ongoing. That’s a reminder that, unlike some of the other religious cult documentaries on this list, the story of Scientology’s impact is still being written.
Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon.
18. The Vow (2020, 2022)
The Vow is a gripping, two-season docuseries that exposes the disturbing story of the self-help group NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere, now serving a life sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking and other crimes. The show delves deep into the group's practices, revealing how members were conditioned into becoming sex slaves. It features interviews with former followers, including Smallville actress Allison Mack on her involvement in recruiting new members. With a conventional investigative approach, The Vow leaves viewers on the edge of their seats, offering a comprehensive understanding of how psychological manipulation and control can be disguised as motivational self-help. Afterward, you can watch the Starz documentary, Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult, for one survivor’s story.
Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple TV.
19. Manson (1973)
Charles Manson was a notorious cult leader who brainwashed his followers into committing a series of murders in 1969, justifying these violent actions through his bizarre philosophy of Helter Skelter, a race war he believed was coming. Manson is a rare gem of a documentary released in 1973, just a few years after the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. Featuring interviews with prominent Manson family members, footage of Spahn Ranch, and an original score by Manson followers, it may not be as widely available as other cult documentaries, but is a must-see for anyone interested in the Manson family and the “satanic panic” that followed them.
Streaming on YouTube.
20. Prophet’s Prey (2015)
Prophet's Prey is a documentary that exposes the crimes committed by Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). Jeffs built a multimillion-dollar church, was “married” to an estimated 78 wives — a number that included underage girls, and controlled others’ lives through brainwashing, mental manipulation, and abuse. Multiple of Jeffs’ more than 60 children have also come forward with allegations of child sexual abuse, and other FLDS leaders have since been accused of the same. Filmmaker Amy Berg’s documentary serves as a potent warning against blindly trusting authority figures, exploring the cult-like behavior of the FLDS Church and Jeffs' manipulation and abuse of his followers. Notably, it also sheds light on the ongoing abuse perpetrated by FLDS against women and children.
Streaming on Hulu, YouTube, Paramount+, Amazon, and fuboTV.
21. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022)
When director Rachel Dretzin decided to take on the Warren Jeffs story again, this time with a docuseries, she hoped it could serve a slightly different purpose than Prophet’s Prey had. “Our focus (is) not only on the experience of being in that cult,” Dretzin said in a 2022 podcast interview. “It's on the people, particularly the women who managed to defy it and escape it, which — if you know anything about the FLDS — is a pretty miraculous and incredible thing to do.” Named after a rule Jeffs’ father coined for the women of his congregation, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey features interviews with several former members of FLDS and — though often difficult to watch — serves first and foremost as an outlet for survivors to own their stories.
Streaming on Netflix and Amazon.
22. One of Us (2017)
As is evident throughout this list, sometimes, the line between what separates a religious community from a cult becomes blurry. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s One of Us follows three former members of Brooklyn’s hyper-insulated Hasidic Jewish community in their bid to stake out independent lives away from the only world they’ve ever known. Without interviews from still-active members of the Hasidic Jewish community, some reviewers have pointed out that the story told here is ultimately one-sided. That said, Ewing and Grady seem careful to avoid characterizing Orthodox Judaism as a whole and instead focus on the film’s real purpose: telling the stories of three specific individuals who faced trauma and abuse within the community and retaliation and ostracization upon leaving it.
Streaming on Netflix.
23. ‘The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult'
How did a facility created to help people overcome drug addictions balloon into a major U.S. cult? That’s the question at the heart of The Synanon Fix, a four-part HBO series that traces the evolution of a small Santa Monica drug rehabilitation program started by Charles “Chuck” Dederich into a thousands-strong self-help movement centered on a controversial type of group therapy known simply as “The Game.” It’s got all the characteristics of your typical cult documentary (and your typical cult, for that matter): positive, even utopic intentions; increasing erraticism; and violence as the ultimate result.
Streaming on Max, Hulu, and Amazon.
24. The Keepers (2017)
What were we just saying about the line between religious communities and cults? In cults, you’ll often find a fixed hierarchy, abuses of power enabled by that hierarchy, and efforts to carefully cover those abuses up. All of that is present in The Keepers, a favorite among both true crime aficionados and lovers of religious cult documentaries. The docuseries focuses on the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a nun and teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. With the help of interviews with former students and Cesnik’s friends and family, the series pieces together a disturbing image of secrets, corruption, and sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
Streaming on Netflix.
25. The Way Down (2021)
Following Gwen Shamblin Lara, the founder of The Weigh Down Workshop (a Christian weight loss program), the documentary details how Shamblin Lara mixed religion with her diet plan, growing a massive following and building immense power and wealth. The series, which premiered months after Shamblin Lara and others were killed in a plane crash, delves into the shocking stories of abuse and greed that occurred within her Remnant Church and how members were brainwashed into surrendering their will under the guise of weight loss. While the series leans a bit too much into ex-members’ gossip, it is still worth watching for Shamblin Lara's story.
Streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and HBO Max.
26. The Family (2019)
Chosen as one of the best cult documentaries on Netflix, The Family offers a chilling glimpse into the secretive religious — and politically influential — group known as The Fellowship or The Family. Inspired by the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, the docuseries sets out to investigate the origins of this covert group (not to be confused with the notorious Australian cult of the same name) and its insidious impact on American politics, including through the influence of its National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event attended by every president since Dwight Eisenhour that was finally taken over by Congress in 2023. With one episode exploring the possibility of the group’s influence on Donald Trump, it’s a must-watch for anyone interested in the hidden mechanisms of politics today.
Streaming on Netflix.
27. Children of God (1994)
One of the earlier religious cult documentaries on our list, the Helen Mirren-narrated Children of God sought to expose abuse within a religious movement that’s since rebranded as The Family International. (You’ve likely heard of them as the cult that River and Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan grew up in.) The BBC documentary follows the story of one woman, Sylvia Padilla, who escaped the cult with her children, and the details are, in a word, harrowing. Mashing up elements of traditional Christian evangelism with 1960s counterculture, the cult, which was founded by David Berg in 1968, quickly became a vehicle for rampant sexual abuse and pedophilia. It’s a hard watch, made worse by the knowledge that the international group continues to exist, and survivors say many of its alleged abusers have seen no consequences.
Streaming on Amazon.
24. Aum: The Cult at the End of the World (2023)
Reading through round-ups of cult documentaries, you might notice a pattern: that Americans seem to be particularly susceptible to cults’ siren song. In Aum: The Cult at the End of the World, which premiered at Sundance last year, documentarians Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto go outside the U.S. to investigate the grisly story of Aum Shinrikyo. A Japanese religious movement and doomsday cult, it took the world stage in 1995 when members launched a deadly bioterrorism attack on Tokyo’s subway that killed 14 and injured 6,000 people. The documentary takes a panoramic view of Aum, weaving together interviews with survivors of the attack, reporters, and a former Aum figurehead with original footage.
Streaming on Amazon, Google Play, and Apple TV.
29. The Deep End (2022)
The Deep End takes an in-depth look at Teal Swan, a millennial spiritual leader with a massive following on social media. The four-part series explores Swan's tight inner circle, her controversial therapeutic practices, and the death by suicide of one of her followers. The series portrays her as a power-hungry spiritual narcissist who can do no wrong in the eyes of her followers, but despite claims of misleading editing, it still offers a fascinating glimpse into the extreme side of current influencer culture and the potential dangers of unregulated spiritual practices. Just make sure you take everything with a grain of salt.
Streaming on Amazon, YouTube, and Google Play.
30. Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo (2022)
Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo tells the horrifying story of the systematic, decades-long sexual abuse of children perpetrated and promoted by leaders of La Luz del Mundo, a Guadalajara, Mexico-based megachurch that’s been called “one of the largest religious cults of our time.” Founded in 1926 by a man claiming to be a divinely appointed “Servant of God,” a title that multiple generations of men in his family then upheld, the church leeched off of poor, under-resourced communities in Mexico to become an international force. Interviewing survivors and former church members, the three-part docuseries unflinchingly relates the psychological and emotional trauma survivors endured while letting them have the last word in their stories.
Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
31. Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed (2022)
Known for attracting celebrity worshippers — Hillsong was formerly Justin Bieber’s “church of choice,” and other famous congregants have included Chris Pratt, the Kardashian-Jenner clan, and Vanessa Hudgens — the megachurch is just as well known today for a string of scandals and for its LGBTQIA+ intolerance. Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed probes the global church’s controversies, exploring allegations of exploitation, abuse, and financial mismanagement while exposing the disconnect between what Hillsong leaders preach and practice. Hillsong might not be a cult in the most conventional sense, but after watching this four-part docuseries, you’ll likely be able to spot some thematic ties between it and other groups on this list. After, you can follow it up with The Secrets of Hillsong, released a year later and featuring the first interviews with ex-Hillsong pastors Carl and Laura Lentz after their ousting from the church.
Streaming on Discovery Plus, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max.
32. Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God (2023)
Love Has Won has been called many things. The new age-y, conspiracy-ridden group itself has been called a cult for the Instagram era, and the three-part series of the same name that exposes it has been dubbed a “rare cult doc” for the empathy it lends survivors. Who those survivors survived, specifically, is Amy Carlson, a McDonald's manager and mother of three who eventually organized a cult around her belief that she was a 19 billion-year-old deity who had birthed the entire human race. We promise you this one gets even weirder.
Streaming on Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
33. Jesus Camp (2006)
This early-to-mid aughts investigation of evangelical Christian youth camps in America will feel familiar to anyone who’s attended similar programming. In it, filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady pay a visit to one such youth camp called Kids on Fire, where they document children speaking in tongues, participating in anti-abortion demonstrations, and — laying hands on a life-size cutout of then-President George W. Bush? Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2007 Oscars, it lost out to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth but still holds water today as an examination of religion, politics, and what happens when we force children to occupy the intersection of the two.
Streaming on Tubi, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
34. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019)
Elizabeth Holmes didn’t start a religion — she started a biotech company. But let’s be honest: Isn’t society’s worship of and blind belief in CEOs today kind of cult-like? (And yes, we’re pointing a finger at Elon Musk adherents when we say that.) For Holmes’ part, by the time her company, Theranos, collapsed, it was clear that rather than building a business, she’d built a culture of obsession, secrecy, and total belief in a promise that never delivered. Directed by Alex Gibney (Going Clear, The Dark Money Game), this HBO documentary digs into how she convinced some of the most powerful people in the world to buy into a billion-dollar blood-testing dream, despite none of the technology involved actually working. With the help of black turtlenecks, a voice as deep as her ambition, and some Silicon Valley mystique, Holmes turned charisma into control. The result? A business story that plays like a slow-burning cult narrative.
Streaming on Max, Hulu, and Amazon.
35. Daughters of the Cult (2024)
Ervil LeBaron may not be a cult leader most people have heard of — but the extent of his manipulation, control, and violence indicate he should be. Known as the “Mormon Manson,” LeBaron led a polygamous sect where dissent could mean death, and his own children weren’t spared from the violence. Told through the voices of his two daughters, Anna and Celia LeBaron, this five-part Hulu cult documentary series doesn’t just unpack LeBaron’s crimes — it shows what it’s like to grow up inside a system that uses religion to justify fear, loyalty, and control.
Streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
36. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (2024)
We’ll be clear about a couple of things: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is not a documentary. It’s not, by technical definitions at least, about a cult either. But the new reality series — about a group of young, Mormon TikTok influencers who found fame, then infamy, on #MomTok — does subscribe to some tone and formatting elements that feel pretty cult documentary-ish. Calling it an “extreme ‘lifestyle’ docuseries,” TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk wrote for Vulture: “Like a cousin to the cult docuseries, lifestyle reality shows set in a highly controlled community outside American norms appeal to two different wells of interest. The first is voyeuristic: How does this belief system function? What are the rules of this particular social world? Why do these people believe this stuff? (Really? Caffeine?) The other is self-reflective: Could I ever believe it?”
Streaming on Hulu.
37. Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (2024)
Here’s where we’re really getting liberal with the moniker of “cult documentary.” That said, documentaries about cults deal with themes of fanatic obsession and extreme, en masse devotion; charismatic leaders who hold absolute authority over members; isolation; and an inability to leave the source of control. All of those themes are present in Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, a look at the rise and fall of boy band creator and puppeteer Lou Pearlman. Pearlman rose to fame as the manager behind some of the the Y2K era’s biggest boy bands and artists, including the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Aaron Carter, and O-Town. But behind the scenes, accusations of abuse and exploitation at Pearlman’s hands swirled, with the Backstreet Boys becoming the first of many artists to take Pearlman to court in 1998. Things didn’t truly come crashing down until nearly a decade later, though, when Pearlman was tried and convicted for scamming investors out of at least $300 million. There’s enough manipulation, deceit, and control here — also, blimps? — to label the Dirty Pop docuseries one of the best cult documentaries on Netflix in our book.
Streaming on Netflix.
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