Best documentaries about cults? Selection of the most interesting and rare documentaries about cults and their leaders. What veganism and nike inventor have to do with cult and why we fell every time for the same things…?
1. Wild Wild Country (2018 – Netflix)
A gripping docuseries about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers building a utopian city in Oregon, leading to one of the most bizarre and dramatic clashes in American history.
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
2. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022 – Netflix)
This shocking docuseries exposes the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and its leader Warren Jeffs, who enforced polygamy and child marriages.
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
3. Shiny, happy people: Duggar Family Secrets (2023 – Amazon Prime)
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is an American limited television documentary series about the Duggar family and its relationship with the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
4. Holy Hell (2016 – Amazon Prime Video)
Directed by a former member, this documentary offers an insider’s view into the Buddhafield cult in California and its charismatic but manipulative leader.
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
5. The Source Family (2012) – Amazon Prime, Apple TV
A trippy look at a 1970s Hollywood cult led by Father Yod, blending spiritualism, rock music, and health food all before things took a darker turn.
Directed by Maria Demopoulos
6. The breat of fire (2024) – HBO Max, Prime
Explore the culture of modern spirituality through the rise of Kundalini yoga in the West, from its origins with Yogi Bhajan, through it’s modern form and new leadership. A spiritual leader’s extravagant lifestyle and questionable conduct face scrutiny attracts questions and people.
Directed by Hayley Pappas, Smiley Stevens
7. The Cult of the Real Housewife (2026) – HBO Max,
Surprising rise to the fame one of the Utah pastors while filming Real housewives of Salt Lake City, brought to light some of the Church dark secrets.
Directed by Hayley Pappas, Smiley Stevens
8 The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin HBO
One of the most interesting phenomena in the church, where men have usually had the greatest power and reach, whether in a normal church or prosperity gospel, With hair high in the sky Gwen Shamblin came up how to combine money, diet…. and Jesus
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
9 Jesus Camp (2006) Prime Video
Jesus Camp follows children attending a Pentecostal summer camp where they are trained to become “soldiers for Christ,” revealing how political ideology, nationalism, and religious absolutism are instilled at a young age.
Directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason
10. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) Prime
“If you want to be really rich the start a religion” Famous words by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, sci-fi writer who probably created most popular religion dedicated to auditing and celebrities.
Directed by Alex Gibney
