We’ve all read about cults, heard about cults, or had someone we know who considered joining them. Fortunately, almost no one knows someone who has finally joined the sect. If we don’t have religions, they have a different status.
The sects as they have always been known, and reaching the pure term of conception, are those private and small groups of people who seek to transcend, find happiness, achieve eternal life, or go to a better place. Always the chosen one, the seer… the leader.
In many series and films, we have seen this figure, who, although it seems fictional, has been encountered many times throughout all of humanity. More or less successful. Trying to imitate the figures of Jesus or Mohammed, thousands of men and women took advantage of the desperation and naivety of the most needy.
The Simpsons has a brilliant overview in the chapter “The Joy of the Sect”, referring to the 9th season (episode 191), in which the reality of sects is broken with great grace and painful certainty. As always, Matt Groening’s team has humorously critiqued more than a thousand books and films on the subject.
Today we bring you six TV series and documentaries featuring some of the most dangerous sects of the 20th and 21st centuries. Some may seem familiar to you, others will be a mystery. The goal is to present you with options that you didn’t know about. Welcome or welcome to the terrifying world of cults.
6 episodes of outrageous sects
- Colonia Dignidad: German sect in Chile.
- wild wild country
- oath
- Heaven’s Gate: Cult of Cults
- Sinner
- SanPa: Sins of the Savior
Colonia Dignidad: German sect in Chile.
This is one of the scariest, because until recently, everything that happened was not known. Colonia Dignidad: A German Cult in Chile is a documentary about what happened in the colony founded in Chile under the German fugitive Paul Schaefer during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet from the 1970s to the 90s.
The Netflix production consists of 6 episodes, each 45 to 60 minutes long. The hard part about this whole issue is that the colony was a Nazi cult, where the ringleader abused the minors of the colony and, through manipulation, got everything he wanted. For decades.
The documentary tells us about the early years of the colony and how it came about when a German became the leader. Thanks to the settlers, there is a lot of materialwhich, combined with subtle entertainment, create a chilling atmosphere unlike any other cult story you’ve ever seen.
Arms trafficking, political assassinations, torture, human trafficking and persecution… in 1961 and 1997. We talked about almost four decades of terror and no one knew what was going on. Fortunately, this is currently in the hands of the authorities, with trials and final verdicts pending.
- header: Colonia Dignidad: German sect in Chile
- Date of issue: 2021
- Duration: six 45 minute episodes
- Platform: Netflix
wild wild country
When in 1981 the revered Hindu guru Bhagwan, the controversial leader of the Rajneesh sect, and many of his fanatical followers begin to build a utopian city in the wilderness near the town of Antelope, Oregon, conflicts with local residents will transcend state borders.
What happened in the following years will affect everyone involved in this extraordinary story of Rajneesh. If this synopsis sounds familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen it before, and that’s okay: it was a big hit for Netflix in 2018. On that day, many learned what a sect is and how it works.
Six episodes later, and with the testimony of some of the cult’s chief architects, The guys at Netflix have brought you the best document ever made on the Hindu guru Bhagwan, who promised love, happiness and prosperity. And I tried it in the USA itself, using the law to my advantage.
If you liked the series and want more, you know there is sort of a spin-off called “Finding Sheela” that goes even further into your involvement, your vision and your opinion of everything that happened. It is about who was the representative of the movement that demanded death and big money.
- header: wild wild country
- Date of issue: 2018
- Duration: six 65 minute episodes
- Platform: Netflix
oath
Documentary series exploring the universe of the controversial self-improvement group NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere. The organization is under surveillance on various charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, against its senior members, most notably founder Raniere, who was convicted in June 2019 and is currently awaiting sentencing.
With access to members and former members of the organization, the series provides insight into the experiences of several people who have been actively involved in NXIVM over the years, highlighting their deep desire for personal growth and their internal conflicts over events as they unfold.
If you’ve been following the news in recent years, you’ve probably heard of everything that sparked the sixth installment of NXIVM. At HBO Max, they were responsible for creating a very useful mini-series.for it is the translation of sects into the modern age.
Self-improvement, go beyond… modern concepts to practice in the old way. The goal remains the same: gain power, make money, and take advantage of others. It was enjoyed so much that it was renewed for a second season to cover the end of its founder Raniere.
- header: oath
- Date of issue: 2020
- Duration: nine 50-minute episodes
- Platform: HBO Max
Heaven’s Gate: Cult of Cults
Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults is a docu-series that explores the UFO cult that has caused so much trouble throughout history: from the disappearance of 20 people in a small Oregon town in 1975 to the mass suicide of 29 people in San Ciego wearing the same pair of Nike Decades in 1997.
As you can see, this documentary series presents, chapter by chapter, some of the most important cases of the last century.
If you only see one of the episodes we recommend today, then the one you’re reading covers most cases, so it might be the most revealing.
There are four chapters, each about 45 minutes long, and shows the evolution of the UFO worship cult that baffled Americans in the last quarter of the 20th century.. Even you, dear reader, have probably heard stories about unidentified flying objects.
- header: Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults
- Date of issue: 2020
- Duration: four chapters of 46 minutes
- Platform: HBO Max
Sinner
The second season of this Netflix original series, created by Jessica Biel and starring Bill Pullman, focuses on a murder committed by a boy who, by birth, not by choice, belongs to a cult in Keller, Texas. In this case, we do not have a documentary, but a series with all its lyrics.
Although the case is fictitious, the writers use the narrative to make the audience understand the activities of the sect, even if you didn’t choose of your own free will to belong. In this case, the protagonist is a boy who is part of a cult at birth within a sect.
The Sinner (Spanish for “sinner”) has four seasons available on Netflix, all of them highly acclaimed. But, above all, it was this second season that received the highest ratings at the premiere. By the way, the one that talks about the topic we have chosen today.
It averages eight chapters of about 45 minutes each, and with each episode, the series dives deeper and deeper into a truly chilling cult.. It’s not fantasy, it’s not scary, but it’s disturbing and mysterious.
- header: Sinner
- Date of issue: 2018
- Duration: eight 45 minute episodes
- Platform: HBO Max
SanPa: Sins of the Savior
In the late 1970s, Italy was hit by a drug crisis. Entrepreneur Vincenzo Muccioli opened a teen rehab center that won over the public despite allegations of abuse. This center shook the foundations of the neighboring country.
The figure of Vincenzo Muccioli, founder of Europe’s largest drug rehabilitation community, San Patrignano, and his dubious detoxification methods rocked Italy in the 1980s, polarized public opinion and politics, and left a trail of confrontation that continues to this day.
For many, This center became a kind of sect, where hooked youth found themselves attached to their brothers and in great debt to their leader. At the height of the heroin boom, Muccioli founded the San Patrignano rehab community, which was sold as the largest in Europe and hosted over 2,000 guests.
There were murders, kidnappings, mistreatment, abuse… this center had it all. and a few years later it collapsed, leaving a huge hole that many have never been able to fill. The documentary has five chapters and is available on Netflix.
- header:SanPa: The Sins of the Savior
- Date of issue: 2020
- Duration: five 55 minute episodes
- Platform: Netflix
With all these recommendations, the safest thing is that when you are offered to join a sect, you will think twice.
We, at least, have lost desire, no matter how much eternal life they promised us.
Source: Computer Hoy
