The 11 Best Cult Movies (and Series and Podcasts) to Stream Now

Sometimes, when you’re working your way through cult classics like The Big Lebowski and Pulp Fiction, you find yourself craving another kind of cult movie—that is, movies about actual cults. Take Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the director’s loose take on the Charles Manson murders of the 1960s, or Ari Aster’s Midsommar, about a young American couple that visits a Swedish midsummer festival. (Spoiler: It’s filled with culty locals seeking blood.)

The appetite for cult content has grown steadily in recent years, with more and more creepy offerings—both narrative and documentary—to match it. Ready to hop down a few Google rabbit holes? Here are 11 more of the best cult movies, series, and podcasts to chill and thrill you.

The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin (2021)

A weight-loss empire, a Tennessee church, and a plane crash on the way to a Trump rally—these unlikely elements converge in this Max docuseries. The Way Down examines the Remnant Fellowship and its leader, Gwen Shamblin, who turned her popular diet program into a Christian church; interviews with former members reveal the Remnant’s abusive practices and cult-like requirements, including corporal punishment for members’ children and hyper-restrictive diet plans.

Wild Wild Country (2018)

This popular Netflix docuseries is centered around an Indian guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who built a “utopian” commune in the Oregon desert. He and his followers create conflict with the locals, and things escalate into a national scandal.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Elizabeth Olsen stars in this gripping film about a young woman trying to regain normalcy after spending two years in a cult in the Catskills. The film’s blurring of reality and delusion will leave you reeling: director Sean Durkin blends flashbacks and paranoid fantasies into a disturbing, visually lush narrative.

Waco: American Apocalypse (2023)

This Netflix limited series delves into the 1993 standoff between the FBI and members of the Branch Davidian Church outside Waco, Texas. The Christian cult was led by David Koresh, who presented himself as a Messiah and took teenage brides to build his numbers. The series offers a modern update to the 1997 documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement about the same case.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

This documentary from HBO remains one of the most in-depth looks at Scientology. Director Alex Gibney interviewed eight former members of the “church,” which to this day includes high-profile celebrities such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The film exposes just how far members will go to preserve their mysterious community.

Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God (2023)

Max’s three-part series Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God explores the life and death of Amy Carlson, whose religious movement Love Has Won—variously based in Colorado, Oregon, California, and Florida—blended New Age spirituality, conspiracy theories, and manipulation. Filmmaker Hannah Olson began production on the series three weeks after Carlson’s mummified body was discovered in Ashland, Oregon.

Ready or Not (2019)

This thriller from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett follows a woman named Grace (Samara Weaving) who marries the man of her dreams at his family’s mansion. The only problem: her initiation into the family includes a deadly game of hide-and-seek, where her culty in-laws chase her with guns and crossbows.

Sounds Like a Cult

For a touch of something lighthearted, Amanda Montell’s podcast makes a case for the cultish energy of everything from Lululemon to the Royal Family. She brings on entertaining guests to help her break down the bizarre structures behind our pop-cultural obsessions. As she says it herself, the show puts “the ‘cult’ in culture.”

The Raft (2018)

This documentary tells the tale of five men and six women who, in 1973, drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a social and scientific experiment. While not exactly a cult, the group displayed some hair-raising behaviors: the study revolved around violence, aggression, and sexual attraction.

Holy Hell (2018)

This documentary tells the story of director Will Allen, who at 22 was kicked out of his home for being gay. He sought comfort in the Buddhafield cult, a dubious spiritual collective led by a man called “The Teacher,” and the film features Allen’s own footage from his time with the group—whose leader has since been accused of sexual abuse.

Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe (2023)

From the director of The Way Down comes this three-part Prime Video series examining the Twin Flames Universe, a new-age cult that promises to connect members with their perfect mates—at any cost. If you’re craving more Twin Flames content, you can also watch Netflix’s docuseries Escaping Twin Flames, or listen to the Twin Flames podcast from Wondery.