People have always been fascinated by cults, but even a cursory look at the current pop culture zeitgest reveals that America most definitely has a renewed, maybe stronger-than-ever interest in unhealthy, manipulative religious groups. On TV, we've come to love a mole woman also known as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Hulu's drama The Path takes us inside a fictional cult, and American Horror Story's latest season took on the cult theme.
On the movie front, the indie sleeper hit The Invitation captures a particularly LA, self-help-y strain of religious fervor, and a rash of magazine and online pieces about alleged cult-like behavior in groups like NYC's SuperStar Machine and Jivamukti yoga continue to bubble up on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.
My less-than-half-baked theory? This current wave of fascination may have more than a little to do with the 2016 election. That said, I'm no psychologist — so instead of analyzing the "why" behind our shared obsession, I dug up a handful of great films and documentaries about cults to feed it. If you've finished bingeing Netflix's latest cult hit, Wild Wild Country, these films are the perfect follow-up.