21 TV Shows About Terrifying Cults

The Netflix documentary “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey” examines the crimes of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, including the ways in which he psychologically controlled his followers using sexism, isolation from family, and, eventually, rape.

India Oxenberg, one of the more high-profile victims of the NXIVM cult, is at the center of this documentary miniseries. Throughout the series, she offers a firsthand perspective on how recruits became enmeshed in the organization and its abuses, while also coming to terms with her own sense of responsibility and fractured relationships as a result of her actions while in the cult.

Produced in 2018, to mark 40 years since the tragic events of Jonestown in Guyana, this four-part miniseries investigates how the cult came to be so powerful and what led to the mass tragedy. It follows the rise of cult leader Jim Jones, traces the path to disaster, and directly interviews several survivors, all of whom have complicated feelings about their pasts.

This semi-fictionalized series is set in 1960s Los Angeles, where LAPD detectives investigate a missing-person case and find themselves going up against Charles Manson. While many of the characters and details are fictional, Manson and some of the stories surrounding his horrifying cult are very real indeed.

A former English professor with an obsession with Edgar Allan Poe becomes a cult leader with followers willing to do anything he says, even murder. After he escapes from prison, a determined FBI agent with a personal stake in the case tries to track him down and stop him and his followers.

While on a spiritual retreat meant to strengthen his faith in a cult-like spiritual movement, a man has a vision that instead leads him to start questioning the group and its beliefs. As he struggles with his newfound realizations, the cult’s leaders attempt to spread their influence, and the FBI becomes suspicious of what’s really happening behind closed doors.

One of Marvel’s more underrated shows, this series revolves around a group of six teenagers who discover that their parents might be part of a creepy cult that performs ritual sacrifices to appease a strange alien life force. It’s a blend of teen drama, superhero tropes, and all the creepiness that comes from a bizarre, secretive cult hiding right under everyone’s noses.

When a petty criminal steals the identity of a dead woman who looks just like her, she unwittingly starts to unravel a conspiracy that involves a whole array of identical clones. While it’s mostly a sci-fi show, the story’s bioengineering conspiracies and shady organizations hew more closely to cults than your standard-issue sci-fi villains.

This one isn’t exactly about a cult, but more about a comedic, exaggerated look at the aftermath of one. After being rescued from a (tiny) cult devoted to a bizarre but charismatic man, Kimmy Schmidt has to learn what the real world is like, from finding an apartment to getting a job and discovering just how much she has to discover.

Somewhat fictionalized but based on a true story, this miniseries follows the infamous 1993 standoff between the US government and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, TX. Run by an eerie and charismatic leader, the cult enters a weeks-long standoff with federal agents at its compound, with deadly results.