It seems like barely a week goes by without a new documentary dropping about some messianic lunatic who managed to convince a whole heap of people that they were the Way and the Light. But this upcoming project has piqued our interest, and you can catch How to Become a Cult Leader on Netflix from July 28. Hopefully for entertainment purposes and not, y’know, inspo.
Narrated by the great Peter Dinklage, the six-part How to Become a Cult Leader takes us on satirical journey through hows, whys, and didn’t-see-that-coming-actually-pass-the-Kool-Aids of setting yourself up as the loving shepherd of a bunch of do-or-die (preferably both, tbh) social outcasts. As the title suggests, this is presented as a How To guide, and we are exhorting you not to take that literally.
But you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one, and a veritable—and often quite literal—murderer’s row of charismatic sociopaths is presented for our amusement, including Reverend Jim Jones of the People’s Temple, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles of the UFO-loving Heaven’s Gate cult, Shoko Asahara of Aum Shinrikyo, and everyone’s favourite family man, Charlie Manson.
This is the second of a themed set of documentary series from Netflix and production house Citizen Jones. How to Become a Tyrant, which was also narrated by former Hand of the King Dinklage, dropped in 2021, while How to Become a Mob Boss is on the cards for further down the track.
It looks like deliciously dark fun, but also a cautionary tale. Every time one of these doomsday cults pops off, we’re forced to wonder how seemingly normal people can fall under such an obvious spell. While How to Become a Cult Leader takes a wry tone that leavens the bleak material, hopefully it’ll also shed some much-needed light on the phenomenon.
