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- Netflix
- Jul 28, 2023
- Netflix
- Jul 28, 2023
Summary Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the six-part documentary series focuses on six cult leaders: Heaven's Gate Marshall Applewhite, Aum Shinrikyo's Shoko Asahara, Buddhafield's Jaime Gomez, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and Unification Church's Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
- Netflix
- Jul 28, 2023
- Netflix
- Jul 28, 2023
How to Become a Cult Leader
Season 1
Season Premiere: Jul 28, 2023
52
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the six-part documentary series focuses on six cult leaders: Heaven's Gate Marshall Applewhite, Aum Shinrikyo's Shoko Asahara, Buddhafield's Jaime Gomez, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and Unification Church's Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
52
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
20% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
52
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
20% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The format of How To Become A Cult Leader isn’t quite as grating as its predecessor, How To Become A Tyrant, and that leaves room for the show to provide a lot of information about how the cult leaders it’s profiling managed to wield so much influence.
As a general overview of such outfits’ bedrock traits and strategies, it certainly knows about which it speaks.
Maybe the thinking behind “How to Become a Cult Leader” was that we’ve had so many books, documentaries, magazine articles, TV specials, fictionalized movies and series, etc., about these infamous destroyers and the lives they’ve ruined that a satirical approach might feel original and offer insights from a fresh perspective.
There really is clever stuff here and a few interesting linkages, and I can’t speak highly enough of how much value Dinklage adds, but by the end of five episodes, How to Become a Cult Leader was out of satirical ideas.
The overall sarcastic nature of the series seems at odds with the horrors these men unleashed. Somehow, providing helpful “tactics” via bite-size tips — “tend your flock,” “get your dogma down,” “expand your territory” — just seems weird. “How to Become a Cult Leader” instead becomes a playbook of an unintended sort: How not to make a docuseries.
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