By Is devoting your life to a spiritual guru and living on a commune on your mind all the time? Do you have a newfound contempt for 'normal society'? Are you suddenly wearing a lot of red clothes?
If you're feeling a gaping void in your life since finishing Wild Wild Country -Netflix's mind-bending documentary about the Indian spiritual leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who led his followers to create a city in Oregon before taking on pretty much the entire US government - you may be experiencing these emotions. (If you're not: watch it now).
Luckily, there's plenty more cult content out there so satisfy your desire to know just how weird humanity is.
Because it turns out, we're pretty damn weird.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
This 2011 film staring Elisabeth Olson looks at life after leaving a cult and the scars that remain. Martha goes to stay with her sister after calling her for help but is traumatised by events we see snapshots of in flashbacks. A film that is most powerful in what it alludes to rather than says and which looks at the mysterious appeal of charismatic but manipulative cult leaders. Like Bhagwan and his beanies.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
The most famous cult of all. A remote settlement in North Guyana gained notoriety after leader and reverend Jim Jones forced a mass suicide of his followers in 1978. This well-reviewed 2006 documentary offers an insight into Jones' character and the depraved things he forced his followers to do. The aftermath of Jonestown is influential in Wild Wild Country as it stoked fears that a similar end would occur in Oregon.
Jesus Camp
Set in North Dakota at the Kids on Fire School of Ministry, a Christian summer camp, this documentary shows the daily routines which involves teaching the children they have "prophetic gifts" and can "take back America for Christ". A fascinating look into the aggressive brainwashing that we associate with terrorism or cults not Christian summer school.
The Wicker Man
Arguably the original cult film and perhaps the greatest British horror ever made, The Wicker Man follows a Scottish police sergeant who journeys to the island of Summerisle after a girl goes missing. There he finds worshippers of the pagan Celtic gods - let by a eccentric Christopher Lee - who have renounced Christianity, have sex freely and place toads in their mouths to cure sore throats. In other words a weird world with echoes of Rajneeshpuram. Just don't go anywhere near the Nicolas Cage remake.
Holy Hell
Filmmaker Will Allen details the West Hollywood cult he joined which seems like a sun-drenched eighties utopia until disturbing revelations about the group leader surface. Interviews with former members explain why they were drawn in by this charismatic man in a similar way to how Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh gained so many intelligent and level-headed followers.
Enlighten Us
A documentary about disgraced guru James Arthur Ray, a self-help speaker who ran a meditation retreat costing $10,000. On his retreat followers were made to shave their heads and go without food or water for days in the desert causing three people to die from heatstroke.
The Master
A World War II veteran struggles to readjust to society and finds himself drawn into the world of the intriguing leader of a religious movement called 'The Cause'. A film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson with a stellar cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this slow-burning drama makes a powerful case for why vulnerable people want something bigger to believe in.
Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie
Expert navigator of the fringes of society, documentary-maker Louis Theroux here tackles Scientology, trying to get inside this notoriously closed off and secretive cult. As a result he finds himself threatened, verbally abused and followed by church members desperate to keep him out. For extra viewing on Tom Cruise's favourite cult, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is another great documentary on the subject.
