Holy Hell

Holy Hell (2016) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM — built from 22 years of footage shot by director Will Allen inside a West Hollywood spiritual community that became a cult. Allen joined Buddhafield in the 1980s as a true believer, camera in hand, and kept filming through everything that followed.

What he captured: the early euphoria of a group that felt like the only real family its members had ever found, the slow tightening of control by the charismatic leader Michel (later Reyji, then Andreas), and ultimately the sexual abuse allegations that unravelled it all. Allen is one of the rare documentarians working from primary footage rather than reconstruction — which is why the film lands differently than a standard cult exposé. It isn't a portrait of the deceived; it's a record made by one of them.

Premiered at Sundance 2016, Holy Hell sparked serious conversation about how intelligent people end up inside closed systems and why leaving takes as long as it does. Watch Holy Hell online on iFILM.