I recently watched an interesting movie from Japan called "Wasurerarenu Hitobito" (Not Forgotten). In it, a creepy cult preys on the elderly, the weak and the frail. I wondered whether this portrayal of a destructive cult had been modelled on a particular real-life cult.

Does anybody know the inspirations behind the following portrayals of cults in movies and on tv?

HOLY SMOKE

NOT FORGOTTEN

LOST (creepy island cult storyline has me rivetted)

There is another Japanese movie I've seen about the aftermath of a destructive cult who poisons a main Tokyo water supply...but at the moment I can't remember the name. I always assumed this one to be inspired by Aum.

"DISTANCE" is the movie about the water supply cult, inspired by the real-life Aum.

[en.wikipedia.org])

Great topic! I would recommend reading the book [i:4b0777b28e]Holy Smoke[/i:4b0777b28e] if you liked the movie. If anything, the book shows the cult aspect better than the movie.

Some more "cult" movies:

The Apostle
The Guru
The Firm
Devil's Advocate
Saved!
Rosemary's Baby
Wicker Man (the original)
The Believers (OK, it's a horror movie about santeria, but it kind of qualifies)

Out of curiosity, I did a search on IMDB for "cult"
[imdb.com]
There are 3 movies called simply [i:4b0777b28e]Cult [/i:4b0777b28e]- there is no detail on the first 2, but the most recent is about a cult, although it sounds like more of a thriller.

Here's a comedy called [i:4b0777b28e]Cult Life:[/i:4b0777b28e]
[imdb.com]

And a TV movie called "Can Ellen Be Saved?"
[imdb.com]

Here are some I haven't seen that are fictional:
The Deceivers
Shepherd

Documentaries:
There was a good one on Jim Jones and Guyana that I saw on cable TV a while ago. I can't find it on IMDB, but I did find this:
[imdb.com] It's a TV movie about the Guyana tragedy.

Here's one about Waco and the Branch Davidians: [i:4b0777b28e]Waco: A New Revelation[/i:4b0777b28e]http://imdb.com/title/tt0259731/

And one about the Mormon polygamists: [i:4b0777b28e]Banking on Heaven[/i:4b0777b28e]
[imdb.com]

This one's not exactly about a cult, but it exposes the co-opting of Native American spirituality by the New Age movement: White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men
[imdb.com]

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upsidedownnewspaper

Does anybody know the inspirations behind the following portrayals of cults in movies and on tv?

HOLY SMOKE

You'd have to ask Jane Campion to know for sure, but it could really be any Indian guru: Osho/Rajneesh, Muktananda, Sachitananda, Sri Chimnoy, the Maharishi, to name a few.

If you liked [i:f03c6b11f6]Holy Smoke[/i:f03c6b11f6], I would also recommend reading "S" by John Updike. It appears to be based on an Osho/Rajneesh-like guru, written from the point of view of an upper-class suburban woman who leaves her husband to join the guru's ashram.

Quote
Gulab Jamon
I would also recommend reading "S" by John Updike. It appears to be based on an Osho/Rajneesh-like guru, written from the point of view of an upper-class suburban woman who leaves her husband to join the guru's ashram.

Ooh that sounds brill, I really like some of john updike's books :)

i recently rented Constantine. Keanu Reeves plays an exorcist, which for me these days, seemed a metaphor for being an exit counselor. it might be too much supernatural for some people on this board, but taken with a grain of salt, and as a myth, it struck me as an excellent parable of escape from the darkside...

i also highly recommend Disney's "Return to Witch Mountain." Alien child twins vacationing on earth, lock horns with an evil villian/scientist (Christopher Lee) who is honing his mind control methods in a bid for complete world domination. amazing that this Disney family film does such a rarely seen expert job of depicting the battle for the mind.

Oh! The Wicker Man.

Edward Woodward is the copper sent to a remote Scottish isle to investigate the death of a young girl, discovering there a remote island community that has developed its own unusual ways of life..

When the Pitcairn Island scandal broke, I kept thinking of the Wicker Man.

Not so much a film about a cult but at least a film about a strange, isolated community.