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Your Top 8 Cult Documentaries on Netflix in 2025 to Binge-Watch Some Darkest Corners of Human Obsession

  • May 28, 2025
  • 9 minute read
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Cults pull viewers in like a swirling storm—beauty on the surface, but hidden snares and dark turns waiting to ensnare beneath. Picture hidden desert kingdoms ruled by charismatic gurus, faith turned into ruthless control, and social media stars mired in webs of manipulation they are unable to escape. These cult documentaries on Netflix untangle disturbing tales of power, deception, and survival

, exposing how easily loyalty can turn into captivity. What is coming next will shock, captivate, and leave no doubt about how deep the Netflix documentary rabbit hole really goes.

If you love peeling back layers of manipulation and surviving jaw-dropping twists, here are all the cult documentaries you can stream on Netflix right now, including new releases from 2025.

Top cult documentaries on Netflix (2025 update)

Behind every cult lies a story full of power, manipulation, and survival. Here is a must-watch list of cult documentaries on Netflix in 2025

 that expose chilling realities.

1. Wild Wild Country (2018)

In Wild Wild Country

, an Indian spiritual guru (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) builds a utopia in rural Oregon, but things spiral fast. His disciples take over a sleepy town, clash with locals, and even commit the largest bioterror attack in US history.

What starts as peace turns into a political battle zone.

The wild card? Ma Anand Sheela—his razor-sharp, no-nonsense secretary who took on the US government with flair

. Wild Wild Country

easily ranks among the best of Netflix’s original documentaries—too gripping, too bold, and simply too good to skip

. This is cult history like you have never seen.

Watch if you like:

Political scandal, cult psychology, high-stakes drama.

Read More: Netflix’s New Crime Documentary Is an Active Serial Predator Investigation: What’s the Story and When Does It Premiere?

2. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022)

Set inside the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), 

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey

exposes how Warren Jeffs ruled thousands through prophetic abuse

. It reveals forced child marriages, female oppression, and how law enforcement finally cracked his fortress.

Raw interviews from brave survivors (many no more than teenagers at the time

) show the personal cost of blind faith. It is haunting, emotional, and an urgent call for justice.

Watch if you like:

True crime, religious extremism, survivor stories.

3. Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult (2024)

TikTok dancers with millions of fans vanish from the spotlight—why? Dancing for the Devil

investigates 7M Films, a management company supposedly run by a controversial pastor (Robert Shinn), accused of brainwashing and isolating its talent.

 Back in January, as TikTok ban talks heated up, this Netflix documentary hit harder

, revealing a world where influencer fame masked disturbing control and cult-like horrors.

Through first-hand confessions, viral videos, and family footage

, it reveals how cult behavior is thriving—even on social media. It is the kind of story you cannot stop scrolling through.

Watch if you like: 

Digital culture, influencer drama, modern cults.

4. CHAOS: The Manson M—— (2025)

This 2025 cult documentary on Netflix, the infamous Manson Family homicides

, questioning if the assassinations were just a small piece of a bigger government puzzle? CIA mind-control experiments (MK-Ultra), secret agents

, and missing files all come into play.

CHAOS: The Manson M——

 flips the narrative from hippie horror to covert operations thriller.

Whether you are a skeptic or believer, the evidence and interviews are deeply unsettling.

Watch if you like:

Conspiracy theories, historical crime, deep investigation.

5. The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping (2024)

The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping

follows teenagers who were abducted from their beds in the middle of the night and sent to remote boot camps under WWASPS

(World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools). These “troubled teen therapy”

boarding schools promised discipline but delivered trauma.

The series is filled with testimonies from now-adult survivors (many still dealing with PTSD), showing how pain was masqueraded as reform. It is part cult, part corporate cover-up—and 100% real.

Watch if you like:

Education reform, youth exploitation, survival stories.

6. Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (Coming July 1, 2025)

The Trainwreck

anthology is serving 8 grippingly horrifying tales

—including the shocking downfall of American Apparel under Dov Charney’s toxic reign. The once-edgy brand fell apart under founder Dov Charney’s leadership. This upcoming documentary digs into the company’s alleged culture of control, employee mistreatment, and claims of assault in the workplace environment.

Through interviews, internal documents, and ex-staffer accounts, Trainwreck

maps the implosion of a fashion empire that toyed with the line between cool and cult.

Watch if you like:

Corporate exposés, fashion industry, power dynamics.

7. The Family (2019)

Operating in silence for decades, The Family

 takes you to a secret Christian political group with astounding influence in Washington DC

. Think White House prayer breakfasts and secret global diplomacy. 

They preach divine authority above democracy, and they have connections. With voices close to the scene coming out, this series traces how a private network of religion became a political force operating in plain sight.

Watch if you like:

Political thrillers, covert networks, religious influence.

8. Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare (2023)

Inspired by Paris Hilton’s own trauma, Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare

follows teenagers coerced into “wilderness therapy”

 programs (officially permitted but highly abusive facilities marketed to parents). Stripped of rights and dignity, teenagers faced emotional and physical torment, all under the guise of behavior reform.

This one is raw, gut-wrenching, and powerful. Survivors take the mic, turning trauma into a demand call for legal change.

Watch if you like:

Survivor advocacy, teen justice, emotional depth.

What cult documentaries reveal about the watchers — not just the believers

Is it the mystery? The mind games? Or just the madness? Cult documentaries pull us in like a magnet, unraveling secret worlds filled with loyalty, lies, and lunacy. People tend to crave meaning, community, and purpose, and cults know exactly how to sell it. These cult stories are borderline likterrifying true crime documentaries on Netflix

that are not just about twisted faith or control—they are about the human need for belonging taken advantage of.

You are not just seeing what went wrong—you are seeing how easily it could happen to anyone. 

From the wild chaos of Wild Wild Country

and the chilling horrors in Keep Sweet

to upcoming fresh dark twists in Trainwreck 

and the eye-opening stories in The Program

and Dancing for the Devil,

these cult documentaries on Netflix in 2025 dish up jaw-dropping drama and mind-bending revelations. With even more explosive stories dropping in 2025, Netflix is the go-to destination for anyone hungry for dark truths and some gripping real-life thrillers

—so get ready to binge like a true cult doc fanatic!

Read More: What Is ‘Cocaine Air’ Coming to Netflix? Here’s All You Need to Know About the Insane Documentary

Which one is your pick—Manson homicides, TikTok cult, or something wilder? Let us know in the comments!

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