bdmetronews desk ॥ The documentary Holy Hell, about a long-running cult based in California and Texas, is filled with horrifying revelations and cringe-worthy moments of outright absurdity. But the movie’s most shocking element is never shown on screen: Director Will Allen spent 20 mostly horrible years under the toxic influence of the cult’s leader and yet seems like a well-adjusted person who will answer any and all questions about the nightmarish experience.
Holy Hell, which premiered at Sundance on Monday, tracks the disturbing story of the Buddahfield cult from the inside. Allen, now 53 years old, was just 22 when he was invited by his sister to join what, at the time, seemed like a joyous commune in California. He had just graduated film school with little plan for the future, and had been kicked out of his parents’ home after coming out as gay.
And, as the documentary shows, the group really did provide a respite for him in the early going. Video that Allen captured as the group’s unofficial filmmaker depict a yuppie paradise on the California coast, filled with dancing and singing and spiritual awakening imparted by its leader, a man who went only by the name Michel.
“I got out of this group and I thought I knew what happened,” Allen tells Yahoo Movies. “But then I was like, was he evil from the beginning? Did he know all of this? So I had to go and ask all my friends, and I had to put the pieces together.”
