SEX CULT: Buddhafield, "Holy Hell" (film)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly, Will Allen (Holy Hell on FB, GoH, FW, The Lip TV

(Worldwide News) "Holy Hell" documents the cult Buddhafield formed in California in the 80s. It left many members feeling sexually exploited, abused. Talking Movies' Tom Brook reports.

I saw the light! I peaked! I'm liberated now!

"Holy Hell" is a new documentary directed by Will Allen, a young man who found himself drawn to a spiritual community and its charismatic leader.

He went on GoHarrison (5-29) and FilmWeek today as the movie goes into wide release.

Whoo! This is enlightenment, motherlovers!!

The doc tells the story of the filmmaker as well as his friends' and family's time with The Buddhafield (a.k.a. Holy Company, Satsang, etc.), a Los Angeles-based cult he joined in the 1980s (now moved to Hawaii). At that time it called itself an "anti-cult," just a spiritual group, good holy company.

Just out of college, young idealist filmmaker Will Allen joined a secretive spiritual community led by a charismatic "guru." Camera in hand, he documented 20 years of living inside a cult that changed how he would see the world forever.

• VIDEO: Don't confuse the cult with the real Buddhafield

Westerners worship false white guru (Holy Hell)

He recorded everything, offering audiences a juicy and unparalleled look into the extreme ideals and expectations that make up communities like this born in Los Angeles, the city of cults. Total devotion turns to paranoia, cracks begin to unfold as unexpected truths were revealed about the "enlightened" leader they built every fiber of their lives around.

For the first time, the filmmaker turns the camera on himself and asks fellow former-cult members to come to terms with their past and the unbelievable deceit they experienced. "Holy Hell" leaves viewers with many burning questions, but ultimately this one: What are we willing to believe to sustain our greatest happiness?

"Princess"

Molestation dissociation double-feature: "Princess" (Thanks, step-dad).

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Deeper interview

Director Will Allen shares clips from the documentary as well as the trailer, and recalls his personal relationship with Michel (which means "The Teacher"), the name used at the time by the group’s leader. Allen also discusses what life was like inside the cult, why he started filming, and how it all came crashing down in this episode of BYOD hosted by Ondi Timoner.

GUEST: Will Allen is a film graduate from Southern Methodist University. Shortly after college, he ended up living inside a guru-based society for two decades, during which time he was continuously filming the world he inhabited. After finally freeing himself at the age of 44, he began using his archives of footage to tell the tale of "Holy Hell."