The films in this list all portray at least one of the following: coercive control, high control groups aka cults (not necessarily religious), abuse of power, indoctrination, radicalization/extremism, and/or fraud/scams.

Links to:
— Related YouTube Videos
— Related Podcasts
— Janja Lalich’s Recommended Reading

A wide spectrum of cult-like behavior exists in our culture. These movies explore the people who control, manipulate, and take advantage of others as well as how cult leaders and cult-like groupthink exploit the vulnerable — including in the context of: 
     i) white-collar criminals and fraudsters who prey on innocent people
     ii) certain aspects of mainstream religions and more doctrinaire & extreme splinter groups
     iii) capitalism and its tendency toward greed, exploitation, institutional cover-ups, and other predatory & corrupt practices

Most Popular Categories of Destructive Cults:
1) religious cults — often have a charismatic leader and operate with religious dogma
2) political cults — organized around a simplistic political theory, sometimes with a religious cloak, “extremist”
3) psychotherapy/educational cults — claim to give the participant “insight” and “enlightenment” 
4) commercial cults — play on people’s desire to make money, they typically promise riches but actually enslave people

Different flavors and hybrids of the categories above: doomsday cults, polygamist cults, racist cults, terrorist organizations (overlaps with political & religious cults), conspiracy theory communities, activist groups, large group awareness training, self-help cults, the troubled teen industry, human trafficking rings (close to commercial cults, includes (1) labor trafficking like sweat shops and (2) sex trafficking by pimps - domestic abuse survivors are also under similar control forms), and personality cults (particularly if one person exerts undue influence over another or a small group of people, such as a family), fitness cults, lifestyle groups, bible-based cults, new age cults, eastern meditation cults, sex cults, commercial cults can include organized crime cults (mafia, mob, yakuza, gangs, etc.), marketing cults (pyramid schemes, Multilevel Marketing, etc.), and business cults (corporations that demand obedience and unpaid overtime from its workers & sometimes forces them into company sponsored “motivational training” where people are not permitted to stand up or leave to go to the bathroom - e.g. Werner Erhard’s EST program)

Links to related Letterboxd lists: 
— Literal Cult Films
— Drinking the Kool-Aid: Fictional Cults and Sects on Film
— Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) Films
— Cults - Factions - Communes - Sects
— Films for 'Scam Goddess' Fans
— Pyramids, Ponzi Schemes and Corporate Cons
— Cults/Covens/Sects/Religious Fanatics/Communes/Secret Societies/Crazy Families 
— Cult Appeal: Documentaries on New Religious Movements 
— Greek life weirds me out
— Movies that make you think about religion
— Religious Cult Films, Ranked
— Cross Purposes: Documentaries on Religious Realities

Subtle control can take place when a person sacrifices a piece of themself for someone/something. More extreme cases of being manipulated include giving away your money, your rights, your body, and your choices. There’s thousands of these people and groups around the world. Some are more dangerous than others. (Link to: The Ethics of Manipulation)

For even more, check out r/cults & Steven Hassan’s book Combating Cult Mind Control, specifically the Influence Continuum and BITE Model (or his 2020 dissertation arguing that the judicial system should incorporate research that explains the psychology of predatory exploitation and factors that can help to identify it when it occurs).

(too many) Keywords:
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