The Creepiest Movies About Cults, Ranked (According To IMDb)

Cults. They’re creepy and mysterious, but also fascinating and captivating. The movies on this list span a wide range of cult activity – from horror films that center around cultist necromancers, to documentaries that pull the veil off of real cults that have been functioning in the shadows of society.

What makes all these movies so memorable is that they’re insanely terrifying. Whether from being excellently-made horror films or even just for showing the world the truth about actual cults and their brainwashing tactics. Here are the ten creepiest movies about cults, ranked (according to IMDb).

10 The Lodge (6.0)

In The Lodge, a soon-to-be stepmother, Grace (Riley Keough), is snowed in at a small resort village with her fiance’s two children. Tensions rise between the three, and before long, all hell breaks loose.

The two stepkids pull a prank on Grace by convincing her she’s trapped in purgatory. Little do they know that Grace grew up in a fanatic Christan cult and is now fully convinced she’s fighting for her chance to make it to heaven.

9 The Sacrament (6.1)

The Sacrament, which was produced by Eli Roth, is a loose, fictional retelling of the very real Jonestown Massacre. Back in the 70s, a socialist Christian sect called the People’s Temple built their own village in Guyana, South America.

It all came to an end in 1978 when a US Senator visited the village and discovered some members wanted to escape. The group’s leader, Jim Jones, had the senator assassinated and told everyone to kill themselves in ritualist suicide.

8 The Ritual (6.3)

Based on the 2011 novel of the same, and most definitely inspired by The Blair Witch Project, The Ritual centers around a group of hikers who stumble upon a cult in the woods that is seeking to summon an ancient demon.

What made The Ritual so interesting is that at the end of the film, once the demon is summoned, the movie transforms into a monster flick, after originally serving as a slow burn horror-thriller.

7 Mandy (6.5)

Mandy was a surprise hit. It starred Nicolas Cage as Red, a man who lives in a mountain town with his girlfriend Mandy. After a notorious hippie cult kidnaps Mandy, Red goes on a balls-to-the-walls revenge escapade that’s bonkers, psychedelic, and totally captivating. The movie was praised for its soundtrack, and use of lighting and color.

A critic at RogerEbert even stated, “For all of the endless feral performances that Cage has given, in movies good, bad and forgettable, Cosmatos’ style-driven, ‘80s-tastic passion for weird worlds and characters takes full advantage of Cage’s greatness, and then some.”

6 Martha Marcy May Marlene (6.9)

In Elizabeth Olsen’s breakout role, she portrayed a young woman who has just escaped from a cult. The movie focuses on her inability to adjust back to the normal world and the flashbacks she has of the horrible things she had to do as a member.

The film was hailed by critics and won awards at its Sundance premiere. it also set the stage for Elizabeth Olsen to become one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses.

5 The Vow (7.1)

The Vow is a documentary that exposes the secret sex cult that existed with the “self-help” group NXIVM (nex-ee-um). Everything came to a crashing halt in 2018 when the group’s founder, Keith Raniere, along with actress Allison Mack, was arrested for racketeering and sex trafficking.

HBO’s documentary The Vow dives deep into the group, its members, and the lasting trauma the cult’s survivors face. The NXIVM trials and investigations are ongoing, and Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in October.

4 The Master (7.2)

In this Oscar-nominated 2012 film, Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix) stumbles upon a new religious/self-help movement called “The Cause”.

The group seeks to find enlightenment under its charismatic leader, who seems to come up with new rules and lessons every day. The film was heavily inspired by L. Ron Hubbard’s quest to develop Scientology but also sought to critique the way America thought it was the global savior after World War II.

3 Jesus Camp (7.4)

Jesus Camp is a documentary that chronicles a summer at an extremist evangelical Christian kid’s summer camp. The documentary set out to be a fair and neutral look at what went on, but after audiences watched children be constantly brainwashed and emotionally abused, a national outrage broke out.

The camp in question had to be shut down, and the film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 79th Oscars. The film now also serves as a cultural artifact of the post-9/11 Islamaphobia that was rampant among conservative Americans.

2 The Wicker Man (7.5)

When a reporter arrives on a small Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, he quickly discovers that the island’s residents have formed some sort of pagan Celtic cult. It becomes clear that the island’s fruit harvest was bad and therefore the residents need to offer a human sacrifice to appease the gods.

The movie is considered one of the best horror films of all time and has had a lasting legacy – both being remade in 2006, and also being cited as the main influence for 2019’s Midsommar.

1 Rosemary’s Baby (8.0)

In Roman Polanski’s classic film, a woman named Rosemary becomes impregnated with the spawn of Satan by a demonic cult. Not only was the movie praised for being filled with tension and horror, but it was also groundbreaking. It was one of the first movies that ever mentioned things like rape and the occult.

Much of the film centers around Rosemary wondering if she’s going insane, which many critics believe to be a commentary on the archaic belief of “female hysteria”.

About The Author

Keith Langston
(155 Articles Published)

Keith Langston is a writer for ScreenRant, as well as Travel Channel and Passport Magazine. He holds a deep passion for film, travel, and adventure. He fully believes that ‘The Faculty’ is the greatest movie ever made.

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