Holy Hell (2016) poster
2016 · documentary

Holy Hell

Directed by Will Allen1h 40m2016
ElsewhereIMDb7.06kMetacritic64
  • sombre
  • measured
  • cold
Movie DNA

Sombre, measured, measured documentary, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

An inside look at a West Hollywood cult formed by a charismatic teacher in the 1980s that eventually imploded.

Our read · Holy Hell (2016) reads as a sombre, measured, grounded documentary entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where to watch
Not on streaming here right now.Check JustWatch Check Letterboxd
More info & search links
Fingerprint

The shape of Holy Hell

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a firsthand account of how a charismatic cult unravels.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 25attention 3/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightYou want pure entertainment or avoid stories of manipulation and abuse.

If Holy Hell is your film
Wild Wild Country (2018)
charismatic leader and devoted followers
(longer miniseries format)
Going Clear (2015)
exposé of controlling religious group
(focuses on Scientology specifically)
The Family (2019)
Australian cult doc with insider footage
(different country and era)
DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Calibrate yourself