It can often be difficult to understand why people would get involved in a cult, but there is certainly an allure for some to fringe groups that seem to offer answers – no matter how odd or fantastical it seems from the outside. The documentary Holy Hell, which got great notices following its Sundance debut (the words ‘fascinating’ and ‘chilling’ turned up a lot in review), takes a look at what happened to those who followed Michel, who founded Los Angeles-based spiritual community known as The Buddha Field.
Michel was gay, although sex was forbidden among the members of the community. Will Allen joined Buddhafield as their videographer, and as Michel’s personal masseuse. Eventually the relationship between master and pupil turned sexual, but even then the life of peace and harmony they were all promised held everything together.
As so often seems to happen with cults though, the members began to see things about Michel they didn’t like – not least his paranoia, need for control, secrecy and demanding nature, as well as revelations about his past and what he had been forcing members of the community to do. Things started to collapse and Will escaped, taking much of the footage he shot with him, which has become the basis for Holy Hell. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]
The 1996 film Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? is perhaps best known for having been made for cinemas but being so laughably silly that it ended up airing on NBC as a TV movie. It certainly didn’t help Tori Spelling’s career at the time, but it has become a bit of a cult classic.
Synopsis: Liebmann is a visually evocative, subtly emotive story of a man who must face the ghosts of his past before he can start a new life and engage in the possibility of true happiness.
With a selection of recognisable gay faces and a trailer that suggests it might be pretty fun and sexy, Confessions is one to watch out for. Another very good sign is it was written and directed by Mark Bessenger, the man behind the excellent The Last Straight Man, one of our 
A few weeks ago it was confirmed that after some hints and homoeroticism in Bad Neighbours (known simply as Neighbors in the US), Dave Franco’s character, Pete, was going to be an out and proud gay man in the sequel. He’s also getting engaged, and if you haven’t seen it yet, a new clip shows a rather sweet set-up where the frat boys get together to make the proposal a special occasion.
America is a big and diverse country, which in most respects is a great thing, but it almost makes it easier for it to retain enclaves of people with attitudes so far from the mainstream that it’s difficult to believe that such a place could still exist. It also makes you wonder how many people hold these attitudes but keep quiet about it.
Back in September 2014 we posted about the fact Lena Dunham was producing a documentary about a New York tailor that specialises in making clothes for trans and genderqueer people. At the time is was called Three Suits, but now it’s changed its name to Suited, and the trailer for the doc, which will air on HBO, has arrived.
Tickled looks like its going to be a documentary that needs to be seen, not least because it’s tells such an unlikely and fascinating story. Indeed, it’s so bizarre that when watching the trailer, you might start wondering whether they made the whole thing up – except that they didn’t.
US TV network Fox has been releasing TV teasers for the new shows it’s planning to premiere this Autumn, and amongst them was a brief look at their new TV movie version of classic Rocky Horror Picture Show. It doesn’t show too much, but there’s enough there to show it could be fun.
Parched looks like it could be a great little world, focussing on a quartet of women living in a society that seems determined to make them powerless, subjugated and potentially subject to violence with inpunity, but who manage to find strength in one another.