Holy Hell

"Holy Hell" should have dug a lot deeper and told its story with a lot more finesse. What happened? Maybe, after all these years, Allen was still too close to his subject?

With unprecedented access to archival footage and former members of The Buddhafield, it's impossible to look away from Holy Hell.

Like watching a takedown of Hitler by a disillusioned Leni Reifenstahl, what emerges is one of the decade's strangest and most unsettling documentaries, especially given its as-yet-unwritten ending.

Mr. Allen has made an engrossing and tense documentary, though his insider knowledge is sometimes a hindrance.

Does a sub-par job probing the psyches of both Buddhafield's leader and its members.

Even with admitted self-censorship, this intimate and often fascinating footage reveals a megalomaniac who genuinely inspired his early disciples.

Allen's gentle compassion for his fellow cult survivors is understandable, but is ultimately unsatisfying. Still, for fans of cult documentaries, Holy Hell is worth it for its insider footage alone.

What begins as a video memoir evolves into a much larger portrait of betrayal, grief and healing.

The foundation is there for a good documentary to happen, but the fact that amateurish filmmaking got in the way of the story really does a major disservice to the overall story.

Tries to get across the ambiance of a community under the sway of a weirdly magnetic figure, but inevitably it comes up short; nonetheless the taste that it provides is chilling.

An uneven blend of news program, suspense narrative and toward the end, somewhat saccharine self-help exercise.