Nunnyunnini
16000 years ago, the Mammoth Skull God Nunnynunni accompanies his tribe across the land bridge from Siberia to a new world in this mesmerizing sequence from American Gods.
Culty cults
The Cult of Rame Tep (“Young Sherlock Holmes”, 1985)
The teenage Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe), John Watson (Alan Cox) and Elizabeth Hardy (Sophie Ward) investigate the sinister Cult of Rame Tep in this tense scene from Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). While the notion of a secretive and literally underground ancient Egyptian cult active in Victorian London strikes a romantic chord, various occult and esoteric … Read moreThe Cult of Rame Tep (“Young Sherlock Holmes”, 1985)
“It is a beautiful night for the end of the world” – The Reasonabilists (Parks and Recreation)
For a while in the 1970s, our town was run by a freaky cult, and every few years the remaining members predict that the world’s gonna end, and they have an all-night vigil in the park. It’s super annoying. Turns out when you think the world’s ending, you don’t aim so carefully in the port-a-potties. … Read more“It is a beautiful night for the end of the world” – The Reasonabilists (Parks and Recreation)
The Planet People (“The Quatermass Conclusion”, 1979)
Scientist Bernard Quatermass has his first glimpse of the Planet People, a hippie/punk cult drawn to megalithic stone circle sites, in this clip from the 1979 series (also released internationally as a movie) The Quatermass Conclusion. On a personal note, while I have no other memory of having seen this show, I do recall this … Read moreThe Planet People (“The Quatermass Conclusion”, 1979)
“The Inevitable Death of Fascism”: Cults of Life and Death in “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Furiosa”
The Genetically Modified Skeptic YouTube channel offers a cogent comparison of religious/cultic themes in the Mad Max universe with real-world fascistic (and anti-fascistic) movements. Readers with a taste for Mad Max cult action may also enjoy this behind-the-scenes glimpse into the training of the actors and stuntmen who played Immortan Joe’s War Boys.
“When Talking to Aliens is Your Religion”
The New York Times offers some insight into the Aetherius Society, one of the OG UFO religions of the 20th century.
“How to Not Start a Cult”
Matt Arnold speaks at the September 2024 Fluidity Forum in Detroit, Michigan: It all started with good intentions. A group had heightened emotional and psychological experiences, and years later, some of the participants wrote regretful blog posts saying they gained a sense of purpose but lost their sense of self; their sense of proportion; and … Read more“How to Not Start a Cult”
Meanwhile City
A re-cut of the “Meanwhile City” storyline from the 2008 movie Franklyn, in which private investigator/masked vigilante Jonathan Preest – the only atheist in a fantastical metropolis of bizarre religions – pursues a vendetta against a shadowy cult leader known as “the Individual”.
“The Sound of My Voice” (2012)
In Sound of My Voice, amateur documentarists Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) go undercover to investigate a secretive cult led by the enigmatic Maggie (Britt Marling, who also co-wrote the story), who claims to have traveled back in time from the year 2054. According to co-writer/director Zal Batmanglij: We were interested in fringe … Read more“The Sound of My Voice” (2012)
“Glory be to the Bomb, and to the Holy Fallout”
In Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), a group of mutated, telepathic humans who survived nuclear holocaust have retreated into underground bunkers and evolved a new religion – the worship of the atomic bomb.