Want To Learn More About Jaime Gomez From ‘How To Become A Cult Leader’ on Netflix? Watch ‘Holy Hell’

How To Become A Cult Leader explores the inner workings of six infamous cult leaders, one of which is the failed Hollywood star Jaime Gomez, who founded the Buddhafield cult in the 1980s.

Gomez was a ruthless ruler who made his followers undergo plastic surgery and follow a strict diet, which prohibited sugar, gluten, alcohol and more. As time went on, some followers were made to “try out” the surgical procedures so that Gomez could study the results.

In addition, the docuseries details serious sexual abuse allegations against Gomez. “When I suggested that I didn’t want to have sex with him anymore, his answer to me was, ‘Well, maybe you don’t need to be here anymore. Maybe you’ve outgrown this,” one former cult member said. “It’s like being threatened with excommunication. I didn’t want to pay that price. What would I do? Where would I go?”

Another said, “He had planned sex with me years before we had it, he would tell me later… It wasn’t a normal, healthy relationship. It was him pleasing himself.”

These conversations were brought to light when a former high-ranking member of the church sent an explosive email full of damning allegations against Gomez to other cult members. The series states that after 20 years of operation, this is when Buddhafield began to crumble. 

Did How To Become A Cult Leader leave you craving for more information about Gomez? If so, you’ve come to the right place, because we know the perfect documentary to watch next.

Holy Hell Is A Documentary Made By A Former Buddhafield Cult Member

Long before How To Become A Cult Leader premiered on Netflix, there was another documentary that gave insight into Gomez’s cult. The 2016 documentary Holy Hell is directed by Will Allen, a former Buddhafield cult member, and features his first-person account of being in the cult. The movie features footage that Allen obtained in his role as the cult’s videographer, as well as interviews with former members of the cult. 

Holy Hell premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release shortly after. 

The synopsis reads, “After graduating from college, young idealist Will Allen joined a spiritual community filled with like-minded people looking for some answers to the basic questions of life, led by a charismatic but secretive guru. Camera in hand, Allen documented 20 years of living inside this community, showing how his idealism began to unravel as more is revealed about the true nature of this cult.”

How To Watch Holy Hell:

Holy Hell is streaming on Peacock – and here’s the best part, you can watch it with a basic subscription to the streamer, which is only $5.99/month. For those who want to view the documentary without ads, the platform also offers a premium subscription at $9.99/month. 

Maybe you don’t want to subscribe to Peacock in order to watch. Lucky for you, the documentary can also be viewed on Amazon Prime Video with a subscription to Topic, which comes with a 7-day free trial for new users. 

It gets even sweeter, you can watch Holy Hell for free on Tubi. 

What’s your excuse? Get streaming.