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members who have ―survived‖ deprogramming attempts, will identify with the emotionally
charged, physically coercive tactics used by deprogrammers in film, whether they were
abused or not.13 Cult members hear the atrocity tales about intervention survivors.
These movie stories often portray the cult or cult leader as villainous, deceptive or
dangerous, and the deprogrammer as an eccentric entrepreneur. The distressed family
almost always appears as the primary victim. The movie family pays expensive fees, suffers
the hate of the cult member, and risks retribution from the cult or a prosecutor if the
intervention fails. In my reality, families have not been so easily duped by ―mercenary‖
deprogrammers, dedicated deprogrammers have rarely made a good living, and families
have known that prosecutors are loath to press criminal charges against them. My
contention is that none of these film stereotypes represent the usual family experience in
the more common, non-coercive, or less common coercive intervention, nor do they portray
the average group member‘s experience in most groups that carry the ―cult‖ label.
Many of the films I review, except for A Mother’s Deception and Holy Smoke, portray groups
that resemble the Unification Church or ―Moonies.‖ The movie cult has an authoritarian male
leader with anti-social traits, a distorted Biblical doctrine, and controls members in a
communal environment. The group devalues the dissenting family as ―satanic,‖ and
members use deceptive fundraising and recruiting tactics. All of these films represent
families that have been cut off by the group member, families that are now desperate to
restore the member to his or her ―proper‖ personality outside of the controlling group.
Ticket to Heaven
In 1981 the Canadian Film Development Corporation and the Guardian Trust Company
released one of the first feature films about a cult deprogramming. Ticket to Heaven derived
its title from the cult fund-raiser‘s belief that whenever someone bought a product that
supported a cult cause, even under a ruse, that contributor was buying a ―ticket to heaven.‖
This movie, starring Nick Mancuso as David, the cult recruit, and R. H. Thomson as Linc the
deprogrammer, mimics the experience of former Unification Church members. The UC had
gained the dubious distinction of being the model cult in public perception throughout the
1970s and 1980s.
In Ticket to Heaven the concerned family hires a deprogrammer after trying in various ways
to dissuade David from group influence. They arrange and execute a clumsy, illegal
abduction of David. They take him to a ―safe house‖ where he remains under guard for two
or more days until the deprogrammer, Linc, shows up. David remains unmoved from his
faith despite all family efforts until Linc arrives. No one in the family seems to know Linc
save by reputation. He arrives dressed casually in jeans, cowboy boots and a black leather
jacket. He carries a small briefcase.
After the family and guard cautiously admit this mysterious Lone Ranger, his first utterance
is brief: ―Where is he?‖ He repeats the question, not bothering to greet the stunned people
he meets. Linc silently walks to the doorway of the room where David is sitting on a
mattress with his sister. Linc orders the sister out of the room with a motion of his hand. As
she passes him he glances approvingly at her backside. Then Linc slowly approaches David
and stands above him. David is staring blankly, showing signs of nervousness. Linc drops to
his knees and stares into David‘s eyes. The family and a security man huddle in the
doorway, watching intently. Suddenly, Linc shoves David back onto the mattress and pins
him by the shoulders. With his nose practically touching David‘s, Linc exclaims, ―Love me,
David. I‘m Satan.‖
In the ensuing deprogramming scenes, Linc‘s strategies include shocking jargon, continual
questioning, condescension toward cult practices, and desecration of the cult‘s doctrine—the
latter accomplished in one scene when Linc steps on the sacred book of the group. These

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tactics are mixed with genuine concern, comparative Bible passage discussion, and gentle
prodding until David seems to snap out of his cult personality after a few days. Flash back
scenes portray the group members as highly motivated missionaries who strictly obey
conniving mid-managers and revere the leader almost as a living god. Despite the
stereotypes many former members of similar groups, view the depiction of cult life in Ticket
To Heaven as generally accurate. Understandably, devotees of cult groups are not satisfied
with many representations about group life in the film.
In contrast, deprogrammers I had personally interviewed (at least 20) did not approve of
the coercive interaction tactics used by Linc—none, for instance, approved of physically
shoving or striking a client, nor would they callously step on a group member‘s sacred
book.14 Those deprogrammers, whether active or not today as ―exit counselors,‖ view these
tactics as counterproductive during an intervention. This does not mean that some
deprogrammers have not tried such tactics.15 In the end David de-converts and reunites
with his family.
Moonchild
The 1981 Annie Makepeace production of Moonchild is unique among cult/deprogramming
films in that most of the actors are former cult members who were either deprogrammed or
walked away from the group represented. The story revolves around the actual experience
of Chris Carlson, who plays himself as a ―Moonie‖ of the late 1970s. In this case, his
abduction was by court order as the family obtained a legal guardianship to hold him until
he finished meeting with deprogrammers. The intervention itself was accurately portrayed,
avoiding all gratuitous or sensational action. In this movie, the deprogrammers
accomplished their task with logical argument and friendliness. Despite its amateur style,
Moonchild succeeds where most films of this genre fail, in its relatively accurate and fair
description of that group life. Still, the film offers the impression that coercive tactics are
required to begin and/or sustain a successful intervention.
Thy Will Be Done
Not a movie, this TV series called ―Thy Will Be Done‖ from Minnesota was a special
investigation by The Moore Report about the cult controversy around 1980. Most seasoned
deprogrammers, exit counselors, and anti-cultists are aware of this series that chooses to
document an actual deprogramming as one theme in the report. In the first segment, the
report documents a distressed family whose minor daughter, 17, they legally remove from
the home of a family devoted to a Christian sect led by Rama Behara. Deprogrammers,
much as in Moonchild, work without abusive tactics in a safe house to accomplish their goal
mostly through talk and logical argument. The strong impression again is that ―cult‖
indoctrination is so powerful that some coercion is needed to facilitate a successful
intervention. At a rehab center for former members, the young lady states at the end of the
report that she is ―glad‖ that she was deprogrammed. The cult leader and members refused
to be interviewed for the piece, so we are left with an incomplete and sinister impression of
them.
Split Image
This 1982, F.P.S., Incorporated production called Split Image stars Peter Fonda as Neal
Kirklander, a leader of a rural, communal cult called Homeland. The story is of a young
college student named Danny (actor Michael O‘Keefe) who falls in love with a recruiter from
Homeland and joins the group. Danny comes from a wealthy, materialistic family. His
parents have no sensitivity for social causes and maintain an elitist posture toward those
less fortunate. After a failed attempt to personally remove Danny (newly named Joshua
during a group initiation) from the commune, the frustrated father, played by Brian
Dennehy, has a run-in with the police for refusing to leave the commune. He is arrested.