Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke.
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Documentaries like this aren’t made for comfort. Kids are involved, so yeah, expect to feel sick in your stomach. But if there’s one thing Netflix nails, it’s showing how deep cults can burrow into ordinary lives, and "Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story" is a horror story that doesn’t quit.
If there’s one thing every wild cult has, it’s a leader. In this case, it’s Hildebrandt, a Utah-based therapist who had people wrapped around her finger while abusing children and teaching others to do the same.
Her manipulations escalated over the years, culminating in 2023 when Ruby Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s house.
His hands were still restrained when he ran to a neighbour, which finally forced the authorities to intervene. Both women were arrested.
The documentary doesn’t just focus on Franke and her YouTube channel, “8 Passengers”. It’s Hildebrandt’s story, the mastermind. And watching her is terrifying because she’s not loud, not aggressive, not scary in the obvious sense.
She’s calm, charming, and convincing. She makes people believe her lies are gospel. The victims weren’t random; they were mostly Mormon or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) church families, already conditioned to trust authority.
Hildebrandt found people ready to follow blindly, and then pushed them to cross lines they would never have imagined.
The kids in her care were starved, abused, and terrified. Some had shaved heads, others were tied by their hands and ankles. Officers at the scene admitted they had never seen abuse at this level. And these weren’t her children.
None of them. She had no personal attachment, no familial connection. Yet she managed to convince adults and children alike that this was “therapy” and “discipline.”
Hildebrandt’s control extended to the adults too. In Utah, therapy isn’t always part of the norm, which left a vacuum she exploited perfectly.
Couples therapy, workshops, parenting seminars - all packaged as empowerment, guidance, or life hacks - were really tools for control. Men weren’t spared either. Husbands were labelled “sex addicts” or “lust addicts,” often based solely on normal adult behaviour like viewing pornography. Men were isolated, wives were manipulated, and Hildebrandt positioned herself as the unquestionable authority.
Money played a big part, too. Sessions, workshops, consultations, people spent thousands believing each one could save their marriage, their family, or their child. Every interaction added another layer of manipulation.
Hildebrandt made it look like she was helping, while she was destroying lives. That’s the frightening part: the charm, the calm, the “life coach” persona masking a deeply abusive system.
The documentary hits hard when showing the kids being rescued. They’re scared, even when help is offered. They’ve been conditioned to fear rescue itself. Starvation, physical abuse, restraint, it’s heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.
Netflix doesn’t shy away from the visuals, and it makes the horror hit harder. Watching Hildebrandt manipulate families while presenting herself as a saviour is chilling.
It’s also infuriating to see how far her influence stretched. She sold empowerment to women in a church where men were considered more important, while secretly keeping women under her thumb. Couples’ lives were wrecked.
Men left their homes, families were fractured, bank accounts drained. People who thought they were getting help ended up victims, fooled by someone with a godlike personality who convinced them she had the answers.
What’s staggering is how deliberate her manipulation was. She trained other moms, including Ruby Franke, to think religiously punishing children was acceptable. She weaponised religion, psychology, and social trust to get what she wanted, and it worked.
The documentary proves just how much people can be trained to believe anything when someone presents themselves as all-knowing.
This documentary is a study in manipulation, desperation and blind faith. Hildebrandt’s power shows how easily control can be wielded in communities already primed to obey, and how far someone can push ordinary people when they present themselves as an authority figure.
"Evil Influencer" isn’t easy to watch, but it’s necessary. The documentary also highlights how desperate people can be for answers and help, to the point where they accept anything or anyone with a godlike personality without thinking. And it’s heartbreaking. Because in the end, they become victims.
*** solid and enjoyable, though not groundbreaking.