Hi everyone! Welcome back to An Eclectic Place! In recent news, I decided to start a podcast! It’s going to be an extension of my blog, so more travel stories, history of’s, and more! For right now it’s just going to be me, but hopefully, in the future, I’ll have some guests on. Check out the latest episode at the end of this post or go here! Anyways, I thought that this week could be a more laid-back blog post since I just started the podcast. So I thought I would share some of my favorite and binge-worthy documentaries.

Something Culty

The first one I want to write about is the one that I watched most recently called The Vow, on HBO Max. You learn all about the inner workings of the cult, NXIVM. Now, I have to admit that when I was watching the first episode the thought, “Hey, this doesn’t seem bad” popped in my head. I was so wrong and I realized just how easy it is to be involved in a cult. Now, I’ll give some background on the cult, but I don’t want to give too much away because it is worth the watch!

Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman were the founders of NXIVM. Marketed as a “self-help organization” where you could enroll in workshops to learn to take control of your life. These classes were mostly targeted towards successful people who were going through a rough time and needing guidance. These workshops were called “Executive Success Programs” or ESPs. Sounds beneficial, right? Wrong! Essentially these programs broke down people, so then they could be shaped into a new person. For some people though, it wasn’t like this. They would take a few workshops and then be done with the program. However, for a majority, they would get sucked into this belief that Raniere was this godly being that was going to change the world with this science and factual-based “program.”

Now, I won’t say too much more, but basically, it ends up being this cult that demoralizes women and leads to a secret sex ring of sorts. So far there is only one season, but it seems like they are filming a second season based on the trial proceedings that happened this past year. Oh yeah, the leaders and financial backers all get arrested because of this group of ex-NXIVM higher-ups getting justice. Such as Mark Vicente, the director of What the Bleep Do We (K)now!? and Bonnie Piesse, the actress who played Beru Lars, Luke Skywalker’s aunt. I highly recommend watching this documentary, it was super intriguing and crazy how many people became involved!

Definently not The Holiday Inn

For some reason, I am a huge fan of true crime shows, podcasts, stories, and all of the above. I’m at the point where listening to a true-crime podcast before bed doesn’t freak me out. If true crime is not your thing, just skip to the next header! However, if true crime is your thing check out this binge-worthy documentary on Netflix, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at The Cecil Hotel.

If you don’t know, The Cecil Hotel is located on Main Street in Los Angeles, right in the middle of Skid Row. Once a grand hotel of the early 1900s quickly fell into despair by the 1950s. Suicide and overdoses became a common occurrence at The Cecil Hotel. With all of this despair and darkness shadowing the hotel the new owners tried to rebrand the place. Marketing it as a hip and chic hostel for travelers of all kinds, calling it “Stay on Main.” However, these travelers don’t know that there was a separate entrance still open as “The Cecil Hotel.” Once they left the “Stay on Main” lobby, they shared the same facilities as the Cecil Hotel guests.

The series shares the back story of the Cecil Hotel but mainly focuses on the suspicious death of Elisa Lam. After a video of her acting erratically in the elevator went viral everyone on the internet tried to figure out her disappearance and then eventual death. Elisa Lam was just a student exploring California, but the journey that follows is full of mystery and suspicion. Will we ever find out what happened to Elisa Lam? Watch this documentary on Netflix to find out.

For when you’re “[T]rying very hard not to connect with people right now”

One of my all-time favorite shows is Schitt’s Creek. After I finished the last season I discovered that they filmed a documentary called Schitt’s Creek: Best Wishes Warmest Regards, available on Netflix. It’s a look behind the scenes and filming of the last season. Eugene and Dan Levey also share how they cast the characters and how important fashion was to the show! Now, I highly recommend watching the series before watching the documentary, or else a lot of things will be spoiled. My boyfriend and I just finished watching the series and I’m looking forward to re-watching the documentary! Just make sure to have some tissues nearby.

Injury included in ticket purchase

If you want a mind-boggling documentary to check out, Class Action Park on HBO Max is for you. This isn’t a series, so you can easily watch it in one sitting. Which I did! It takes you on quite the roller coaster ride, pun intended. 😉 From no adult supervision, kids running the park, no rules, and a long list of lawsuits anything can happen at Action Park.

Created in the ’70s by Eugene Mulvihill and his company, Great American Recreation (GAR), Action Park was a staple in New Jersey, at least for the kids. Created to generate revenue during the summer months at the VernonValley/Great Gorge ski area. There were three sections to the park, Motorworld, Waterworld, and the Alpine Center. As popular as the park was, it was poorly designed by Mulvihill and out-of-the-box engineers with wild ideas. This led to a water slide that took you upside down and a dangerous “White Water Rafting” experience with the possibility to fall out of the “river.” The park did eventually get shut down, but by that point, there were endless lawsuits and at least six people had died due to injury at Action Park. If you want to watch something that makes you think, “How could this happen?”, then this is the documentary for you.

The Festival that Never Happened, but Everyone Remembers

Music festivals are a huge event these days! From Coachella to Burning Man and more. However, have you ever heard about the Fyre Festival? Well if you haven’t I recommend watching, Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened on Netflix.

Essentially the festival was a massive con marketed as a “luxury” music festival. Big names such as Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid even promoted the festival on Instagram. Founded by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, the festival was created to promote the Fyre app, which could be used to book music artists. Which was a good idea, but the execution of the festival fell short. Gourmet meals, luxury villas, and a beautiful destination in the Bahamas are what people were promised. They arrived at the island to cheese sandwiches, disaster tents, and no security or way off the island. People spent thousands of dollars on these tickets and now had nowhere to sleep or anything to eat.

The documentary follows the story of McFarland’s “grand idea” and how he took advantage of the system. I highly recommend checking this one out because it really hits the point that not everything marketed is real.

I have a never-ending list of documentary recommendations, so maybe I’ll do a part 2 some time in the future! I hope you enjoyed this shorter blog post about binge-worthy documentaries. Give me a follow @aneclecticplace on Instagram and check out the new podcast on Anchor. You can also listen below! 🙂 Thank you so much for your continued support!

Take care and stay safe,

Renée

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