LEADER, THE
(director/writer: Michael Gallagher; cinematographer: Ben Mullen; editor: Joel Blacker; music: Joseph Bishara; cast:
Vera Farmiga (Bonnie Lu Nettles), Tim Blake Nelson (Marshall Herff Applewhite), Jim Parsons (Warren), Grace Caroline Currey (Michelle), Simon Rex (David); Runtime: 104; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Jana Gallagher, Michael Wormser, Michael Gallagher, Joel David Moore, Matt Murphie; Balcony 9 Productions; 2026)
“A disturbing film about the infamous suicidal Heaven’s Gate spiritual cult.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Michael Gallagher (“Smiley”/”Funny Story”) directs a disturbing film about the infamous Heaven’s Gate spiritual cult, who in March of 1997, their commune of 39 committed mass suicide on their site at Rancho Santa Fe, Ca., and were found asphyxiated in bunk beds, dressed in identical black uniforms, in a rental house, while waiting for a spaceship, following the Hale-Bopp comet to take them to a safer world on the next level.
The group was co-founded in the 1970s by a failed gay teacher (Tim Blake Nelson), with untreated mental issues, and a nurse, Bonnie Lu Nettles (Vera Farmiga), he met while a patient in the hospital where she works.
The members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were celibate, and wore their hair in an asexual pageboy cut to make themselves look gender free.
Some new recruits like the dedicated Warren (Jim Parsons), the vulnerable Michelle (Grace Caroline Currey) and David (Simon Rex) get covered. When Michelle and David give in to their sex drive, the cult group tortures them.
Bonnie Lu became sick and died in 1985, and missed the big event.
It’s a creepy film about ignorant people following their crackpot, huckster leader to die in vain and be so much in denial they actually believed this UFO nonsense story. It’s the kind of film that leads you to believe there are a lot of dumb and gullible people in America.
It was well-performed and well-executed. Tim Blake Nelson is just bonkers, and makes this unpleasant film a curious watch.
It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 6/15/2026 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com