Easily one of the damndest things I’ve ever seen, an astounding hour long documentary from 1983. It chronicles the Indian “Disco Sex Guru” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931-1990), who together with a bevy of followers known as sannyasins (whose current ranks include director Marcus Nispil, of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and FRIDAY THE 13th remakes) literally took over the town of Antelope, Oregon in 1981.
FEAR IS THE MASTER 1983 (Trailer)
This stranger-than-fiction account was related quite thoroughly in the 2018 Netflix docuseries WILD WILD COUNTRY, but the more compact and concise—and factually questionable—FEAR IS THE MASTER has its own charms. It features revealing interviews with former sannyasins and actual footage of their activities, held together by oft-overwrought narration.
The filmmakers make no pretense of objectivity, opening and closing the film with footage of Jim Jones and Hitler, and the comparison between those figures and Rajneesh (“Hitler and Jones are dead, but now another master of the master race has appeared, a new dance has begun and the fragrance of death is in the air!”) would appear to be an apt one. Like them, Rajneesh used fear and intimidation to achieve his goals, convincing his followers that the rest of the world was out to get them and surrounding himself with armed guards.
Included are staged scenes, such as a brief bit illustrating a drug deal of a type that, according to this film, helped fund Rajneesh’s activities. Also provided is astounding footage of the uninhibited group encounter sessions—or as the narrator terms them, “uncontrolled experiments”—Rajneesh required of his followers, with large groups of people twitching, screaming and madly beating their heads against the ground. Such sights initially seem pleasingly outrageous, but things turn sobering when we’re shown how the sannyasins took over the Antelope city council, forcing longtime residents out by raising taxes and suing anyone who spoke against them.
Even more disturbing are the revelations of the child molestation and venereal disease that apparently ran rampant among the sex-obsessed sannyasins. They eventually disbanded and Rajneesh was extradited back to India, but not before his followers tried to poison a town’s water supply and inject salmonella into the stocks of several fast food restaurants.
This is an incredible, mind-blowing story that’s related about as well as possible. Again: objectivity is nowhere to be found, and nor does the alleged director Patrick Matrisciana (for the record, no credits are included outside a host of “thank yous”) bother keeping the tone neutral. The proceedings are high strung, often descending into hysteria and overwrought sentiment, as in a bit in which the specter of child abuse is brought up, with the quote “she wasn’t bad for a little kid” echoed over a montage of children’s faces, underscored by mournful music.
FEAR IS THE MASTER can be viewed as either a full blast of Ed Woodian overstatement or an investigative tour de force. It’s also a compelling and deeply alarming piece of work.
Vital Statistics
FEAR IS THE MASTER
Speculum Arcana Productions
Director: Patrick Matrisciana