Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

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Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

2025

1h 40m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

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7 Reviews

47%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Unraveling the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

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Lucy Mangan

Guardian

Dec 30

3/5

A new year’s resolution to do better than make or watch more of this stuff might improve us all.

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Alejandro Lingenti

La Nación (Argentina)

Jan 12

4/5

...the documentary goes beyond exposing a morbid case and warns about the risks of romanticizing sacrificial motherhood...and the unquestionable authority given to “therapeutic” figures. [Full review in Spanish]

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Barbara Shulgasser

Common Sense Media

Jan 6

3/5

In this disturbing documentary, the police work is far more interesting than the numerous and repetitive interviews with Jodi's broken and regretful victims.

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John Serba

Decider

Jan 5

Evil Influencer’s flimsiness underscores its inability to justify its existence as a piece of worthwhile journalism.

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Romey Norton

InSession Film

Jan 3

B+

This story is less about one woman than about the fragility of safeguards around care, authority, and belief. It is a sober, unsettling documentary that asks viewers to question not only who they listen to, but why.

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Carla Hay

Culture Mix

Dec 31

A very lazy and sloppily edited documentary that re-uses the same footage and recycles the same information that's in other documentaries about the Jodi Hildebrandt/Ruby Franke child abuse scandal. This documentary’s timeline jumps all over the place.

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Russell H

@RT85733992 Feb 23

Story was interesting but a little of down time and focus on the history of the religious group

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Scott R

@ScottR Feb 6

Z had me watch it since I was from the area and wondered if I had encountered them. I was frustrated with the bad name they give people from Utah and the religion. Now everyone focuses on these extremists. I am also not a fan of true crime stuff. Saw on Netflix.

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Rihannna H.

@RT07733770 Jan 21

It was good but it wasn’t as in depth from the 3 episode Hulu doc from last year, and we didn’t really learn much of anything new, just what we already know

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Sergio A

@Sergio83 Jan 8

The informative and entertaining approach is appreciated, but several aspects could have been explored in greater depth; overall, it feels more like a summary.

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Anna S.

@annamae747 Jan 8

Regurgitating everything we already knew. Sorry I watched it honestly.

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Ember W.

@em_wilder Jan 4

I was new to this story, so I can’t compare it to other documentaries of the same topic, but I thought it did a fairly decent job laying out the pertinent details. The interview with the detective provided a helpful narrative throughout and hearing personal accounts from previous clients was interesting. As a mom, I did find some of the details/imagery of the child abuse gut-wrenching. I think this documentary moved a bit slow at times, was repetitive, and could have been shorter.

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Skye Borgman

Director

Leslie Mattingly

Producer

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Synopsis

Unraveling the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

Director: Skye Borgman
Producer: Leslie Mattingly
Distributor: Netflix
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 30, 2025
Runtime: 1h 40m