The Showtime documentary Prophet’s Prey takes us deep into the world of renegade Mormon polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, now behind bars for sexual assault on young girls. In 1986, Jeff’s father Rulon Jeffs became the patriarch of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamous cult that straddles the barren borders of Utah and Arizona. When Rulon became in firm, Warren Jeffs took control and, upon Rulon’s death, became the Church’s leader, a position of unencumbered and accountable power within the Church.
Fundamentalist polygamy, as practiced by Rulon and others, often involves older men taking on underage girls as multiple wives, which is discomfiting enough. But Warren is a sociopath and a child sexual predator, who, when given total power as leader became a monster of unspeakable proportions. Reportedly, at least 24 of Warren Jeff’s “wives” were under 17 and as young as 12.
As in any effective documentary, the source material is top rate. Filmmaker Amy Berg directed Prophet’s Prey from the book of the same name by Sam Brower (who also appears in the film) the private eye who dogged Jeffs. We hear from Warren Jeff’s “wife” #63 Janet. We meet his brother Warren (once head of FLDS security) and his sister Elaine and his nephews Brent and Lyle. There’s even amazing surveillance camera footage of Jeffs in his cell.
Prophet’s Prey’s writer-director Amy Berg previously directed Deliver Us from Evil about pedophile Catholic priests in California’s Central Valley, which ranked in the top ten on my list of Best Movies of 2006. She’s well on her way to cornering the market on docs about sexually deviant religious leaders. Prophet’s Prey is narrated by the musician Nick Cave.
Prophet’s Prey is currently playing on Showtime and DirecTV PPV.