Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence

This is one documentary that I feel like could have been a lot longer. That's my only complaint - I feel like I have so many unanswered questions. There's a lot more that I'd like to know such as more about Larry's life pre all this, and more about the aftermath.

This whole story is wild. I knew nothing about it before hand and didn't really read into it so I didn't know what to expect. But this man is delusional and a horrible narcissist. These poor kids!

Super interesting documentary that made me feel angry, sad, shocked, disgusted and frustrated. The last episode had me in tears.

I read that there's a book one of the guys wrote so I'm going to buy it and read it.

This is a slow documentary. To really see the day-to-day progression from happy college kids to completely brainwashed and mentally broken adults, it has to be told slowly. If you just hear the events listed out you don't get the true picture/feeling of the story.

This is about a man that 1,000% abused these kids and 1,000% had them believing he was the best person in the world and the only one that cared about him. The best part of this documentary is the actual footage. It's mind blowing to see exactly how this man manipulated and molded them into his slaves without them realizing he was doing it. It would be hard to believe all the things he was capable of if someone told you. It is STILL hard to believe while you're literally watching him do it.

The best thing the man ever did was record everything. His recordings are like watching unethical and inhumane psychology experiments, and it's disgusting.

You can't have a low enough score for the subject matter. It's just vile. However, the documentary covered it extremely well. 10/10.

As many millennial women do, I love a good cult story. This one takes the cake as far as modern-day (post-2000) sex cults go. This doc gives shocking insight into the events and experiences that took place within a small group of friends on and off the Sarah Lawrence campus starting in 2010 and lasting for over a decade.

Whether or not you are not familiar with this story, watch this series. It gives first hand accounts of what took place and also offers just an absolutely insane glimpse of just how far brain washing can go. The home footage and audio recordings are harrowing and the things these kids were convinced to do is genuinely incredible.

As Episode 1 of "Stolen Youth" (2023 release; 3 episodes ranging from 64 min to 75 min each) opens, it is "Freshman Year 2009" at Sarah Lawrence College. MGMT's "Time to Pretend" is blasting away, and we are introduced to a group of then18 yo kids, who are now in their early 30s. They bond, and by their sophomore, they move in together in an off-campus house. Things couldn't be better. Then out of the blue, Tania's dad, Larry Ray, recently released from jail, also moves in, "temporarily"... At this point we are 10 minutes into the opening episode.

Couple of comments: this mini-series is the latest from award-winning director Zach Heinzerling ("Cutie and the Boxer", "McCartney 3,2.1"). Here he looks back at the bizarre events that unfolded in the early 2010s in New York involving a group of college kids being manipulated by a narcissistic guy, I mean, you can't make this stuff up! It is at the same time fascinating and nauseating. It's like watching a train wreck happening before you very own eyes. In addition to the many audio and video archive materials, we also hear from many of the people directly involved, looking back at this more than a decade later, some seemingly still shellshocked as they recount these events and how they ended up getting stuck in a cult, because that is what it was. Psychological manipulation in its most extreme form is what happened here. You probably are thinking that this could never happen to you, and that is exactly what this group of kids is now warning you about: if it could happen to them, it can happen to anyone. Please note that this mini-series is NOT titled "Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence". It is simply titled "Stolen Youth", per the mini-series film credits.

"Stolen Youth" premiered on Hulu in late February. I binged the 3 episodes in a single setting, and found this a lot more compelling that I had expected. If you are in the mood for a true crime documentary mini-series that reminds us what a cult is like, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I went thru a lot of emotions while watching this Hulu documentary: Intrigue- As to why I had never heard of this situation and why the hell is this adult living in this dorm? Where is the damn RA?! I was a RA in college and I would have kicked his a$$ out.

Bewilderment- At the human mind and how the human mind can get so brainwashed to believe certain things by a charasmatic individual. Cults are so fascinating to me in general. I could see how college students whose frontal lobes are still being developed could easily get involved in a very manipulative situation.

Mild blown- At what Mr. Larry Ray was able to convince these students to do for him. Almost to the point where I was like this can't be true but then reminded myself of the Waco Branch Davidians, Jim Jones, and Heaven's Gate where adults blindly followed these men which ultimately led to their deaths so anything is possible.