Netflix fans left 'shaking in horror' by 'truly sick' new child abuse documentary rocketing up the charts - as scenes of 'utter depravity' leave then 'emotionally beaten up'
- Not sure what to watch tonight? Discover our brand new TV GUIDE now!
- Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.co.uk
Netflix fans have been left 'shaking in horror' after tuning in to a new child abuse documentary that has been rocketing up the streaming service's charts.
Taking the number one spot over the weekend, the real-life story documents a case that came to light in 2024, and saw two women sentenced for abuse - with one of the women put behind bars for crimes against her own children.
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, was released by the streaming giant on December 30, and follows the encounters between family counsellor Hildebrant, and content creator Ruby Franke.
Based in Utah, USA, the documentary follows the growing relationship between the two women after meeting at their local Mormon church and deciding to go into business together.
Jodi Hildebrandt, who is the founder of a life-coaching firm called ConneXions, became increasingly involved in the life of Franke, a local influencer who documented her life online.
Determined to 'fix' the content creator's controversial parenting techniques, Hildebrant, who was jailed for 15 years, became increasingly involved in the Franke's family dynamics.
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, was released by the streaming giant on December 30, and follows the encounters between family counsellor Hildebrant, and content creator Ruby Franke
Ruby Franke, 43, who was jailed in 2024 for up to 30 years for child abuse, will be at the centre of the new documentary on Netflix that was released in December
Their toxic relationship saw the duo go on to abuse Franke's children - who were found at Hildebrant's home, malnourished and covered in injuries.
Franke and Hildebrant were arrested after one of Franke's children was spotted on CCTV escaping from the life coach's home, where his two younger siblings were still being held captive.
A concerned neighbour called the police about the young boy, who had managed to escape from the Hildebrant home, and appeared 'malnourished' and 'duct taped'.
When police arrived at the scene of the $5million (£3.7m) home, they found another of Franke's children hidden in a wardrobe, who had also been starved and had her head shaven, as well as ropes and handcuffs that corroborated their story.
The documentary features the accounts of police detective Jessica Bate, put in charge of the case, and Eric Clarke, the county attorney who would build the case against Hildebrant and Franke.
Former clients of Hildebrant also open up on how the life coach, who specialised in helping members of the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS), damaging their relationships with their spouses and children by controlling them.
It sheds light on how Franke went on to participate in the abuse of her six children, who all featured on her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers.
After tuning into the documentary over the weekend, viewers took to social media to react to the feature-length special, admitting they had been left 'shaking'.
Franke (left) was arrested in August 2023 after the shocking abuse of her children came to light after she partnered with Jodi Hildenbrandt
Franke's relationship with life coach Hildebrant will be uncovered in the documentary (Franke pictured with ex-husband Kevin)
One penned: 'This Evil Influencer documentary on Netflix is so deeply disturbing,' as a second added: 'I'm five minutes into the Evil Influencer Netflix doc, and I've already said, "my God" out loud at least three times.'
'I feel emotionally beaten up after watching Evil Influencer, the utter depravity and malevolence, I didn't think the story could get any worse than what was in the news when it happened but I was wrong,' another said.
While a fourth wrote: 'I am not OK, this show had me shaking I was so upset,' as a fifth concluded: 'I saw it, truly sick people. I fast forwarded it to about ten minutes from the end after watching for awhile because of all the details.'
It's not the first documentary to follow the chilling story, as last year, American streaming service Hulu released Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.
It detailed some of the horrifying abuse the Franke children faced at home behind-the-scenes of their vlogging mother, Ruby, and her life coach and alleged romantic partner Hildebrant.
One shock scene saw Franke, who was jailed in 2024, cut the head off one of her daughter's cat stuffies in a chilling unseen home video.
The twisted Mommy Vlogger held up the blue animal and told the girl, who looked about two years old: 'If you cut one more thing in my house I'm going to cut your cat's head right off!'
In the video Franke, who was jailed for up to 30 years for child abuse, put her fingers around the cat's neck in a scissors shape to underscore the point.
The film revealed the contents of a diary that Franke kept on her bedside table in which she wrote down the abuse she meted out to her two youngest children, a son aged ten and the same daughter.
Jodi Hildebrandt, who is the founder of a life-coaching firm called ConneXions, became increasingly involved in the life of Franke, a local influencer who documented her life online
In the diary, she calls her children 'Satan' and chides her son for showing no remorse for 'stealing' water even though she was denying him food.
Franke was arrested in 2023 after her son escaped the home in St George, Utah, they were living in and ran to a neighbor to ask for help.
Horrified police discovered he was emaciated and had deep wounds in his ankles which had been covered over with tape.
Franke, who became famous vlogging about parenting her six children, was arrested, as was her guru Hildenbrant, 55, a therapist whose house they had been staying in.
Both pleaded guilty to child abuse charges last year and are serving sentences that could last decades.
The documentary crew was given access to 1,000 hours of home video footage that was never uploaded to Franke's wildly popular YouTube account, 8 Passengers, in which she chronicled their life as a Mormon family in Utah.
Her former husband Kevin told the film that for Ruby 'love is obedience and the moment you disobey me, you're going to fear me'.
Another clip showed Franke with her eldest son Chad who says sorry for giving her a bad look because he was 'nervous'. She tells him to 'just be yourself' and when Chad explains that he is doing that, Ruby snaps back: 'Then change it!'
The videos show the range of tactics that Franke used to get her children to comply to her relentless filming schedule that helped her amass more than two million YouTube subscribers.
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story is available to stream on Netflix now
