HBO’s Trailer for Doc Series ‘Pray, Obey, Kill’ About a Religious Cult

“It sounds so crazy now.” HBO has revealed an official trailer for a mysterious, compelling new true crime doc series titled Pray, Obey, Kill. Yeah this one joins the ranks of many other religious cult / crazy sect stories before it. On a cold night in January 2004, gunshots rang out across the remote Swedish village, Knutby, home to a small, tight-knit Pentecostal congregation, leaving a young woman murdered in her bed. Attention soon turned towards the community – the victim’s husband, also the sect’s pastor, the victim’s 26-year-old nanny, and the sect’s leader known as “The Bride of Christ.” The case gained instant international notoriety when the nanny confessed within days, claiming she was told to commit the acts through a series of text messages from God. What soon emerged, however, was a wild tale of a scandalous love triangle and details of another suspicious death that had occurred years before. Behind it all were the mysterious actions of the sect’s leader who exerted an increasingly powerful pull over her congregation. Sounds freaky! And intriguing, especially coming from Sweden where you might not expect this kind of religious murder story.

Here’s the new official trailer (+ poster) for HBO’s doc series Pray, Obey, Kill, direct from YouTube:

Tracing the chilling events of January 10, 2004, and the resulting police investigation, criminal trial, and its aftermath, Pray, Obey, Kill highlights Anton Berg & Martin Johnson’s meticulous re-examination of a case of a strange murder in the remote Swedish village of Knutby. Their investigation includes in-depth interviews with journalists and police investigators who covered the crimes, as well as former members of the Pentecostal sect, some of whom are speaking for the first time about the psychological and physical abuse they suffered. Pray, Obey, Kill revisits one of the most bizarre and confounding crimes in modern Swedish history, exploring new case theories, and never-before-seen materials, with exclusive interviews, ultimately shedding new light on the truth behind the crime. Pray, Obey, Kill is directed by award-winning Swedish filmmaker Henrik Georgsson, director of the doc film Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played with Fire, as well as a few films and lots of other TV work in Sweden previously. Produced by Ruth Reid. HBO will debut the first two episodes of Pray, Obey, Kill on April 12th, followed by weekly eps. Want to watch?