Trust Me: The False Prophet – Review | Netflix Docuseries

TRUST ME: THE FALSE PROPHET on Netflix is a true crime docuseries with four powerful episodes. It will (and should) anger you to watch this play out. The documentary filmmakers are going undercover to help a group of women – and several underage girls – trapped in a new FLDS cult via marriage. Read our full Trust Me: The False Prophet documentary series review here!

TRUST ME: THE FALSE PROPHET is a Netflix docuseries in the true crime subgenre. We’re dealing with a religious cult, which seems to be the case very often. Well, either a cult or a serial killer. This time around, the crimes are human trafficking and abuse of women and underage girls. It is brutal and sad, but the documentary series also seeks to explain how the women are trapped in this world.

This happens, not least, thanks to one of the filmmakers. She was once trapped inside one of these cults, where someone claimed to be a prophet. What far too many of these religious true crime docuseries have in common is that they are raised Mormon. It’s increasingly obvious how raising someone to obey is essentially grooming them for these false prophets.

Continue reading our Trust Me: The False Prophet docuseries review below. Find the four episodes on Netflix now.

From Warren Jeffs to Samuel Bateman

When you get to the core of Trust Me: The False Prophet, it all began as a result of the incarceration of Warren Jeffs. Instead of helping the women and children left behind, still trapped inside the FLDS [Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints], they were left to fend for themselves.

As a result, they were never able to create a new life away from the FLDS.

This made it all the easier for Samuel Bateman to utilize that vacuum. In a world starving for guidance, he stepped in and said that he was now the Prophet. And since Warren Jeffs was silent from inside his jail cell – after years of still having been an active leader – it was far too easy to gain followers.

No, not everyone decided to follow Sam Bateman. But whatever men did buy into his spiel, the women and girls in their lives would soon pay the price. As dedicated Samuelites, the male followers were asked to hand over all their wives and daughters. Believing this was the will of God himself, because Sam Bateman said so, they complied.

Enter Christine Marie

Even before Samuel Bateman managed to persuade part of the FLDS that he was the new prophet, Christine Marie had gotten involved with the group. She got involved because she saw that no one was helping the FLDS women and children, who were being thrown out of their homes. Apparently, once Warren Jeffs was arrested, people outside the Church now felt they could do what they wanted.

Okay, I’m oversimplifying, but it’s strange to see these burly men throw the women and children out on the street. Where were they when these women were controlled by one man?

In any case, Christine Marie is a cult expert who has lived through being in a cult when she herself followed a false prophet. Now, she’s married to her videographer husband, Tolga Katas. They initially move into Short Creek, Utah, to support this fractured FLDS community.

That’s why she ends up seeing firsthand how vulnerable they are to a new “prophet”. Once Sam Bateman decided to take on the role of prophet, Christine Marie decided to utilize the relationship she already has with the group. She infiltrates them even further, but always with the camera in plain sight. Fortunately, for this docuseries, Sam Bateman is not a man who believes that pride is a sin.

He wants expensive cars, more wives and children (even wives that are children), dreams of a huge house, and wants to be famous. He is delusional in exactly the same way that many high-ranking politicians and reality stars are.

Watch Trust Me: The False Prophet on Netflix now

Trust Me: The False Prophet comes from the team behind the Netflix documentary Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey. Now they are back with this docuseries that’s infiltrating another prophet’s cult. The docuseries is directed by the Emmy- and Peabody Award–winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin, who also directed Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey.

For this four-part documentary series to work, Christine Marie had to gain the trust of the women in Samuel Bateman’s life. Fortunately, she is as patient as she is persistent. It pays off well, as you will see in this Netflix docuseries. Even if you’re not a fan of true crime, this production is focused on documenting the crimes.

From the unprecedented access Christine Marie and Tolga gain to the first-hand accounts from inside the group. These true crimes are ultimately described by the women who lived through them. They were given the time and space to feel brave (and safe) enough to speak up.

Trust Me: The False Prophet was released on Netflix on April 8, 2026.