HBO's 'Bring Me the Beauties': Shock Alien Sex Cult Ensnared Princeton Student

'Bring Me the Beauties', a new series from HBO, dives deep into a rabbit hole involving drugs, illicit gems, UFO's and the sexcapades of indoctrinated members of a doomsday cult. The true crime docuseries follows Hoyt Richards, a Princeton scholar and the world's first male supermodel, who gets seduced by Frederick Von Mierers' Eternal Values cult in the late 70s.

The three-part documentary is truly stranger than fiction, recounting the cult's success in recruiting exclusively attractive people with Von Mierers, 'an alien 'walk-in' from the planet Arcturus,' at the core.

Moreover, the series follows Richards' recruitment and early access to Studio 54 circles, which enabled Von Mierers to market his cult as a lifestyle and a spiritual calling, using charm and celebrity-adjacent credibility to draw in followers.

'Bring Me the Beauties' Took Five Years to Make

'It took us about five years,' director Chris Smith told Variety. 'It took years for us to develop relationships with people in Eternal Values who eventually spoke. There was very little information about the group online, as it was pre-internet.' The documentary exposes the cult like never before, with interviews from Richards and other ex-members providing context to archival footage of Von Mierers.

The series features Studio 54-era footage and stills to portray the cult's allure, as amplified by nightlife glamour. Juxtaposed scenes of decadent parties and survivor testimonies also illustrate the effects of Von Mierers' deception, coercion and control, slowly unravelled towards a sobering revelation.

Frederick Von Mierers' Deception Exposed

The show also explores allegations that Von Mierers used sexual relationships and promises of intimacy as tools of control, presenting survivor testimony and archival material that portray a leader who 'lured models to his Manhattan apartment for sex, money' as part of the group's internal dynamics.

The exposé also focused on the cult's aesthetics of beauty, fashion, and celebrity proximity as central to its recruitment tactics, framing membership as access to an exclusive world while obscuring the coercive practices beneath.

Richards's story sits at the centre of it all, his potential exploited early on by a charismatic mentor. Smith also noted modern parallels in the narrative.

'What was interesting to me was seeing how far ahead of the curve they were in so many things that have been adopted over the last couple decades in health and wellness,' he stated.

Hoyt Richards Compares Eternal Values to Other Religions

The 'Bring Me the Beauties' madness escalates but ends on a hopeful note, with Richards' escaping Eternal Values after 15 years spent in what he described as a mental prison. Smith said Richards saw a fine line of distinction between Eternal Values and mainstream religions.

'When looking at more formalised religions, Hoyt would say, "Your angel came down with wings; mine came down in a spaceship,"' Smith explained. 'He'd made a very astute observation that because these things have existed so long in established religions. We don't question them to the same degree as the idea of a 'walk-in' or someone coming from Arcturus.'

Depicted as both charismatic and delusional, Von Mierers leveraged his personas as spiritual guide and extraterrestrial entity to persuade members to accept unusual doctrines. The documentary also presents his Arcturus narrative as a recurring motif, convincing followers they could also become transcendent beings.

'We actually thought about calling it "The Talented Mr. Von Mierers,"' Smith admitted. 'I think Frederick would have thrived in the age of social media. He has an undeniable charisma that would have spoken to a lot of people.'