Evil Influencer – The Jodi Hildebrandt Story Review: In this documentary film, we delve deep into Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt’s dangerous partnership and how it translated into the abuse of the former’s six children.
Evil Influencer Netflix Director
Skye Borgman
The documentary film has a runtime of 100 minutes.
Evil Influencer – The Jodi Hildebrandt Story Review
This documentary focuses on the real-world events surrounding the Ruby Franke case and Jodi Hildebrandt’s hand in the abuse of Franke’s children. Franke, currently in jail for abusing her kids, ran the YouTube family vlog 8 Passengers and constantly filmed her family’s everyday lives, including giving out harsh punishments to her kids for minor offences.
Hildebrandt and Franke started off by giving life and parenting advice to their millions of subscribers, but eventually devolved into a partnership that encouraged extreme discipline and fear-based repentance. The catastrophic abuse was shocking to know, but it did not come as a shock to regular viewers of the channel. The continued abuse culminated in the 2023 incident, wherein Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s home, his hands still showing signs of restraint, to a neighbour’s, which ultimately led to police intervention and the arrest of both women.
The film is a cautionary tale for everyone who consumes this type of content on the internet. It showcases how skewed a person’s outlook can become when it comes to giving and receiving punishment. The documentary does a good job of dissecting this union while not taking away accountability from either woman, who both had a role in inflicting pain on these young children to such a degree that they thought that they deserved to be punished after a while.
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It’s difficult to sit, watch and wonder about the events that come to light in the Ruby Franke case and Evil Influencer – The Jodi Hildebrandt Story sheds light on the other aspects of the case, primarily Hildebrandt’s involvement in the situation. It highlights and contextualises Franke’s rise and fall of public persona and explores how charisma, faith-based language and perceived authority allowed Hildebrandt to exert control over Franke in a way. The film does a good job of balancing awareness with entertainment, and there’s something to be said about the documentary’s examination of influence, control, and accountability.
However, for anyone who wants to witness Franke’s involvement in the debacle, they will find themselves wanting because the film mostly focuses on Hildebrandt, as she mostly remains hidden behind Franke’s massive online persona. For me, it’s interesting to witness another point of view and, keeping Franke’s role in mind, it paints everything in a much more sinister and terrifying light. Sure, it could’ve dug deeper into Franke’s past and showcased more of her background, but I think it’s important to note that this documentary wasn’t aiming for that, and that’s ok.
Final Thoughts
Evil Influencer – The Jodi Hildebrandt Story is an intriguing true crime documentary that sheds further light on the Ruby Franke case and delves into the role of Utah-based therapist Jodi Hildebrandt in this horrifying situation. It’s a cautionary tale, one that gets under your skin and leaves you even uncomfortable.
What are your thoughts on Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story? Let us know in the comments below!
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I knew about this horrific abuse case so wasn’t too Surprised of all the evidence
But there was some evidence I hadn’t heard or read and listening to this documentary infuriated me / HTH can someone be so mean &.vicious to their own children
Im wondering if this documentary will have any affect on them in prison
If the other mothers in Prison go after them bc they cannot be with their children
The woman in the Neighborhood documentary from Fla. was furious about the docu-series on her case she actually is trying to sue the family of the mother she killed
I do hope tho that Ruby & Jodi feel some Heat regarding this documentary
I hope Ruby serves minimum.of 16yrs And Jodi never gets out