Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere has been hailed ‘his most chilling documentary yet’ as critics have admitted that they were left ‘quivering behind their sofas’ by the ‘horrid, yet addictive’ probe into the world of alpha males.
His latest 90-minute doc was released on Netflix on Wednesday 11 March.
It follows as documentarian Louis, 55, explores how extremist influencers are manipulating young boys in society with their views, interviewing the likes of Harrison Sullivan (HSTikkyTokky), Myron Gaines and Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy (Sneako).
‘With rare access and no holds barred, the acclaimed documentarian investigates a growing ultra-masculine network and its controversial influencers,’ the popular streamer’s synopsis reads.
The film has largely received rave reviews from critics, who applauded the probe into the rising online movement, brought to the attention of many by hit Netflix drama Adolescence.
The Telegraph’s Benji Wilson awarded Louis’ new work five stars.
Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere has been hailed ‘his most chilling documentary yet’ as critics have admitted that they were left ‘quivering behind their sofas’ by the ‘horrid, yet addictive’ probe into the world of alpha males
It follows as documentarian Louis, 55, explores how extremist influencers are manipulating young boys in society with their views, interviewing the likes of Harrison Sullivan (HSTikkyTokky, pictured)
‘With rare access and no holds barred, the acclaimed documentarian investigates a growing ultra-masculine network and its controversial influencers,’ the popular streamer’s synopsis reads
His headline states: ‘As a father of teenage boys, Louis Theroux’s film had me quivering behind the sofa.’
He adds: ‘I like horror films, but as a father of two teenage boys, I was quivering behind the sofa like the lily-livered beta I am while watching Louis Theroux’s latest documentary.
‘In Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosophere (Netflix) the documentarian travels to Marbella, Miami and New York to meet content creators from the extreme end of the “manopshere”, the toxic online network of misogynistic male influencers.
‘And as you can imagine, extreme manospherics is extremely unpleasant.’
City AM’s Adam Bloodworth awarded the documentary four stars.
His headline states: ‘The Louis Theroux Manosphere doc is horrid, addictive viewing.’
He adds: ‘In technological terms at least, there hasn’t ever been such a clear example of how documentaries – and traditional media – are old hat.
‘While Theroux and his team take months to film and cut this documentary, perhaps one of the strongest arguments platformed by one of the content creators is that his content is more authentic: live streamed and shown in its entirety, viewers on social media simply don’t need four-people-strong camera crews anymore to put out content.
‘But that is just logistics, what they’re spewing is vile and Theroux is still absolutely the journalist to take these men to task.’
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Louis pictured with Instagram influencer Justin Waller, one of Andrew Tate’s best pals
Mashable’s Sam Haysom writes: ‘Theroux’s interviews expose a number of similarities between the influencers he meets: They all share extreme views, they’re anti-feminist, and — crucially — they’ve all found a way to profit from sharing these views online.
‘With half a million people in his Telegram group, Sullivan is able to drive fans towards the profiles of OnlyFans creators and financial apps, both of which provide him with a revenue source.
‘Throughout the documentary, though, his disdain for OnlyFans creators is clear. When Theroux asks him if it’s a contradiction to be profiting from OnlyFans creators while also denigrating them, Sullivan is unapologetic.
‘”I openly say I don’t give a f**k, and I’m doing it for money,” he says.
‘Gaines’ relationship with OnlyFans creators is shown as similar; he frequently has them as guests on his podcast, while also doing his best to publicly humiliate them.’
The Irish Times journalist adds: ‘Theroux doesn’t interview Tate, but instead spends time with a group of Tate mates: young men often from challenging backgrounds who see performative misogyny as a passport to fame and wealth.
‘It is truly grim stuff, but it is never clear whether Theroux’s detached style is the right way of approaching the horrors of the manosphere. The documentary needs more anger and surely more female input.
‘It’s all very well for Theroux to be mildly discombobulated on behalf of women, but often this feels like a conversation about misogyny without any contribution from the people at whom the hate is directed.’
The Times’ Carol Midgley writes: ‘Theroux’s task is to try to chip away at their macho façades, and hopefully show us the vulnerable lost boys beneath.
‘To some extent, he succeeds. But there is much more of the other stuff: blowhards such as Ed Matthews, Sneako (Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy) and the podcasters Justin Waller and Myron Gaines variously showboating about how they have life sussed, how they aren’t slaves to “the Matrix” (doing mediocrely paid 9-5 jobs) and how women should oblige whenever their men want sex (one-way monogamy means her remaining faithful while he is free to get his leg over whomever he wants, should you wish to suggest this to your wife).
‘Women, apparently, are born with more innate value than poor old men because they have “a vagina and titties”. I didn’t quite follow that particular argument.’
She adds: ‘Theroux saved a perhaps more enlightening glimpse until last. It was extra footage, taken before the interview, of HS being told off by his mother, who, if I heard correctly, the alpha male called “Mummy”.
‘She told him: “Don’t be rude. That’s not the way I brought you up.” He did as he was told (which reflected well on him actually.
‘At least here’s one woman he respects.) But I saw the inclusion of this footage as Theroux, the older bespectacled man with the considerably smaller biceps, landing the last punch.’
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan writes: ‘Still, can a subject really be said to have been “done” until we have seen what Louis T makes of it?
‘Evidently not, so here he is, repeating his shtick as he covers ground that other less high-profile documentarians have done before him.
‘To be fair, he approaches his interviewees with a slightly harder, less ignorant-ingenue vibe than usual.
‘This is pleasing on many levels. I find the latter quite an effortful pose and increasingly hard to endure, and he rightly intuits that the full version wouldn’t fly here. It’s also simply getting old.
‘We know he is an intelligent man who lives in this world – the silent supposed bafflement and dependence on giving people enough rope to hang themselves, which are such a large part of his arsenal, look like increasingly feeble weapons when the matters are of such increasing importance in all of our lives.’
Metro’s Alana Anderson adds: ‘Theroux attributes association with the manosphere with broken childhoods (Sullivan’s single mum worked six-day weeks to put him through private school, while Gaines was nearly put into foster care). You’d have to dig pretty deep to find even an ounce of sympathy.
‘It’s not just the anti-woman rhetoric and resentment which is folded into the film. The racism is so casual within the manosphere that it’ll make you see red.
‘I’ve never seen Theroux confronted in such a vicious way within his own territory — and while the cameras are rolling. Amid all the discussions of misogyny, homophobia, and pornography, the most uncomfortable part is seeing him subjected to vile antisemitic comments. They aren’t thinly veiled remarks – they’re blatant and they sting even the viewer. It’s like seeing a group of teenagers gang up on your dad.’
