Cults have always been a fascination of mine but watching this documentary I did not expect it to go where it does. Things kept getting weirder and weirder until you can’t even imagine how someone could believe in this in the first place.

Lori Vallow was a normal American woman who had a loving family including her husband Charles Vallow and her three children Colby, Tylee and JJ. She fell into a religious group and soon began an affair with a man called Chad Daybell, a man who whispered messages into Lori’s ear that made her believe that the people around her weren’t what they say they were, and were in fact zombies that were bringing darkness into her life and had to be killed to expel that darkness. One fateful day Charles is found shot by his brother-in-law after an altercation has apparently happened at their home. Charles had come to pick up his son JJ, and at this point Lori had already started her affair with Chad and their relationship with Charles had gone sour and was ending in divorce, so there was clearly a lot of bad blood between the two families. It was claimed the death was caused by self defence but the way Lori acted around and after the death of her once husband soon became suspicious.

Lori seemed aloof and uncaring, she didn’t comfort her children in the wake of their father’s death and didn’t seem to care what happened. She even lied to her oldest son about how Charles had died, saying he had, had a heart attack, and this shows how cold and shut off this woman already was. The fact that someone she loved for many years has suddenly and horribly died and she couldn’t care less was shocking but was all because she was part of this cult.

The story continues to the point where Lori moves in with Chad and takes her two younger children Tylee and JJ with her. Things start to reach a head as more people around Lori and Chad begin to die and soon the two children are also declared missing. I won’t reveal the truly horrific parts of this tale because I do believe it’s best experienced going in blind, but it truly shook me to my core and disgusted me in a way that no other true crime documentary has.

But the most fascinating thing about this case is the fact that it’s still ongoing, they’re not being put to stand trial until 2023 and the state are hoping for the death penalty against the two for all the horrific acts they have done. It’s really sad watching Colby tell his story of how he’s lost basically his entire family because of one person’s indoctrination and how much that has affected him and his own family that he’s growing and bringing into the world.

It tugs on your heartstrings a lot because you really get to understand this family in their entirety, you get to see them go through this whole tragic ordeal and it’s very hard when you’re that close to someone to see them change so much and realise that they can do such horrific things. It can be quite hard to wrap your head around what happened because for someone to go from a loving mother to a monster in what seems like such a short space of time is utterly mind blowing.

I highly recommend this documentary, it really blew me away with how callus people can be and how easily people can believe the most crazy and outlandish ideas from someone they love. It definitely makes me want to continue to watch this case and see how things progress, especially in the court. And I’m just hoping that despite everything that he has gone through that Colby can find some peace, especially once his mother is sentenced, and is able to put it behind him and carry on with his wife and daughter and remember his family for what it used to be and not let that memory die.

What do you think of Sins of our Mother?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding