Jonestown

History's most famous cults are known primarily for their final suicidal acts: the mass poisoning at Jonestown, the self-immolation of the Branch Davidians, the self-asphyxiations of Heaven's Gate.

Instead, most resemble the residents of Jonestown, many who hoped Jim Jones was testing their faith with all this poison-Kool-Aid talk, which allowed them to play along until it was too late to save themselves.

Over the course of the plot, Matt, a cinephile, convinces the “Goodfellas” director to helm a movie based on Kool-Aid — except in Scorsese’s version, the brand is just a way to talk about the Jonestown massacre.

After the 1978 mass murder and suicide of 909 people in the Jonestown settlement in Guyana directed by the charismatic leader Jim Jones, Zimbardo explored the social dynamics of cults.

The assassination attempts — Fromme’s in Sacramento and Moore’s in San Francisco — also contributed to “an atmosphere of lawlessness” in Northern California, Starr said, compounded by such 1970s events as the Patty Hearst kidnapping, the slaying of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and the mass suicide of the Jonestown cultists.