Following a relationship breakup, David Kappel (Nick Mancuso), a twentysomething school teacher, visits what turns out to be a training camp for a religious cult. At the camp, everything is done in groups, including chanting and singing. There is also a low-calorie, low-protein diet; sleep deprivation; and constant positive reinforcement.^[2]

All of the elements of the camp begin to have an effect on David mentally. He graduates and is put to work as a volunteer laborer for the cult. In an especially powerful scene, he vomits up a hamburger and milkshake which he had just eaten in violation of cult dietary guidelines.^[3]

David sets out to work, led by cult leader Patrick (Robert Joy). David is shocked when Patrick lies to a customer, but Patrick explains that they are only "using Satan's methods to do God's work", and that it is okay because "it's only Satan's money we're taking."^[3]

David's best friend Larry (Saul Rubinek) and his parents, Morley (Paul Soles) and Esther (Marcia Diamond), are concerned about him. Larry visits the cult's camp and almost falls under their influence as well. He escapes with the help of Eric (Guy Boyd), a fellow camp attendee who befriends him. The latter reveals he has been visiting various cult camps, trying to find his sister. Once free, Larry returns home.

David's parents, Larry, Eric, and some other friends forcibly kidnap David, bringing him to a private home in the area and enlisting the aid of a cult deprogrammer, Linc Strunk (R.H. Thomson), to help him regain his normal mindset. After some struggle, David slowly comes to recognize the cult's dishonesty and mistreatment. He is confused and when he asks about "true love", he is told that he only needs to look around him: at Larry, his brother Danny, Sarah, his parents, and everything they've done for him, and still are enduring for him. Crying, he embraces them all. Everyone reunites and embraces outside the deprogramming house, while several cult members watch from a distance.

• Nick Mancuso as David Kappel
• Saul Rubinek as Larry
• Meg Foster as Ingrid
• Kim Cattrall as Ruthie
• R.H. Thomson as Linc Struc
• Jennifer Dale as Lisa
• Guy Boyd as Eric
• Dixie Seatle as Sarah
• Paul Soles as Morley Kappel
• Harvey Atkin as Mr. Stone
• Robert Joy as Patrick
• Timothy Webber as Greg
• Marcia Diamond as Esther Kappel
• Michael Zelniker as Danny
• Christopher Britton as Simon
• Claire Pimparé as Sharing Group Member
• Josh Freed as Sharing Group Member
• Michael Wincott as Gerry
• Charles Gray as Musician

Critical response edit

The film was selected as one of the top ten films of 1981 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.^{[citation needed]} Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, but added that the ending was less interesting and powerful than the earlier cult indoctrination scenes.^[2] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "an absorbing, frightening, entirely believable movie, which is particularly amazing in view of its subject matter."^[3]

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 78%, based on reviews from 9 critics.^[4]

Accolades edit

Ticket to Heaven was nominated for fourteen 1982 Genie Awards, and won four :

• 3rd Genie Awards
• Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular culture

• Reel.com
• Ticket to Heaven at AllMovie
• Ticket to Heaven at IMDb  
• Ticket to Heaven at Rotten Tomatoes