This was a network TV (CBS, NBC, or ABC) movie-of-the-week production that aired a couple of times. I just stumbled across one of those airings, and recall it was totally engrossing.
The story, as I remember it, had more to do with two grifting cult-leaders, though you have to stay til the end to discover that. It's pretty convincing in a suspenseful, are-they-or-aren't-they kind of way. They build an amazing structure (with the money they glean from their followers) in anticipation of an otherworldly visit predicted for a certain date, but on the very day it was supposed to happen, the mysterious two vanish, leaving behind a large group of beguiled cultists to wonder whatever happened to their big day.
I do not remember any of the cultist followers disappearing, as alluded to in other reviews here, which is why I need to see this again.
The story, as I remember it, had more to do with two grifting cult-leaders, though you have to stay til the end to discover that. It's pretty convincing in a suspenseful, are-they-or-aren't-they kind of way. They build an amazing structure (with the money they glean from their followers) in anticipation of an otherworldly visit predicted for a certain date, but on the very day it was supposed to happen, the mysterious two vanish, leaving behind a large group of beguiled cultists to wonder whatever happened to their big day.
I do not remember any of the cultist followers disappearing, as alluded to in other reviews here, which is why I need to see this again.