"One Night In Millstreet" - A "Cult" Movie Review
The film "One Night In Millstreet" is released in cinemas on April 5th in Ireland and the UK. A participant in this film is "Dr" Tony Quinn, who has been labelled a Cult leader by the BBC and the Sunday World. He has been called a Cult leader by a Judge in the Irish High Court.
The filmmakers have chosen to not characterise Quinn as a Cult leader, but as a "Mind Coach".
On the 23 November 2023 I attended an online Zoom talk hosted by the Irish Health Culture Association. The talk was given given by cosplaying doctor and long-time "Dr" Tony Quinn follower Martin Forde.
Forde gives an annual talk to EDUCO members on food supplements. Diet has always been a mechanism for control by Quinn over his "disciples", reported as far back as 1974.
Zoom has a feature where one can chat privately with other attendees. I chatted with a number of people who have promoted the EDUCO Cult; Sham Vehra and Caroline McDonagh.
It was during these private-chats that Caroline McDonagh revealed that there was a documentary about the 1995 Collins v Eubank fight.
And indeed there was. One Night in Millstreet produced by Fastnet Films.
The film is about the 1995 WBO Super middleweight championship fight between Steve Collins and Chris Eubank, that was held in Millstreet in County Cork, Ireland.
Collins was trained by "Dr" Tony Quinn, who had recently evicted many of his followers from communes in Ireland having been exposed as a Cult leader two-decades before. Allegations of Sexual, Financial and Mental Abuse surround him -- to this day.
The Irish Film Festival London held a premiere in London on 15 November 2023, with special guests Steve Collins and Chris Eubank.
Some followers of EDUCO Cult-leader "Dr" Tony Quinn were at the London Premiere.
When a second showing was announced I was one of the first to grab a ticket! This screening promised a Q&A after the film.
I noted from the trailer that the film included footage that was also in the 2002 EDUCO Cult recruitment film, where Quinn illustrates how you can project Hitler out onto a "screen, which is your life or future".
This footage was reported on by the Sunday Times in 2005 (Paywall free), Nicola Tallant in the Sunday World in 2009, and the BBC in 2012.
In Screen 3 of Curzon Soho, I took my seat and got myself comfy in the reclining chair, not sure what I would experience over the next 80 minutes.
Not long into the film we hear from Quinn, telling us how his "father" Paddy took him to the cinema as a child and they watched a film about a boxer becoming champion against the odds.
One Night In Millstreet is a well constructed documentary and reveals many details of obscure events surrounding the fight, including the life-changing injuries suffered by boxers of the era.
Halfway through the film we are introduced to "Doctor Tony Quinn". I am surprised. Quinn has a diploma-mill doctorate and I wonder if anyone had undergone any fact checking on his credentials. Quinn is filmed in front of wall of fake diplomas. None are authentic.
Quinn explains that in the 1990s he "had acquired a new business manager" -- Collette Millea. Millea had featured on the Late Late Show's 1994 interview of Quinn. Quinn had hoodwinked Dr Jack Gibson into overseeing operations without aneastheic and Millea had her ears pinned back for the Late Late Show's cameras.
It has been said that Collins became aware of Quinn having seen him on the Late Late Show in 1994. It is quite possible Quinn's appearance on the Late Late Show came about as Pan Collins, a Late Late Show researcher (and creator of the Late Late Toy Show), was an associate of Dr Jack Gibson.
Quinn states, on film, that he instructed Millea to "find [him] a boxer".
We hear how Collins left for Las Vegas and was without a trainer. Hooking up with Quinn, we hear Quinn state he knew nothing about boxing.
Quinn is heard stating he instructed Collins to train for short bursts of energy release -- and ditch the cardio training, something that carries on to this day in the dubious Educogym training.
Clips from the EDUCO Cult archive are incorporated into these passages. One memorable clip shows Quinn demonstrating Bruce Lee's "One-inch punch" which has an immediate effect on a Sikh gentleman and Manj Weerasekera.
Weerasekera joined the EDUCO Cult in 2002, having been recruited by an associate of Babu Shah.
Babu Shah had imported the EDUCO Cult into the UK in the late 1990s and was recruiting for the cult, covertly, in the offices of Enterprise Oil.
Shah was known to recruit the partners of his work-colleagues into EDUCO, a Cult with a now 50-year history of Sexual and Financial abuse, with the promise they would be a millionaire by the year 2000.
One was said to have been found manicly preaching on the streets of Epsom (south-west London) about EDUCO around 2010 having lost their home. They remain a loyal member of the Cult to this day despite this.
Shah's sister Ashika also features in One Night In Millstreet in a clip from the EDUCO Cult's archive.
Manj Weerasekera, the recipient of Quinn's "One-inch punch" is then seen convulsing on the floor. This convulsion is a feature of the EDUCO Cult and EDUCO Seminar attendees are trained to do this, undergoing 12-days of hypnosis and the video-taping of Kompromat until they reach a psychotic-break and experience Folie imposée - a psychiatrically recognised phenomena.
In the film One Night In Millstreet there is only one voice critical of Quinn - that of Barry Hearn. Hearn calls out Quinn as spouting "a load of rubbish". It is this exclamation that provokes the film-audience's biggest reaction -- one of mass agreement.
I see people shaking their heads in the cinema; I hear giggling and scoffing toward those who promote or legitimise Quinn's methods in the film.
The film portrays Eubank's concerns for Collins' safety in great detail. This has historically been often overlooked -- but those who know about Quinn and his EDUCO Cult have pointed to this, especially in the face of the EDUCO Cult's continued use of Collins' image in it's Cult recrutiment material.
Barry Hearn's last comments in the film are that after the fight Collins "did not follow the script". The 1998 Irish High Court judgement between Collins and Hearn details how Collins was closer to Quinn after the fight than his own trainer, Freddy King. I have seen myself how people who have allowed Quinn into their life, and given over their locus-of-control to him, have replaced their own father for Quinn.
We learnt in the court hearings that Collin had paid Quinn £360,000. This allowed Quinn to set up in Malibu and formulate his EDUCO messianic Cult which would go on to abuse it's members sexually and financially.
As the credits roll I note that Sarah Gilhooly is thanked in the credits.
Gilhooly has her own IMDb page, having produced a number of shorts before devoting her life as a "Dr" Tony Quinn disciple.
I have been told by EDUCO Cult insiders that Gilhooly has personally instructed EDUCO Cult members to file false-police reports against critics as a means to silence them.
Gilhooly has spoken of how we are living in the Matrix -- a common symptom of undiagnosed psychosis.
Gilhooly is estranged from her own father, having replaced him with Quinn, in the same way Manj Weerasekera did before his own father died in 2006.
After the film there is a Question and Answer session with director Andrew Gallimore and producer Peter Murnaghan. They discuss how difficult it was to convince Quinn to appear in the film, and there is a comment about Quinn's "Disciples" being present in the Edit Suite when creating One Night In Millstreet.
I am offered the opportunity to ask a question. I mention that I recognise Manj Weerasekera from the film, where he is shown convulsing on the floor having recieved Quinn's "One-inch punch". I am reminded of the comment on Weerasekera's associate Dave O'Connor doing just the same.
I ask if they had to compromise themselves to include Quinn in the film, noting that they attributed the moniker "Dr" to Quinn, which is a fiction.
I also ask if they believe the film has presented each participant's lasting thoughts about Quinn (remarking that Barry Hearn had made his thoughts clear in the film!)
Neither question is answered. I am told that Quinn is like marmite and is a divisive figure in Ireland. He is a central character of the story of this event and it is a great story.
My query about him being elevated to a Doctor in the film is not satisfactorily answered.
After the Q&A I get a few moments with the Producer and Director. I tell them about another project in development featuring Quinn. I ask if they know Sarah Gilhooly, and I am told the Producer knows her. I explain how Gilhooly has arranged a number of late-night surprises for me.
I am left wondering if this is Quinn's swansong. It is known he spoke often of his desire to appear in a film or have a film made about his kookie ideas. In 2003 Quinn approached director Jim Sheridan and revealed to him his belief he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ in the hope this would lead to a film.
It was later reported that Quinn had punted to Sean Connery and Tom Cruise a screenplay that embodied Quinn's insane beliefs. It is unlikely this is true, but in Quinn's delusion he is certain this is the truth.
Has Quinn had his swansong, or is there a final act to this tragedy? (Here's a clue.... there WILL be a final act and Quinn's fantasy bubble WILL be popped)
The film One Night In Millstreet is on general release from 5 April in Ireland and the UK.