Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare (2023) User Reviews

The Whole Family's Crazy

[J0ESUFF · 6/10 · 27 December 2023]

From hiking the desert to child slave labor, this Steve. Cartisano guy was a real psychopath who preyed on distraught families once their kids started acted out. This man had a real evil about him that seemed obvious to most the kids but not the dumb parents who were paying outrageous fees just for their children to be bullied into behaving better, a method which always works. Steve is the real POS here no doubt about it but the documentary would have been better if we heard less from his wife who made him sound like a pioneer and almost heroic. Her along with their daughter keep trying to say he had nothing do with the bad things that happened, not only at 1 but 3 of his camps since he was never there. Not really a great argument for a man preaching how much he cares.

So Much

[DVK1234 · 7/10 · 30 December 2023]

At beginning of doc, I think "this is a great idea! Kids need some discipline. They are unbearable to live with, using drugs, getting in trouble at school and with the law." Let them have some consequences by being out in the wilderness. I felt for the parents. I have raised teenagers and at times, I really felt helpless and completely disrespected. A prisoner in my own home and treated like a criminal by my own children.

But then, a poor girl dies...of course from the extreme weather conditions she endured in this camp. Not close to any medical help. And Steve Cartisano says he is not responsible. His wife says he is not responsible. How could he be? He wasn't there? At this point I'm screaming at the television. How obtuse? How stupid? How entitled?

Somehow, with a high profile attorney, he beats the charges of negligence causing death. Instead of sailing off into the sunset, he opens another camp "on the water." He doesn't have permission to dock on the islands that he sails to, and again, he should not be held accountable because "he is never there". It starts to look like " Lord of the Flies". His wife is very sad because there is no more money coming in. His children are also sad because the authorities shut the camp down.

But then this Steve Cartisano tries his hand one last time, opening a camp in Samoa, and sends his drug addicted son there. There are reports of sexual abuse. And physical abuse. A video tape is proof. The camp is shut down. The US embassy rescues the remaining kids. Steve Cartisano faces no charges.

At the end of the movie, one of the kids in the Utah camp, I believe, accuses Steve Cartisano of fondling her breasts. She was only a teenager. Her mother does not pursue legal action against Cartisano, thinking it will stop him from helping kids. So sick.

I couldn't help but think that karma came for Cartisano. He died very young of colon cancer, his son who was a drug addict is currently in jail, and his clueless daughter ( she couldn't understand why the authorities were coming after her dad....) also had a rough time on drugs. What goes around comes around.

It goes from DARK to DARKER to DARKEST! [+61%]

[arungeorge13 · 6/10 · 27 December 2023]

I think the piece grants more screen time than required to cover the muddled opinions of Steve Cartisano's family (who sound so full of themselves) and much less on the victims and the tragedies they faced. That could either be an error in judgment on the filmmaker's part or, most likely, a Netflix decision to try to soften the emotional blow until the closing moments. Institutionalized abuse and the resulting trauma are discussed in all their somber detail, in what feels like American parents trying to run behind quick fixes for habitual (and often psychological) issues of their teenagers.

While I'm not surprised that wilderness therapy camps continue to exist in the States, given there are people who willingly sign up for haunted experiences and get tormented (oh, watch that documentary too if you must), what bothers me is how some folks still believe in the ideology of putting teenagers through clearly abusive methods to "teach them a lesson" and "turn them into good people". And if you're you're gonna say "Stuff like this would never happen in 2023", then I guess you're the one living under a rock. Worse things happens today.

Camps from Hell

[rbrb · 6/10 · 31 December 2023]

A deluded unpleasant person called Steve Cartisano who is basically a fraudster and criminal with no proper qualifications or training runs a Wilderness Camp for teens who need proper help. Instead of giving the children help and guidance his camps are awful places which generally abuses the children at the same time getting big fees from the parents who ought to know better.

Cartisano's family and associates are interviewed, and they came across as deluded and devious as he is.

Shocking how kids can be badly mistreated when it take so long for the authorities to try to take action,. We also learn that Cartisano also committed sexual abuse on at least one of the victims.

He had his own children who were addicts etc.

The producers ought to have been more severe on showing this was totally a criminal enterprise masquerading as doing good:

6/10.

Karma Hits

[hkfkchnw · 7/10 · 27 December 2023]

The core message what Steve wanted to convey is really convincing , teenage delinquents with drugs and alcohol in their blood stream and parents and family are so fed up that they agree to send them in this Boot camp to survive . As an idea it may sound an old school but still a way to get them in the line but unfortunately as shown in the documentary it doesn't go as planned .

Abuses are done , money is ripped , deaths and sexual abuses and more , Directly or Indirectly of Steve he really got what he did with his own kids becoming the menace .

The documentary tried to push towards a positive image of Steve , well he was bad but he was good internally , but thing is maybe he wasn't . Obviously the family of Steve is going to love him , you can't expect them to apologise for Steve's action to the victims . I hope the victims get their justice through this documentary movie .

Could have benefitted from being a series

[mariellealien · 6/10 · 5 January 2024]

There was so much material and so many things that were only mentioned briefly, I really think this would have benefitted from being a series, or at the very least, an hour longer.

So many things are just touched briefly, like the sexual assault described in the last seven minutes of the documentary, and I think the victims of these horrendous camps deserved more openness and more time to share what they went through, more evidence shown etc.

It could have also been made a series, focusing on this first, and then the other camps that have sprouted from this first branch of camps, and how many horror stories have come from those.

Overall, I'm glad it's being brought to more light again and this does work as an introduction to these horribles places, and their origin.

Would've been better as a mini series

[ernaeke · 7/10 · 31 December 2023]

This documentary is okay. But it seems like they're trying to fit so many things that happened into a "small" documentary. It would've been better if it were a mini series then they could've gone deeper into every aspect of the things that happened and possibly more things that happened. Even the ending is lacking in the fact that it needs something. The ending basically feels like a teaser for another documentary that is about these kinds of camps but not run by that Steve guy. Just make a docuseries that focuses on these types of camps but have the main camp be his camps.

All in all it's a horrible thing to have happened to these kids (now adults) but the fact that these camps still exist baffle me.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

[ketziav · 5/10 · 29 December 2023]

This documentary tells the story of the youth therapy programs that were founded by the now late Steve Cartisano. Really it doesn't take a genius to figure out these things will end up most of the time very badly, you're mixing rebellious teens with the wilderness, with figures of authority that rely on corporal punishment and abuse their power and you've got a recipe for disaster.

The doc was okay but I felt it could've had more of an impact, I would've maybe done less screen time from Steve's family, since they weren't in the camps and what I believe the viewer is looking for was more first person accounts of what happened. I think we could've seen more stories that never made it to the screen. And the ones that did I felt were very rushed. They should've made this into a mini series and divided the stories so that we could've gotten more information and details with that format.

Maybe Steve had good intentions at the beginning but like a famous quote says "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and these kids marched down that road far too many times before anybody put a stop to it.

Interesting but

[abu3mer · 6/10 · 4 January 2024]

This documentary was definitely an interesting one as I never heard about this camp before. However, I felt it really lacked content. I strongly believe if they actually collected more stories from more people we would get a rich documentary or maybe the story wasn't enough to make a filull documentary about. This documentary can be easily summarized in a youtube video instead.

If more witnesses or participents were there we would get a clearer image of what was happening or understand the kids' opinions on how they felt. The ending was meh also as they didn't really explain what happened with him when it comes to law l.

Spends 50% of the doc defending a horrible man?

[joshmacaroni · 4/10 · 3 January 2024]

I get showing the full perspective and including every voice, but maybe 3/4ths of the people interviewed in this documentary defend the camps and Steve Cartisano's actions instead of talking about what went on and interviewing more victims. It's honestly disheartening,- the ex-wife, daughter, and ex-camp counselor don't show much (or any) empathy. When they talk about how a teen died at the camp, the wife mentions how upset it made Steve and then starts complaining about the court-case, and the daughter complains about the news coverage while coming across as very arrogant.

It felt like a lot of this was intended to diminish the degree of the abuse that went on and excuse or justify what Cartisano did. It did well when telling the stories of the survivors, but unfortunately falls short otherwise.

Good, but it definitely left stuff out. I know from experience.

[sailingforlife · 9/10 · 28 December 2023]

I was in the last group to run-in in Utah before the state of Utah shut them down. I still have scars on my body the whole time I was there. I had sores that I'd have to walk on for four months. I was 13..never did drugs, never drank alcohol, never partied, never had a run-in with the , and was still a virgin, just a normal teenager who didn't pick up her room. My mom thought this would be a way to get me to "be a good girl". The description of "out of control teenagers" is wrong... there were a lot of normal kids there. Kids with parents that just didn't want to be a parent.. or in my case just wanted someone to teach me a lesson.

Horrendous

[luvireland-11253 · 6/10 · 27 December 2023]

So the whole time I'm watching this horror unfold, I kept thinking and hoping that the founder of this abuse camp would be held accountable. Turns out that legally, he skates by, untouched. But he got his in the end, I'm happy to say. You really got to love that ex-wife though. Her husband being acquitted in the death of an attendee at his horror show was "the answer to a prayer." The ex and the daughter both deserved slaps....their husband/father and founder of this travesty "was never really there" during the abuse. He made MILLIONS off the parents of the teenagers that were brought to his "therapeutic" camps. The adults being interviewed who had been teens at these camps are STILL suffering...still crying...still damaged. It's too bad that the founder didn't suffer legal issues, but cancer decided he'd make a perfect candidate.

Good but it lacks

[rgrishigajra · 4/10 · 28 December 2023]

The overall story was compelling but one thing that I have found is important for documentaries is displaying labels for the different story tellers more than the first time they are introduced. There's so many people involved in this documentary, but you only see their introduction once. How am I supposed to remember who Larry was?!? They all look the same over and over again. Even the subtitles don't help understand the character build up. There's a lot you might need to google while watching this documentary too. It's like the show needs a precursor to know who's who and whats the context of the show.

Camp hell no!

[gurumaggie · 7/10 · 28 December 2023]

The views if I can call them that of Cartisanos family are despicable and should be removed from the show, his gaslit or simply removed from reality wife, child and co abuser have no place here, his wife didn't know about the money and the absolute lack of compassion and empathy toward other people's children, yet she can cry for a man who's methods killed a child, how does she sleep at night.

I was vaguely aware of these camps from Leeza and Geraldo Rivera at the time. I don't think anyone suspected it was like this, I'm shocked to my soul that he just brazenly grifted and packed up and moved on when the heat was on.

I was utterly delighted that his lawyer didn't get paid, he was an absolute lesson for anyone wishing to become a lawyer, I don't mind admitting I cried at this show.

Interesting subject matter, unchallenging direction

[mcdonaldparis-83809 · 6/10 · 14 January 2024]

It's clear the director just wanted to simply get the story out, which can be perfectly adequate, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

They had the opportunity to ask some difficult and challenging questions to the aggressors and defendants of this story, but they didn't. They even use a clip from another interview where someone does ask those questions, which stuck out to me.

Without spoilers, Steve Cartisano, starts this abusive camp for kids and his entire family defend him vehemently, and not once were they asked any challenging questions. Maybe the director didn't want to scare them off, but you need to do these things if you want to make something that truly sticks out. But instead they took the easy route. They don't even mention the Mormon half of the story which you'll only learn about if you research this more after you watch the documentary.

The average score for this documentary is 6/10. The story itself is very interesting and it's doing all the work. I still recommend this though since it's an interesting story, but anyone could have directed this.

Not to mention it's SO DARK! Even day shots are dark! What is wrong with cinematographers these days?

Moderately interesting

[grantss · 6/10 · 29 December 2023]

In the late-1980s Steve Cartisano ran a series of "therapy" camps for delinquent teens. The camps were largely survival exercises, pushing the kids to the extreme, the kids were (unwittingly) signed up by their parents (for a large fee) and were generally forcefully removed from their homes and transported to the camps.

I watched this by accident, thinking it was a drama rather than a documentary. I stuck with it though as it held some intrigue. The telling of the story was initially quite even as you could see both perspectives.

From a point though it is clear who is in wrong and from then it is a fairly linear, join-the-dots exercise. This, combined with a non-profound ending, making it overall an okay, but not great, documentary.

Meh

[roxlerookie · 3/10 · 3 January 2024]

Bad parenting outsourced to bad people.

The irony of how terrible Steve's family becomes is incredible. For someone selling services around discipline and self actualization, the fact his kids were doing heroin and ended in prison is just hilarious.

The wife, who clearly has a loyalty card at the plastic surgeon office, apparently didn't police her kids any more than Steve himself, and they failed spectacularly as parents. Luckily, Steve died young.

Even more ironic is that American pursuit of the magic pill to treat anything. You're a terrible parent and your kid is turning terrible? Send them to an expensive terrible camp about which you do zero due diligence, if you're lucky the kid will die and you'll get some insurance money. Worst case, he's off your hands for a while. Either way it's not your fault.

And the last irony: it's a thriving industry to this day.

Overall not a good documentary. A lot of screen time is given to Steve's family who is clearly up its own ass and doesn't bring much. It's also very one sided. Little work is done around following the money, or where Steve was and what he was doing most of the time.

Feels like a gen z documentary. Half assed, outraged, and ultimately rather pointless.

A textbook display of hypocrisy..

[Gavin247 · 5/10 · 31 January 2024]

First off, I respect various organizations who legitimately assist with youth programs for "troubled" kids, I think we all do. At the same time, the finger can be pointed at the parents who don't fully understand where and what they are sending their child to because they haven't done their due diligence. Sounds like they are failing on both fronts, failing their kids and failing themselves.

Secondly, The absolute most satisfying part of this, and I don't mean this harshly, is the kids this man was trying to "save" were the exact same as his own kids who he did basically nothing for. So, you have this man taking thousands of dollars from other parents to "save" their children, and this person is also a parent who is actually failing his own! It's funny how that works out isn't it? The timeless classic of people not practicing what they preach, like this child abuser did. Publicly announcing himself as a saint, but just another wolf in sheep's clothing..an absolute Hypocrite!!

Nevertheless, if you want to watch some unfortunate children being pushed to near death experiences to "make them a better person" then this is for you.

Or If you like seeing hypocrisy exposed, then this is for you as well.

Camp Hell it's called, well there's a special spot for this man in the afterlife version.

How avoiding Criminal Justice works

[atleverton · 8/10 · 7 January 2024]

This film is a good example of when the American justice system fails. As an idea to market a harsh wilderness expedition as a way to tame troubled youth. He has no experience with counseling, is not a psychologist, nor is he an expert in desert survival. But he goes on television and his message resonates so much that his business is wildly successful. Parents would pay up to $10,000 to have their child kidnapped and sent to this camp. It was so successful that he could not properly train his employees, and one of the kids sent to the camp died. Obviously, he and his company were then charged, but after a two-year tial he was acquitted of all charges and her death was ruled accidental. Any reasonable person at this point would say to themselves I tried this idea, I failed, let me do something else with my life. He did not, he tried this strategy again in two different locations, and they both ended up in disaster. In the last case, the victims of this Camp needed to be rescued by staff members from the American embassy. The most idiotic thing about this entire situation is his family's insistence that this man did nothing wrong because he wasn't there when the worst abuses took place. This is mind-boggling. If I created a company and it ended up devolving into a slave labor camp, nothing about that and in fact benefited from the slave labor camp I think I bear some kind of responsibility. It is incredible to me that this man escaped any form of criminal justice.

Unlikeable

[bczech-46-485595 · 5/10 · 1 February 2024]

Unlikeable is the only way I can describe this documentary. The kids were unlikeable. The parents unlikeable. The people running the camp were unlikeable. The journalist is unlikeable. The frustration of hearing all of these unlikeable people talk about a situation that they all put themselves in is ridiculous. Parents not being able to control their kids. Kids so horrible that their parents would mortgage or sell their homes to put them in camps. The owner and director of the camp, so egotistical and money hungry that he lost sight of the goal. His family, so easily wanting to frame him in a good light, even as their lives were destroyed in coincidental fashion. The documentary itself was well-directed and gave some information, but it would have better been served if they had added people who were pro and con the wilderness therapy (with good knowledge) to even indicate if this type of "therapy" worked at all. Overall it just seemed to want to try and shock. It did not.

So what is the solution?

[aqswdeft-91733 · 5/10 · 28 December 2023]

Parents need to PARENT their children. Period.

This docu was rough. What can parents do when their child uses drugs, alcohol, and/or is completely rebellious and uncontrollable?

A - have child's behavior improved through some type of program that will actually change the child's attitude and behavior b - hope for the best until child leaves home - do nothing - the child then continues until most likely ends up in prison Lack of parental guidance is a number one reason for the prisons in America to be currently full/overcrowded. Lack of parental guidance creates a child that has no boundaries, no concept of morals, consequences for behavior. The child then becomes of adult age but is still an underdeveloped child mentally, psychologically, and then simply continues the bad behavior, poor decisions until ending up in prison.

The FOCUS should not be on Cartisano but on the PROBLEM - a completely uncontrollable child.

The FOCUS is the problem child.

I was shocked as Cartisano's own children succumbed to the same problems as Cartisano's program - wow - how did that happen?? Shock.

A problem child is a tough problem. The attitude and behavior must be changed, but this is extremely difficult to accomplish. So how can this be successfully accomplished without abuse, etc.? The cure from Cartisano is practically worse than the disease, even with good intentions. Rough.

This is really dumb

[BennyyD · 5/10 · 27 December 2023]

As someone who attended one of these schools I am really mortified by this film. It paints the industry as a whole as "bad". Dont drink the kool aid.

Of course, there are bad places out there, but if you look at any industry that has people helping other people (healthcare, behavioral healthcare, schools, religion etc) there are going to be cases where messed up stuff happens.

I heard about places like this, many people I know went to wilderness camp before coming to the boarding school I went to, but I can tell you it helped. It saved my life. The discipline, the mental fortitude... these are things I still tap into as an adult today. The people who worked at these places, think about who they are dealing with everyday. No one wants this job. No one wants to deal with psychotic, violent children. But the people who worked at these places stepped up and did it. Of course they became exhausted and burned out. If you work in healthcare, you know how often this happens. But unfortunately there just arent many folks out there who want to do this work.

The place I went to was bare bones. The food sucked, the staff wasnt licensed, it wasnt funded well. But it saved my life. That enviornment saved my life. I hated it when I was there, but I am so glad I went because if I hadn't, I dont know where I would be.

Like I said, places where the job is people helping other people are always going to have bad eggs. Hopefully they get weeded out, hopefully those places get shut down, and hopefully those people get prosecuted. But most of these places are doing good work for people who are in serious need of help.

Deeply devastating and horrifying

[ravenclaw_girlrules · 10/10 · 28 December 2023]

I think the poor reviews are due to the perpetrator's family and children's parents being featured. But this tactic is not uncommon - that does not mean the documentary makers agree with their perspectives. If anything, including them highlights their hypocrisy and evil.

The accounts of the children - because they are children (the label 'teens' diminishes this) - sent to wilderness camps was genuinely devastating and moving. This camp might have reformed behavior for some kids, but torture is not an acceptable method of reforming behavior.

I feel almost no empathy for the parents. At minimum, they knew they were approving a staged kidnapping for their children. The kidnapping in itself can be traumatizing. Knowing that your parents signed off on your torture is even more traumatizing.

This documentary should have also included the names of all the children who have died in wilderness camps inspired by Steve's. This man's evil should not be minimized in any way. A lot of people need to be in jail right now.

This Documentary Is Just Bad.

[dakota_kendle · 1/10 · 28 December 2023]

These types of wilderness treatment camps are lifesavers for most. This documentary is not a good reflection of what most wilderness treatment is like. This documentary is nothing but drama. This documentary only focuses on negative aspects of outdoor therapy. Most people who are sent to these outdoor treatment camps benefit from the wilderness therapy. An alternative would be going to juvenile dentition which is a far worse alternative. I would be ashamed to make a documentary such as this. This is far from what wilderness therapy is actually like but the director of the film needed to create some sort of drama to lure in viewers.

Ex-wife and daughter

[sheilasalami-21234 · 5/10 · 20 February 2024]

Started as something good, then turned into something gross. The ex and the daughter are in disgusting denial. They enjoyed the luxury lifestyle this produced. The lack of empathy from the family and "horse" dude is gross. No one was held accountable. These kids, now adults, will never be the same. His own kids were a mess! That's says something... this guy may have had good intentions at first, but greed and selfishness took over and he was a POS. The ex and kid need to wake up and see how absolutely stupid they look and sound. Take responsibility for your part in it all. Especially the wife. Her plastic surgery shows she's benefited from it all. SMH.