Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare makes for grim viewing. As Netflix‘s latest dose of depression-fodder, it recounts the life and businesses of Steve Cartisano, a savvy entrepreneur who realises that troubled teens can be used to generate incredible amounts of money.
For tens of thousands of dollars, struggling parents sent their kids off to his “wilderness therapy” retreats. These controversial experiences still operate today and Cartisano is presented as a kind-of innovator in the space.
With the parents’ consent, strangers would appear during the night and take difficult kids to the middle of nowhere. Cartisano’s first foray into wilderness therapy was the Challenger Foundation. Beginning in 1989, teens spent 63-days (and possibly even longer depending on their behaviour) in the blazing heat of the Utah desert.
Overseen by a group of young and inexperienced ‘counsellors’, they were yelled and screamed at and forced to complete a 500-mile hike. As former ‘students’ of the Challenger Foundation tell of their traumatic experiences, it becomes clear just how punishing these hikes were.
Forced to endure harsh conditions, kids had to walk miles for small amounts of food and water. Abuse was commonplace, with some children suffering physical violence at the hands of their overseers. While some former students initially suggest the experience was worthwhile, it is apparent that few benefitted in any meaningful way. Many reverted to their old habits upon returning home or were so badly traumatised that their behaviour worsened.
Frustratingly, it appears many kids sent there weren’t actually that bad at all. They were just teens being teens and their parents had neither the time nor patience to understand their problems. One former student ponders aloud what kind of parent could even contemplate sending their child to such a place.
As Cartisano’s business continued to grow, more kids were sent his way. But things came to a grinding halt when 16-year-old Kristen Chase died in tragic and suspicious circumstances. It is strongly implied that Kristen died from heatstroke during a hike, however Steve and his foundation were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.
As authorities began to clamp down on his business ventures, Cartisano schemed successive wilderness therapy experiences that grew increasingly sinister and expensive.
First, he took to the ocean with a catamaran and crew of teenagers. Wealthy families – such as the Rockefellers – paid upwards of $25,000 for their children to take part, hoping that it would give them new skills and improve their outlook on life.
This soon deteriorated into a chaotic and unstructured sailing trip that saw children moved from one Caribbean island to another. Along the way, kids were forced to scavenge resources to survive.
Before long, authorities caught up with Cartisano. Facing more legal action and without a stable source of income, he relocated his business to Samoa and rebranded once again. This is where things take a truly rotten turn.
Kids were dumped at a makeshift camp – some for a year or longer – and faced hard labour, torture, and sexual abuse. Essentially fending for themselves and being forced to build the camp’s infrastructure, many were physically and mentally scarred by their time there.
Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare review – Verdict
Revelations about Cartisano’s personal misconduct come towards the end of the documentary and are shocking. However, these are given such minimal screen time that they appear somewhat sidelined. They are arguably the most important points in the film, but are reserved for the final ten minutes and hastily detailed.
This leaves Hell Camp feeling disappointingly thin, with its most integral aspects lacking thorough investigation. Considering that Netflix routinely churns out unnecessarily long, multi-part documentaries on just about anything, it’s somewhat perplexing that this was given a measly 90 minutes to tell its story.
Similarly, the film lacks a clear message beyond “wilderness therapy bad” and has next to nothing to say about the contemporary industry. While we are warned that experiences such as those ran by Steve Cartisano still exist, Hell Camp fails to offer any solutions and exposes nothing.
If it were up to me, this would be a three-parter with a significant portion of the series dedicated to present-day wilderness therapy and the people profiting from it. Alas, it isn’t up to me – and perhaps 90 minutes of anguish and misery is more than enough to get the point across.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare is available to stream now on Netflix.
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