DocumentaryYear2023Duration1h 30mIMDb6.1

Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare

DocumentaryCrime

Out-of-control teens across America were sent to a therapy camp in the harsh Utah desert. The conditions were brutal, but the staff were even worse.

Trailer

Cast

LW

Liza Williams

Director

NL

Nadine Louise Guerrara

Self - Joined Challenger Camp August 1989 Aged 15

SC

Steve Cartisano

Self

Chris Smith

Self - Reporter

L'

Lance 'Horsehair' Jaggar

Self - Field Director, Challenger

KD

Kinney Drellich Edlinger

Self - Joined Challenger Camp August 1988 Aged 13

MC

Matthew Callahan

Self - Joined Challenger Camp June 1990 Aged 15

KC

Kari Callahan

Self - Matthew's Mom

DC

Debbie Cartisano

Self - Steve's Ex-Wife

MJ

Max Jackson

Self - Former Sheriff, Kane County, Utah

KC

Kristen Chase

Self - Joined Challenger Camp June 1990 Aged 16

SF

Sharon Fuqua

Self - Kristen's Mom

David Chase

Self - Kristen's Brother

CB

Charles Brofman

Self - Steve's Defense Attorney

AW

Adam Weinberg

Self - Joined Healthcare America May 1993 Aged 18

LW

Larry Weinberg

Self - Adam's Dad

AB

Ashley Baldwin

Self - Joined Healthcare America May 1993 Aged 15

CC

Catie Cartisano

Self - Steve's & Debbie's Daughter

DC

David Cartisano

Self - Steve & Debbie's Son

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Comments

10 Comments

تيكتوكاتي 🔥❤️Mar 19, 2026

👾NEYO SAN😎Jan 16, 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.

ألا بذكر الله تطمئن القلوبJan 7, 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.

mankrankJan 7, 2024

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.

Letz83Jan 3, 2024

One should not be disappointed after learning that the 'child well-being' cannot be obtained on the free market, but must know better in the first place. This documentary rides on a moderately engaging story with some rough and illegal outbursts by adults during the organized 'wilderness therapy'. However, as you are introduced in the story, you are expecting a lot more (check out the Netflix documentary Scouts Honor - its a far better one on the similar topic) but you get lots of the same stories told by different people. This would be relevant if they went with proving some patterns or structural issues within these types of therapies, but they failed to deliver any such conclusion worth of social impact. If the goal was to portray these horrible events than they should be covered with more focus and content. Moreover, you are left unsatisfied with some of the stories which ironically prove everything contrary of what the documovie was trying to prove in the first place - for example, parents commenting on the issue of organizers gaining money and them paying for this endeavors. In my opinion, this emphasizes the lack of substance of a 'modern american family' and shows one more time how misplaced people's focus could be. Not to mention that this was obscure notions as these types of organizations really requires significant funds, but it puts out of the place the very essence and rather systematic issue of capitalistic society (that hapiness and child well-being can be obtained on the free market and be left with shock when you learn the harder way that it cannot). On the other hand, I must confer that the underlying concerns portrayed in this docu are extremely important and that's the main advantage of this film.

Toke MakinwaJan 3, 2024

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 sever on showing this was totally a criminal enterprise masquerading as doing good: 6/10.

SaiJallow❤️Jan 3, 2024

I attended one of these "schools" and there is too much for one film to contain. It's an incredibly complex issue. In my personal experience I was expelled from middle school in 8th grade. I was a class clown I played pranks and wasn't a nice guy. I was constantly in the principals office. The county sent a letter to my parents at the end of the year that I was required to attend a state alternative school, or an accredited private alternative. My parents went for the latter. I ended up in North Georgia in the middle of woods. Think holes but with lumber. The wild part is many good people did work there, but there were also very evil people. While it may seem easy to blame the parents, the sad thing is many likely didn't know. For example we were allowed 1 phone call a week strictly with guardians. The calls were on a delay, so if you spoke negatively (truthfully) they would shut the phones off. Th letters were also taken and not delivered if they said negative things. The program never told us that. We were allowed a visited once every 3 months. My parents came and once we got off the property I started telling them about all of the abuse. They looked at me like I was crazy and I said haven't you been reading my letters? That's when I found out they never received any. The worst part of these places is that they punish you for normal behavior. Assimilating back into the world for me was extremely difficult. I lived in constant fear of the being sent back until the place was shut down for good. On top of that it's nearly impossible to know what social norms were. Things that would've gotten you severely punished happened to be regular day behavior. For years I almost had to pretend to be normal until I could figure it out. The system as a whole needs changed. For some (killers, rapists, drug dealers) it made sense, but for a class clown I had no business being there. Most people who have been to a place like this probably don't tell anyone. I just urge everyone to be nicer, you can never be sure of what someone else has been through based solely on appearances. I commend the filmmakers for creating this. Hopefully all of these places are shut down before more lives are lost.

Radhiyyah LalaJan 2, 2024

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.

🇲🇦نيروبي🇲🇦Jan 1, 2024

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.

A.D.DJan 1, 2024

Only in the USA... Clueless parents try to raise clueless children in a clueless, uneducated society, leaving their children in the hands if clueless ex- military.... Instead of taking responsibility of their OWN failure, these simple, shallow "parents", not capable of parenting, turned to clueless, 35 years old Steve Cartisano and clueless Lance "Horsehair" Jaggar, two militairy men with no pedagogical education or experience. What could go wrong? 🙂 Reality is it went wrong at the moment these parents were allowed to have children. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to send these clueless parents on a re-educational trip, before exposing children who are in their most vulnerable, (self-)exploring, defiant time of their life, to be kidnapped by a bunch of idiots with no professional credentials in a program where children died. It became a multi million usd business and remarkable is to hear clueless (wife) Debbie Cartisano's excuse that "a lot of money was coming in, but a lot of money was going out as well", while living in a 6500 square feet, which was "adequate" for her. (sarcasm) Its always good to hear that people profiting from society, offering no real value, just misery, can live their lives in "adequate", 6500 sq. Feet properties without taking respobsibility for the death and misery of those they earn from. But the worst thing, besides that no-one has been held accountable for the deaths & injured, it became business as usual. Like it never happened.

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