Usually, when you hear about a Netflix release topping the charts it's either yet another example of how Netflix viewers will watch anything or the surprising resurgence of a long-forgotten film. But sometimes, the streamer serves up a true crime documentary so salacious we can't help but binge away until we've imbibed the entire harrowing narrative in one. Such was the case recently with "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal," which had viewers around the world tuning in.
Since it gave up on the movie-by-mail model and became a streaming service, Netflix has consistently provided us with a stream of true crime documentaries that delve into all manner of sordid affairs. From "Making a Murderer" to "The Staircase," other people's trauma has proven a reliably popular genre for Netflix, which has capitalized as much as anyone on our ongoing love affair with true crime.
Now, a new exploration of humanity's dark...
Since it gave up on the movie-by-mail model and became a streaming service, Netflix has consistently provided us with a stream of true crime documentaries that delve into all manner of sordid affairs. From "Making a Murderer" to "The Staircase," other people's trauma has proven a reliably popular genre for Netflix, which has capitalized as much as anyone on our ongoing love affair with true crime.
Now, a new exploration of humanity's dark...
- 1/4/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
In 2021, Paris Hilton spoke on Capitol Hill about the trauma she endured at a camp for troubled teenagers in Utah.
“I was strangled. Slapped across the face. Watched in the shower by male staff,” she shared.
So begins the Netflix documentary “Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare,” which offers an origin story for Hilton and countless other teenagers’ experiences within the United States’ “troubled teen” industry. As “Hell Camp” reveals, there was one man pushing the growth of supposedly rehabilitative sleep-away programs for misbehaved youth: Steve Cartisano.
An Air Force veteran, Cartisano charged parents steep prices to send their children to a 63-day program at the Challenger Foundation in Utah. Teens were kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night and jetted off to the desert, where they were forced to hike 500 miles in exhausting conditions. Moreover, they were often victims of emotional and physical abuse from camp staff. One 16-year-old camper,...
“I was strangled. Slapped across the face. Watched in the shower by male staff,” she shared.
So begins the Netflix documentary “Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare,” which offers an origin story for Hilton and countless other teenagers’ experiences within the United States’ “troubled teen” industry. As “Hell Camp” reveals, there was one man pushing the growth of supposedly rehabilitative sleep-away programs for misbehaved youth: Steve Cartisano.
An Air Force veteran, Cartisano charged parents steep prices to send their children to a 63-day program at the Challenger Foundation in Utah. Teens were kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night and jetted off to the desert, where they were forced to hike 500 miles in exhausting conditions. Moreover, they were often victims of emotional and physical abuse from camp staff. One 16-year-old camper,...
- 1/2/2024
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
The Netflix documentary Hell Camp: Teenage Nightmare introduces us to an American teenage behavioral camp led by a former special forces officer, Steve Cartisano. Steve Cartisano’s “wilderness camp” was later recognized as a “hell camp,” which became a nightmare for the teenagers enrolled in it. While the parents of these teenagers believed that only in this discipline camp would their children learn a life lesson, they had no idea that their children would be subjected to physical and mental abuse. However, a tragic incident surfaced when one of the kids in the camp died from extreme torture, which eventually led to Steve Cartisano’s downfall.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened In The Challenger Foundation?
In 1988, Steve Cartisano, a former military special forces officer, founded a children’s wilderness camp, The Challenger Foundation, in southern Utah. Steve and his colleagues advertised their camp, gaining the attention of many worried parents who...
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened In The Challenger Foundation?
In 1988, Steve Cartisano, a former military special forces officer, founded a children’s wilderness camp, The Challenger Foundation, in southern Utah. Steve and his colleagues advertised their camp, gaining the attention of many worried parents who...
- 12/28/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
As a victim of the “troubled teen industry,” Paris Hilton spoke on Capitol Hill in 2021 to advocate on behalf of survivors of the controversial child-rehabilitation system. The opening moments of Netflix’s Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare features a clip of Hilton’s speech in front of Congress detailing her experience as a 17-year-old at Provo Canyon School, a youth treatment center in Utah. “I was strangled, slapped across the face, watched in the shower by male staff,” she says.
Hilton’s story sets the tone for Hell Camp, a new...
Hilton’s story sets the tone for Hell Camp, a new...
- 12/28/2023
- by Kalia Richardson
- Rollingstone.com
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