Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare

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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.

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 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.