Apparently, there was a youth boys camp for juvenile delinquents somewhere in a rural part of California where there was very little oversight. It was run by an uber-macho ex-Marine who gets off on abusing young men.

The main character, Brad Junders (P. J. Boudousque),was taken to the camp known as Coldwater in the middle of the night to the defeated cries of his mother. She felt like she couldn't handle him anymore. When he got to Coldwater it seemed like a standard rehabilitation camp--a boot camp style environment with a lot of yelling and no luxuries. It seemed proper for the malcontents that were sent there.

It wasn't long before we see that the boot camp was more than just running many miles, chopping wood, and saying "sir" to those in charge. The drill sergeant, Col. Frank Reichert (James C. Burns),and his sentinels were physically abusing the teens. One kid was hit by an ATV when he fell during their daily run. Instead of giving him the proper care, they denied him proper care until he ended up losing his leg. A couple of suits came by with pens and paper to make check marks and pretend to be concerned, but no sooner than they left the abuse began again.

Something had to give.

Eventually, the kids went Lord of the Flies on the staff and killed them all. It didn't take a psychology professor to conclude that young men who were being abused were going to revolt the first real opportunity they got. I hate to say that it gave me great pleasure to see them exact revenge.

As for the Colonel, Brad took care of him. Brad pieced together that the Colonel killed his friend and fellow inmate, Gabe Nunez (Chris Petrovski),when he tried to escape. Nunez was carrying with him documented evidence of his abuse. If he could've gotten it to the authorities, maybe they would've shut down Coldwater. He never made it and Brad made the Colonel pay.

The movie concluded with this closing message:

"There are dozens of teenage deaths on record in state run and private U. S. juvenile rehabilitation facilities since 1980. The actual number of fatalities is unknown.

There are currently no federal laws that define or regulate American owned and operated juvenile rehabilitation centers."

I don't know if this is true or not, but I don't doubt it. "Coldwater" is good for one reason--it made me sympathize with the troublemakers. I started watching thinking that they deserved the harsh treatment they were getting for being violent, criminal punks. I finished the movie thinking that Coldwater, its staff, and the suits that check up on it were all tools and I wanted to see the whole thing burn.

Free on IMDb TV.

Brad (P.J. Boudousqué) is sent by his mom to a private boot camp prison as he has become out of control through his drug dealing and rebellion in general. While he is not an unusually bad kid, he is placed in a privately owned camp run by Colonel Frank Reichert (James C. Burns) a former Marine Colonel. As expected the abuse starts out slow and builds to a climax of no return.

The film is told with some flashbacks as we discover Brad's personal life and associates. Later the film utilizes flashbacks for dramatic effect as it shows us a scene and then later uses a flashback to explain it. The film has a good build up. It masquerades as a film that is somehow critical of the unregulated industry, but only does so with a fictional tale. In that regard it has similarity to a Lifetime style film. P.J. Boudousqué was less than convincing in his role which was written rather cardboard for a lead character.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. Male rear nudity. Torture/blood.

If this is your first "prison" movie (though they wouldn't like to be called that, since they are special in holding youth criminals and re-educating them),you might like this even better than others on this page. There is obviously things happening that shouldn't occur, neither in that facility nor in the "real" world. But with great power comes ... mostly people abusing that power.

This training camp is made to better people with methods that don't seem to add up. The actors are really good at conveying their current mood and their goal in this. Sometimes this seems like a documentary and obviously this seems close to a real event as it gets.