Netflix viewers warned to only watch ‘disturbing’ new documentary ‘if you’re emotionally stable’
A brand new true crime documentary has dropped on Netflix, with viewers branding it so disturbing you should only watch if you're 'emotionally stable'.
Fans of the true crime genre are set to have even more content to feast their eyes on as this has been branded a 'must-watch' by those who have been quick enough to binge the three-part series already.
The three parts are each over an hour long, with the Netflix documentary recalling the experiences of Katherine Kubler - who happens to be the director and narrator of the film - when she was sent to a youth behavioural correction institute as a teenager.
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It also features other former 'students', as they all revisit the New York boarding school, Ivy Ridge.
All wasn't as it seemed
Parents were led into thinking their misbehaving kids were receiving a good education, but instead their kids were being abused physically and psychologically, as shown in the trailer with archive videos.
Those who feature in the documentary talk about the trauma they suffered, and footage shown from their time at the 'Academy of Ivy Ridge' is a hard watch.
The documentary is called The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping, and you can view the trailer here:
From kidnapping to control
Katherine is the director and narrator of the insightful crime docu-series, having been a student at the institute for 15 months.
She explains that she was 'kidnapped' in the middle of the night and brought to the school for troubled teens.
The now-defunct 'school' was located in the New York, with the diploma available for students to obtain not even being recognised by the US state.
The impossible rule book
With staff at the school exploiting brainwashing techniques and treating the students like 'prisoners', those at the institute had to encounter a number of disturbing and inappropriate things from day-to-day.
Some of the rules included not being able to talk, look out of the window or even smile.
Former students also detailed that they couldn't go to the toilet without a staff member watching and that they were restrained a number of times.
Meanwhile, some students recalled having to sleep on a mattress in the hallway with their arms out at either side.
The school operated on a strict points system which determined how long somebody would stay there for. Breaking the lengthy list of rules would see points deducted on the spot.
“No one thought to clean up the evidence"
After learning that the site of the former school was now abandoned, Katherine decided to head down with a film crew to make the documentary.
But what she never expected was to find a load of documents, including former student files, restraint logs and CCTV footage showing incidents of excessive force and physical abuse.
“Finding the building and all of our files just re-traumatized the whole group,” Kubler told PEOPLE.
“It had been years, so to have this come flooding back into our lives in such an extreme way was wild. But there was this renewed energy — because we finally had the validation and proof — so we’re like, ‘Let's do something about it.’
“No one thought to clean up the evidence."
Several viewers have lauded the detail that the documentary goes into, and how it exposed the 'troubled teen industry'.
Posting on X, one user said: "Watching the program on Netflix the sh*t people used to do to they kids!!"
Another viewer posted: "started watching ‘the program’ on Netflix and omg those poor kids. so dreadful to think this kind of sh*t is still happening"
A third put: "Shocking, disturbing and one feels with the victims so much... Only watch if you are emotionally stable"
A fourth simply said: "Netflix - The Program, You are welcome," replying with another post that read "Corruption is real."
The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: True Crime, Netflix, Documentaries, TV and Film
Joshua Nair