SYNOPSIS:

 

For over seventy years, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was called a place of care. What happened inside killed over half its population. It closed in 1987, leaving behind unmarked graves and an unresolved history. Today, on those same grounds, disabled performers - many living with similar experiences that once sent people to Pennhurst - put on their makeup, pull on their costumes, and prepare to scare people for a living.

 

Through grit, compassion, and buckets of blood, the eclectic performers of the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction are wrestling with a space that is at once a lucrative business and a gravesite.

 

Blending haunting archival footage, first-hand accounts, and an immersive verité approach, directing trio Nathan R. Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak have crafted something far more powerful than either a horror film or a traditional documentary. THE HAUNTING OF PENNHURST is a horror story in its own right - one about care gone catastrophically wrong - that carries the visceral, cathartic charge of the genre.

​

KEY PARTICIPANTS:

In order of appearance:

 

Autumn Werner

Emily Wunder

Rodney Hulsey

Chris Valle

Dan Cody 

Eddie Buck

Joey Vanderloop

 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTS:

 

Nathan R. Stenberg

I want to make a horror film about care. I came to Pennhurst expecting to document exploitation – an entertainment attraction commodifying atrocity. Instead, I found people who come to this place not just for the thrill of scaring customers, but to find community on grounds once designed for their death. That shift broke the film I thought I was making and demanded a different one.

THE HAUNTING OF PENNHURST is a non-fiction horror film. Not because of jump scares or gimmicks, but because it explores how systems built to care for people become systems that harm them. This is a film about what survives that betrayal and those of us who find life in the wreckage.

 

Mike Attie

My first significant film job was with Alan and Susan Raymond, directors of AN AMERICAN FAMILY and POLICE TAPES. Early on, I tried to emulate their observational style, but it was through my first feature, In Country, that I realized that in some cases, observational filmmaking could only capture part of the story. The film, a doc about Vietnam War reenactors, needed to reflect the internal fantasies of my participants. I achieved this by blending observational, interview, archival, and Vietnam footage to merge fantasy with reality - while also leaning heavily into war movie conventions. Since then, I’ve sought stories that would allow me to continue exploring this multimodal storytelling, which I found in Pennhurst.

In the fall of 2020, I met Nathan through a friend and visited the Pennhurst Asylum on a chilly autumn night. (We like to say that we met in a Wawa parking lot.) I was struck by its scale. In the haunt, horror was spectacle and performance—smoke machines in every room, gallons of fake blood, and screams that made patrons run in fear. During the daytime, I experienced a different kind of horror, the emptiness of spaces that give one time to ponder what was—reminding me of Alain Resnais’ NIGHT AND FOG. But the community left the deepest impression: when haunter Dan Cody led a crowd of haunt employees in a raucous “WE ARE PENNHURST” chant, I knew this had to be a film.

 

Katarina Poljak 

When I first arrived at Pennhurst, I was struck by how the “haunters” described a sense of empowerment in their performances. “Haunting” becomes a space where the grotesque shifts power dynamics. It allows the body and mind to momentarily alter how they are  seen and read, raising a central question: who are we afraid of, and why? For spectators, the haunt becomes a test of bravery. For performers, it becomes a site of release—an untamable space pushing against  expectations of an “acceptable” body and mind. As co-director, I combine poetic image-making with a critique of society’s enduring fascination with gore, spectacle, and the commodified body.

 

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

​

Nathan R. Stenberg, Director

Nathan R. Stenberg is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar who work explores what happens when systems built to care for people become systems that harm them. A first-generation college graduate from rural Minnesota, he’s been an FFA member, musician, actor, and policy advisor. He holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota and faculty appointments at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. THE HAUNTING OF PENNHURST is his directorial debut. 

 

Mike Attie, Director

Mike Attie is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have screened at major international film festivals including CPH:DOX, Tribeca, and Sundance. Attie’s feature documentary In Country was supported by the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Points North Institute and the Gotham Doc Lab. His 2020 short documentary film Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa played at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, won the grand jury award at AFI Docs and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category. Attie lives in Philadelphia with his wife, two kids, three cats and one ailing houseplant.

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Katarina Poljak, Director

Katarina Poljak is a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary artist working across film, performance, and installation. Their work has been presented at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, MOA Philly, and Vox Populi Gallery. They are currently directing the short dance film Source Architecture. Their recent video installation CRASH SITE premiered in March 2026 and is on long-term view at MOA Philly. THE HAUNTING OF PENNHURST is their feature directorial debut.

 

Daniel J. Chalfen, Producer 

Daniel J. Chalfen is co-founder of the Peabody, two-time duPont-winning and eight-time Emmy-nominated production company Naked Edge Films. His credits include SARA BAREILLES: GOOD GRIEF (Tribeca Festival 2026); WHO KILLED ALEX ODEH? (Sundance 2026 award winner); NIGHT IN WEST TEXAS (with Texas Monthly, for PBS); LOUDMOUTH (executive produced by John Legend, Showtime/BET); CAPTAINS OF ZAATARI (Hulu); the Netflix Original PRAY AWAY (executive produced by Ryan Murphy); BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY (executive produced by David Letterman & Jason Blum, Focus/Netflix); the Sundance award winner THE INFILTRATORS for PBS; PRESCRIPTION THUGS (executive produced by Vince Vaughn, Samuel Goldwyn Films/Netflix); and SILENCED (executive produced by Susan Sarandon, for DirecTV and Netflix).

 

Sarah Garrahan, Editor

Sarah Garrahan is a documentary editor based in Los Angeles. She has edited feature documentaries that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW and Hot Docs. Her short documentary editing work has premiered on The New Yorker, LA Times Short Docs, and Al Jazeera. She is a former Flaherty Fellow and Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellow. She has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and DOCNYC’s “40 Under 40”.

​

 

FULL CREDITS

 

A School Project Films | Naked Edge Films production

 

In Association with 

Unnecessary Pictures

 

In Association With

The deNovo Initiative 

Ford Foundation JustFilms

&

Perspective Fund

 

A FILM BY 

Nathan R. Stenberg

Mike Attie

Katarina Poljak

 

Featuring

Autumn Werner

Emily Wunder

Rodney Hulsey

Chris Valle

Dan Cody 

Eddie Buck

Joey Vanderloop

 

Written, Produced 

& Directed by

Nathan R. Stenberg

Mike Attie

Katarina Poljak

 

Produced by

Daniel J. Chalfen

 

Executive Producers

Jim LeBrecht

Sara Bolder

Jim Butterworth

 

Executive Producers

Roman Nesis

Dawn Bonder

Marci Wiseman

 

Co-Executive Producers

Sheri Sobrato

Lisa & Matt Sonsini

Jennifer Pelling

Megan Gelstein

 

Edited by

Sarah Garrahan

 

Original Score by

Dan Deacon

 

Director of Photography

Mike Attie

 

ROLL

 

Field Producer

Nathan R. Stenberg

 

2nd Unit Director of Photography

Blaine Dunkley
 

Additional Cinematography

Katie Supplee

Zach Langford

Lucky Marvel

 

Gaffer

Zachary Van Heel

 

Assistant Camera

Tyler Nelson

 

Grip

Zach Langford

 

Location Sound Mixers

Katarina Poljak

Katie Supplee

 

Production Assistant

David Dunnington

 

Story Consultant

Marci Wiseman

 

Consulting Editors

Rabab Haj Yahya

Nicholas Monsour

 

Assistant Editors

Jenna A. Bush

Katarina Poljak

 

Motion Graphics

Arthur Jones

 

Music Editor 

Chester Gwazda

 

Caption and Audio Description By IndieVISIBLE Entertainment

Kiah Amara

Clare Carlson

 

Audio Describer

Thomas Ried

 

Participant Care Lead

Emily Margaret Haddad, LCSW-C, MBE

 

Archival Research

Caitlin Riggsbee

 

Post Production Services provided by

Gramercy Post

 

Post Production Supervisor

Sarah Garrahan 

 

Picture Finishing Services by 

Cinemaluz

 

Colorist and DI Producer 

Luz Marina Zamora

 

DCP Authoring and Mastering

Miguel Patiño
 

Visual Effects Artist

Ryan Denora

 

End Titles Design

Arthur Jones

 

Sound designer/Re-recording Mixer 

Brian Berger 

 

Sound Effects Editor 

Lawrence He

 

Foley artist

Nicholas Kinney

 

Fellowship For Disabled Filmmakers 

Multitude Films

Emma Alpert

Jess Devaney

Fwd-Doc

INDIEVisible Entertainment

Cassidy Dimon

Chile Ochoa

 

Fellows

Andie Madsen

Gabriel “Gabo” Ponte Fleary

Maya Wise

Vega Darling

 

Legal

Clearance Counsel

Donaldson Callif Perez

Lisa Callif

Victoria Rosales
 

Reavis Page Jump, LLP

Nicole Page

Daniel Ain

 

Insurance

HUB International Insurance Services

Seth Cohen & Mark Zuvich

 

Publicity Services

42 West

 

Archival Sources

American Philosophical Society

Block Communications Inc

Bureau of Handicapped Children, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Commonwealth of PA

Karl Williams

KBOI

KNTV

Lee Enterprises

McLean Publishing Company

MediaNews Group

National Institutes of Health

NBCUniversal

PA Media Group

PA States Archives

Periscope Film

The Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance Archives

Rogues Hollow Video
Spring-Ford Historical Society

The Johnson Family

The Missouri Division of Health

The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC

The White House

University of Nebraska

University of Oklahoma

WITF Film Productions

 

Special Thanks AND SEPARATE OUT THANKS

Alex Brown

Alex Rivera

Amanda Berg

Amber Love

Andrew Catauro

Angela Park

Ann Rogers

Barbara Attie

Ben Eisenreich

Catherine Steele

Cristina Ibarra

David Brick

David Dunnington

David Malmborg

Dustin Slaughter

Elenie Chung

Giulia Caruso

Greg Donofrio

Janet Goldwater

Jessica Kingdon

Joanne Johnson

Joshua Moore

Julianna Poljak

Karen M. Tani

Karl Williams 

Katrina N. Jirik

Leon Souders 

Maya E. Rudolph

Margaret Werry

Marisa Palmer

Maya Sabatello

M’Daya Meliani

Meghan O’Hara

Michal Kobialka

Monique Avila

Natalya Yonathan

Nathan Jumper

Nathan Truesdell

Nia Benjamin 

Norbert Shieh

Paul Malhotra

Paulina Suarez

Reid Davenport

Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck

Rose Eisenreich

Ryan Haagen

Sean Huntley

Sarah Charlesworth Attie

Sonja Kuftinec

Sue Ding

Susanna L. Blumenthal

Susan Schweik

Ted Passon

Theresa Navarro

Trevor Byrne

Tyler Stump

Victoria Chalk

Xenia Matthews

The People of Pennhurst Past and Present

 

This film was supported by Sundance Institute’s Catalyst program

This film was supported with grants from 

Catapult Film Fund

The deNovo Initiative

Ravello Impact

Resonance Philanthropies

Ford Foundation

People’s Media Fund

SFFILM’s Rainin Grant to Filmmakers with Disabilities

Perspective Fund

Anonymous Grant from Phila Foundation​​