Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma review: Trippy psychosexual fever dream
Having seen Jane Schoenbrun‘s previous feature, I Saw the TV Glow, I should have known that Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma was not going to be a straightforward slasher movie – or a film about the making of a slasher movie – but still, I was not expecting this bizarre psychosexual fever dream.
The film stars Hannah Einbinder as Kris Williams, a film festival darling looking to make her next feature. She wants to reboot the Camp Miasma slasher franchise – think Halloween or Friday the 13th – and cast the original’s final girl, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), as the lead (much to the studio’s disappointment). Kris goes to Camp Tivoli – the set of the Camp Miasma films and Billy’s home – to meet the recluse and convince her to come out of acting retirement for another Miasma outing.
What a concept! I was so excited by it that my imagination went wild, envisioning what might happen, and I couldn’t wait to see Einbinder and Anderson make a slasher horror. But we never get that far – it is all about Kris’ visit to the camp and her obsession with the disturbed Billy, who seems to believe the films are real and that Little Death (Jack Haven) – the film’s serial killer with an air vent head – is coming back. Is she right or is she deluded? They develop an incredibly personal, inappropriate relationship with a focus on Kris’ lack of sexual fulfilment, and the lines between reality and fantasy blur.
There is still plenty of laughably OTT slasher horror content though, including a big chunk of the original Camp Miasma film (which seems like an odd choice but makes sense later). It pays homage to old-school horror movies while also critiquing how badly they’ve aged in terms of representation (especially queer and trans), diversity and stereotyping. I particularly loved the opening credits sequence, which tells the history of the Camp Miasma franchise through newspaper clippings and an increasing pile of VHS tapes.
Einbinder, who gives a fantastic performance in Hacks, is unsurprisingly brilliant again in her feature film debut. She is funny and awkward but also heartfelt and vulnerable. Anderson is a sexy Norma Desmond type with a Southern drawl. She is alluring but also mysterious and off-kilter, and they are a captivating combination together.
This is weirder, hornier and more meta than I was expecting and a lot to process! I need a second watch to unpack this properly and appreciate the movie for what it actually is, instead of being hung up on what it isn’t. I feel foolish for expecting a straightforward slasher horror from Schoenbrun and for being able to shake off my disappointment when it became apparent the film was a different beast entirely.
In cinemas from Friday 21st August