We all know what happens to horror franchises when they go way beyond their expiration date. They become a shell of themselves as they fall exponentially into mediocrity and irrelevance. All horror fans sadly know this truth. Eventually after the franchise has almost faded from the public eye, some studio rep decides it is time to revive the franchise and in their quest they misunderstand everything about the franchise. Satisfying no one and losing money in the process. Horror filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun is aware of this and decided to deconstruct the slasher inside and out with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.
After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director, named Kris (Hannah Einbinder, Hacks) for resurrection. But when she visits the original’s star, Billy (Gillian Anderson, The X-Files), a now reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
From the opening moments, it is clear that Jane Schoenbrun completely understands the mechanics of a slasher franchise. They understand why people love these films in the first place: the excessive gore, the teenage sex, and the spectacle of watching idiots get brutally slaughtered one by one. They also understand the genre on a technical level from the unstoppable killer and the “final girl” archetype to the tactile appeal of practical gore effects.
But Schoenbrun also understands the ways these films are constantly misunderstood, both by obsessive fandoms and studio executives. Devoted members of the fandom are determined to force deeper meaning onto films that were never trying to say anything profound, and executives who endlessly recycle the formula without ever understanding why it worked to begin with. In that sense, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma functions both as a deconstruction of the slasher genre and as a satire of the culture surrounding it.
And on the other hand, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a romance and an exploration of the female orgasm filtered through the language of the slasher film. Whether that exploration fully works, I am still not entirely sure, but it is undeniably an interesting lens to approach the subject. The relationship between Kris and Billy is about as lesbian-coded as you can possibly get, with the two going from strangers to inseparable almost immediately through their shared obsession with the Miasma franchise and the pursuit of sexual intimacy.
The film constantly cuts between the exaggerated campiness of the Miasma films, complete with absurdly bloody kills carried out by Little Death, and these quieter moments of intimacy between Kris and Billy. There are long stretches where we simply watch Little Death carve through camp counselor bodies in elaborate practical gore set pieces, followed by scenes of the two lying naked together in firelit cabins discussing sex and desire with an almost awkward sincerity. All of it is wrapped in these cold pastel winter hues that make the entire film feel both strangely dreamy and emotionally distant at the same time.
Overall, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the kind of film that I am still trying to process. Does it all work? Not really. But I was fascinated by it regardless. Anchored by the wide-eye awkwardness of Hannah Einbinder and the smokey southern drawl of Gillian Anderson, the film is simply enthrallingly strange. Even in its messier moments, there is something compelling about watching this film unfold. More than anything, it shows that Jane Schoenbrun continues to prove that they are willing to approach horror from angles that most filmmakers would never consider. Whether the film succeeds is besides the point. The fact that this film exists at all is what makes it so interesting.
My Rating: B
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma comes to theaters August 7th.
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