Film Review – Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MA)
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Starring: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson
Review by: Julian Wright
A celebration of junky horror, queerness and sexual self-discovery all rolled into one bloody homage to slashers. Sign us up!
Up-and-coming director Kris (Hannah Einbinder) has found some success on the film festival circuit and is working on her next project.
She wants to make the next instalment of the Camp Miasma horror franchise, and cast the original final girl, actress Billy (Gillian Anderson), who has since disappeared from the public eye.
The Camp Miasma series and its success is loosely modelled on Friday the 13th – zero substance or artistic integrity, box office hit, cultural phenomenon, popular merch, endless sequels – you get the idea.
Kris tracks down Billy, now a recluse living in a cabin at the filming location, to pitch her comeback to the series and the two develop a relationship that goes beyond director and actor.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is an imaginative and meta take on the trashy slasher series that has been predominantly frowned upon but mean a lot to many people.
Like they did with I Saw The TV Glow, write/director Jane Schoenbrun taps into and explores a niche fandom.
Her focus again is what a slice of pop culture (in Glow, a TV show, here a horror franchise) can mean to its sometimes small but devoted audience, how people connect with it and each other over it, and the marks it leaves on their lives.
And yet, they do not repeat themselves, creating a whole new way of looking at it through the lens of creative process behind making them and not just connecting with the final product.
There truly is a deeper relationship with these disposable slashers than what may appear on the surface and that has gone unappreciated for decades.
Like I Saw The TV Glow, what this film sets up is a film or pop culture nerd’s dream and yet the more mind bend-y it gets, the more difficult it is to connect with.
The David Lynchian aspects seem to work against what it has established or is trying to say, sometimes seemingly detouring from or clouding its thesis – or perhaps simply a second viewing is required to capture the nuances.
Schoenbrun really pushes the queer perspective, and rightfully so, as it has been overlooked far too long when it comes to horror and fantasy.
While the fleshy VCR in another trippy sequence may leave some scratching their heads, the theme is something people can talk about and connect over.
What is clearly apparent though is that Schoenbrun one of the most fascinating filmmakers working at the moment, someone who clearly has made pointed observations about connections to pop culture and has something to say about it.
Their point of view can sometimes be skewed in the delivery, but their films remain fresh and evocative regardless.
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