Review: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – Sex, dies, and videotape

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun
Starring Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler

8/10

The ‘Camp Miasma’ series and its slasher, Little Death (Jack Haven), has become a favourite in the horror community, but the property has lain fallow after a string of sequels. Up-and-coming director Kris (Hannah Einbinder) has been chosen by the studio to revive this zombie IP but is struggling with inspiration. As a way to kick-start the creative process, she organises a meeting with the “final girl” (Gillian Anderson) of the first film. The location is on the actor’s property, an out of the way home, built on the camp the original film was shot on, and a place that harbours secrets of its own.

You’ve got to respect a film that’s willing to put a discussion of the concepts of Thanos and Eros in classic slasher films as its central discourse, and that’s certainly what Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is doing. It’s a love letter to the genre, but certainly not an unapologetic one. It attempts to unpack the often problematic and exploitative history of the slasher films from the early days, to the modern Hollywood cycle of remakes, reboots, prequels, and requels.

Sometimes harsh in its criticism, sometimes darkly funny (often both), it’s undoubtedly coming from a place of fandom and love.  All of which creates an interesting ground for discussion. The film comes across as both an intellectual and artistic deconstruction of genre, as well as a deeply emotional take on the subject.  In this case it touches on, and I’m paraphrasing here, an emotional and even sexual connection from seeing something we weren’t supposed to at too young an age.

Here we get into the second aspect, with the dark sensuality and blatant sexuality of horror. After all, the slasher is called Little Death (a euphemism for orgasm) and has a problematic transphobic origin tale (ala Sleepaway Camp). Add to that a level of queerness, both from the characters, and from the writer/director, and you have a very interesting multilayered piece that’s fascinating to watch. Here it is definitely a more atmospheric and tonal work of metafiction, rather than presenting a structured narrative driven argument, but Schoenbrun interestingly draws audiences in with their enchanting imagery. The end result is as much David Lynch as Wes Anderson, a normal facade threatening to crumble either into existential darkness or strange whimsy.

Gillian Anderson is a great help in this regard, sinking her teeth soundly into a Gen X horror version of Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard). Her take is wild and over the top when required but also equally enigmatic, alluring and threatening. Hannah Einbinder acts as the counter to this, a shy overthinker powered by candy, a love of horror films, and an awakening lust. They pair together well, forming some great on-screen chemistry.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma appeals to the horror fan in us all, exploring a love of genre from the grindhouse days onwards. But it also acts as a great exploration of how that shapes (and is in turn shaped) by questions of identity and sexuality.  Schoenbrun brings a queer lens to this, creating something that is fascinating, frightful, frank, and funny…and most definitely gay, and pretty horny about it.

DAVID O’CONNELL