Movie Review: ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’

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Initial Thoughts

A scene from ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

The third narrative feature from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun (following ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ and ‘I Saw the TV Glow’) continues to explore the writer-director’s themes of identity, sexuality, reality vs. fantasy, and personal connection to pop culture, focusing this time on the slasher movie subgenre as opposed to the earlier films’ exploration of those topics through internet culture and vintage television respectively.

Schoenbrun’s extremely personal style of filmmaking remains niche, occasionally self-indulgent, and intermittently difficult to decipher, but is at the same time deeply empathetic, wildly ambitious creatively, and visually poetic and sensual. Their work may be an acquired taste at this point but can be richly rewarding in many ways, as ‘Teenage Sex’ proves.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Gillian Anderson and director Jane Schoenbrun on the set of ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

Kyle (Hannah Einbinder) is an up-and-coming queer filmmaker whose work has landed her a plumb opportunity: to reboot a dormant and long-declining slasher movie franchise called ‘Camp Miasma.’ A fan of horror and the ‘Camp Miasma’ series in general, Kyle decides that she must seek out the now-retired and reclusive ‘final girl’ of the original film, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), and persuade her to become involved in the project. She visits Presley at her residence, a remote, abandoned summer camp deep in a snowy woodland where, it turns out, the first ‘Camp Miasma’ movie was filmed.

Once there, Billy seems initially resistant to Kyle’s offer (she downplays Kyle’s rather pretentious film-geek reading of the film, saying it was merely about ‘flesh and fluids’), but the two eventually begin to bond – with the enigmatic Billy encouraging the sexually repressed, film-fixated Kyle to open up to her both physically and psychologically. As the relationship between the two women deepens, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur and the story of ‘Camp Miasma’ itself begins to intertwine in ways that may or may be all too bloodily real.

(L to R) Writer and director Jane Schoenbrun and Gillian Anderson on the set of ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

What’s real and what isn’t is one of the major throughlines of Schoenbrun’s work: just as the protagonists of ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ began to sense that their lives were playing out on the old TV show that they loved, Kyle sees herself both as a potential caretaker of what, on the surface, is a pretty sleazy, blatantly exploitative franchise and a participant in it. Horror fans will spot the references to slasher classics like ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘Sleepaway Camp,’ as well as more ‘elevated’ fare like David Cronenberg’s ‘Videodrome’ and the work of David Lynch, while Kyle’s sexual blossoming under Billy’s tutelage continues Schoenbrun’s exploration of queer identity and transformation.

All this is presented in a heady, dreamlike stew that meanders at times, particular during the lengthy middle portion when Kyle and Billy watch a good chunk of the latter’s personal print of ‘Camp Miasma.’ For the record, Schoenbrun gets the grubby aesthetics of that particular vein of early ‘80s filmmaking just right, but we question whether it’s necessary to sit through as much of it as we do. The director’s fiercely independent style may require some judicious editing here and there: the first half of the movie is on the talky side, particularly as Kyle lectures on the supposed significance of the ‘Camp Miasma’ films.

(L to R) Hannah Einbinder and director Jane Schoenbrun on the set of ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

It’s no accident that the killer at the center of the ‘Camp Miasma’ movies, a trans kid who is bullied and drowned by the camp counselors and returns from the bottom of a lake wearing a hazmat suit and a rather ridiculous air-conditioning vent on their head, is called Little Death – a translation of the French term ‘la petite mort,’ which is used to describe an orgasm. Kyle, who’s never experienced the latter, wants very much to tap into the same uneasy feelings of both dread and desire that ‘Camp Miasma’ (and the young, virginal Billy, played in the ‘movie’ by Amanda Fix) invoked in her back then but not sure as an adult how to engage with them.

Your mileage may vary when it comes to relating to Kyle’s plight, and the way that Schoenbrun merges reality and fantasy may leave some viewers in the dark as well, but there’s no question that on a purely creative level, it works beautifully. The frozen-in-time camp where Billy lives is enhanced by Schoenbrun’s deliberate use of noticeably painted backdrops instead of actual location filming or even photographic plates. It reinforces the idea that Kyle is stuck in time, unable to move forward with her own life and identity and ultimately unable to separate them from her obsession with Billy and ‘Camp Miasma.’ And despite the long road that Schoenbrun takes to get there, the ending of ‘Teenage Sex’ is satisfyingly poignant even with the gallons of blood gushing all over the screen in the film’s third act.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

Einbinder, so good in her breakthrough role on ‘Hacks,’ is excellent here as Kyle, who moves through the real world yet can’t seem to find her place in it. She plays Kyle’s mix of repression and passion perfectly, bringing both an emotional intensity and physicality to the role. Meanwhile, Anderson brings big Norma Desmond energy to the role of Billy, but not too big that it overwhelms her own mix of sensuality and playfulness (and of course there’s the connection to ‘The X-Files,’ of which Schoenbrun is a fan – one wonders if their own pursuit of Anderson is mirrored by Kyle’s). Both women are fearless and compassionate in their performances, with their dynamic the human heart of the film.

In one standout scene, Kyle slides into near-mania while attempting to make her pitch on the movie to a Zoom full of studio execs, who are hilariously embodied by Dylan Baker as the easily distracted studio head, along with Jess McLeod, Willy McGee, and Louise Weard (identified on Zoom as ‘Queer Assistant’). While the movie itself is quite funny in many places, this scene sets itself apart with its takedown of the Hollywood pitch meeting. The rest of the supporting cast, including Sarah Sherman as Kyle’s flighty agent, Kevin McDonald as a local who’s a legend in his own mind thanks to his bit role in ‘Camp Miasma,’ and others add to the comic relief.

Final Thoughts

Gillian Anderson in ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

‘Teenage Sex and Death’ is thoughtful in the way it examines our relationship to fandom and certain aspects of pop culture, and how those relationships – particularly to those aspects often berated as exploitative or subversive — can both provide an escape from our own lives and conflicts as well as an outlet for our desires and expression that are otherwise unavailable.

This is the work of an evolving filmmaker with a deeply personal vision, even if that vision may not always translate to a wider, more mainstream sensibility. And that’s okay – stick to what you’re doing, Jane, even if they offer you that ‘Friday the 13th’ reboot, and audiences will eventually come to you.

‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ receives a score of 80 out of 100.

Hannah Einbinder in ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’. Photo: Mubi.

What is the plot of ‘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 for resurrection. But when she visits the original’s star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.

Who is in the cast of ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’?

• Hannah Einbinder as Kris Williams
• Gillian Anderson as Billy Presley
• Amanda Fix as young Billy
• Jack Haven as Little Death
• Patrick Fischler as Rudolph
• Arthur Conti as Alex
• Eva Victor as DJ Ella Giastic
• Zach Cherry as Will
• Sarah Sherman as Kris’s agent
• Dylan Baker as Jeffrey
• Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mari
• Quintessa Swindell as Julie
• Kevin McDonald as Anthony/County Sheriff

‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ opens in theaters on August 7th.

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