Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is Messy in All the Best Ways
Scream queen
4/5 stars
The slasher movie franchises of the 1980s have had a complicated history. Despised by critics of the time, dismissed by the mainstream, and loved by fans seemingly for cheap, visceral thrills, many of these films have been reappraised as subversive statements on our fear of and fascination with sex and violence. Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) brings this dichotomy to the forefront with their new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a psychosexual journey into the appeal of horror films that contrasts the (sometimes problematic) catharsis of slasher films with today's era of market-approved horror and performative "M."
Kris Williams (Hannah Einbinder) is a young filmmaker who has been tapped to reboot the long-running Camp Miasma slasher franchise. She travels to the abandoned summer camp of the first film to meet the enigmatic "final girl" of the original, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson, channeling the best of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard). But as the two women connect, the Camp Miasma films reawaken a long buried desire in Kris as reality and fantasy begin to intersect.
The film is at its best when dissecting that strange line between viewer and media and the confusing feelings that come when one has their first sexual experience while watching a horror film (the fact that the killer in the series is named "Little Death" just drives that point home).
They're clearly a fan, but Schoenbrun doesn't shy away from the often misogynistic and transphobic elements in old horror films. This makes that fascination doubly confusing for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The film is often messy and convoluted in its messaging, but that is so frequently the case when dealing with human desire.
Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun // Starring Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Fix, Arthur Conti, Eva Victor, Zach Cherry, Sarah Sherman, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Quintessa Swindell, Kevin McDonald, Aren Buchholz, Florence Barrett, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler, and Dylan Baker // Plan B Entertainment // 112 minutes // Rated R
