September 3, 2026
FILM: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: JANE SCHOENBRUN
STARRING: HANNAH EINBINDER, GILLIAN ANDERSON, SARAH SHERMAN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
By now you may have heard something about Jane Schoenbrun’s latest film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and won its Queer Palm award. It’s also been steadily building business at theaters throughout the U.S. I was out of the country when it premiered so I’ve only now gotten around to experiencing it – and what an “experience” it is! The film features drama, psychological horror, campy thrills, and a narrative that becomes the narrative it is addressing. In other words, it’s a wild, sometimes disturbing and also perplexing ride that is pretty fascinating to watch but may not work for everybody.
The film stars Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) as filmmaker Kris who is planning to revive a thirty-year-old horror franchise about violent deaths at a campsite. We learn there’s been several sequels to the film that did quite well at the box office but eventually ran out of steam and died a slow death – like many slasher and horror franchises do. Kris heads to the American Pacific northwest to meet up with Billy, played by Gillian Anderson, who starred in the original film. The rumor is that Billy now lives liked Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond: a recluse, long retired from her acting career. It turns out she is living on the same campsite grounds where that original film was made. When Kris first meets her she looks like a character out of a noir film with a stylish hat and beautiful blonde hair. She’s a campy character for sure but also possesses an artistic and tender side that is welcomed by Kris, a queer woman with a dormant sex life.
After a KFC take out dinner which Billy eats quite sensually, the two have talks that go beyond the surface and eventually reveal Kris’s various insecurities, especially surrounding sex. Kris retreats from this issue in her life though and instead focuses on her heady perspectives about the film she wants to make. Billy is the temptation and a catalyst for possible change. It is these character details that set up the real world of the film we view.
But then, Billy and Kris watch the original movie. Instead of viewing snippets of it, Schoenbrun has them, and us, watch an overly long chunk of it. As we remain within the film within the film we learn about that story’s origins, featuring a character who was a victim of transphobia. This leads to a resurrection of sorts where that character, referred to as “Little Death,” takes revenge on seemingly everyone in their midst. Many of these scenes are, like a lot of teen slasher films, ridiculous looking, gory, and filled with over-the-top splattering blood. Even “Little Death” has a giant speaker on its head and an extra-long spear to pierce its victims.
This lengthy scene took me away from the more intimate things happening between Kris and Billy. Schoenbrun seems to have wanted us to experience the world of the film within the film because that’s what happened to Kris growing up. The suggestion may be that she was so traumatized by it that it affected her ability to form healthy sexual relationships. Schoenbrun’s previous film, 2024’s I Saw the TV Glow is also about one’s obsession with the TV screen leading to psychological and horrific drama.
What is interesting about the current film is Schoenbrun’s creative storytelling which, in this case, requires a character to enter the world of the film within the film to exorcize her own personal demons. In fact, the film we are watching becomes the film Kris is eventually directing. When the transition occurs is perhaps as unclear as when Charlie Kaufman begins inhabiting his own writing in 2002’s Adaptation, which is a film I highly respect and have found increasingly brilliant in the twenty-four years since its release. Perhaps I’ll feel the same about this one in time.
For now, I preferred the more reality-based sequences in the film than the bloody horror it develops into. There’s no question though that Schoenbrun is steeped in the history of horror cinema with references to Psycho (Billy is a blonde and there are plenty of stairs leading to terror) Halloween, and other classics of the genre.
There is also an ample amount of drug usage in the film which might be suggesting that what Kris experiences is nothing more than a hallucinogenic episode. Certainly, the media’s effects on us is also a major theme as is sexual dysfunction. Much has been made about the sexual relationship between Kris and Billy, so yes, this is partially also a lesbian story. Given that Schoenbrun is transgender it’s surprising that they don’t explore that aspect of the story more than they do. Kris is, after all a gay, not trans, woman. The character within the Camp Miasma film series she loves has struggled with people’s responses to their transitioning. Perhaps the connection is that Kris going through her own transition of sorts that may wake up the sexual side of herself.
Overall, this is a complex, well-acted film which may not be for everyone but definitely has a unique perspective on several social/sexual aspects of our culture.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is currently playing in theaters.
FILM: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: JANE SCHOENBRUN
STARRING: HANNAH EINBINDER, GILLIAN ANDERSON, SARAH SHERMAN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
By now you may have heard something about Jane Schoenbrun’s latest film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and won its Queer Palm award. It’s also been steadily building business at theaters throughout the U.S. I was out of the country when it premiered so I’ve only now gotten around to experiencing it – and what an “experience” it is! The film features drama, psychological horror, campy thrills, and a narrative that becomes the narrative it is addressing. In other words, it’s a wild, sometimes disturbing and also perplexing ride that is pretty fascinating to watch but may not work for everybody.
The film stars Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) as filmmaker Kris who is planning to revive a thirty-year-old horror franchise about violent deaths at a campsite. We learn there’s been several sequels to the film that did quite well at the box office but eventually ran out of steam and died a slow death – like many slasher and horror franchises do. Kris heads to the American Pacific northwest to meet up with Billy, played by Gillian Anderson, who starred in the original film. The rumor is that Billy now lives liked Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond: a recluse, long retired from her acting career. It turns out she is living on the same campsite grounds where that original film was made. When Kris first meets her she looks like a character out of a noir film with a stylish hat and beautiful blonde hair. She’s a campy character for sure but also possesses an artistic and tender side that is welcomed by Kris, a queer woman with a dormant sex life.
After a KFC take out dinner which Billy eats quite sensually, the two have talks that go beyond the surface and eventually reveal Kris’s various insecurities, especially surrounding sex. Kris retreats from this issue in her life though and instead focuses on her heady perspectives about the film she wants to make. Billy is the temptation and a catalyst for possible change. It is these character details that set up the real world of the film we view.
But then, Billy and Kris watch the original movie. Instead of viewing snippets of it, Schoenbrun has them, and us, watch an overly long chunk of it. As we remain within the film within the film we learn about that story’s origins, featuring a character who was a victim of transphobia. This leads to a resurrection of sorts where that character, referred to as “Little Death,” takes revenge on seemingly everyone in their midst. Many of these scenes are, like a lot of teen slasher films, ridiculous looking, gory, and filled with over-the-top splattering blood. Even “Little Death” has a giant speaker on its head and an extra-long spear to pierce its victims.
This lengthy scene took me away from the more intimate things happening between Kris and Billy. Schoenbrun seems to have wanted us to experience the world of the film within the film because that’s what happened to Kris growing up. The suggestion may be that she was so traumatized by it that it affected her ability to form healthy sexual relationships. Schoenbrun’s previous film, 2024’s I Saw the TV Glow is also about one’s obsession with the TV screen leading to psychological and horrific drama.
What is interesting about the current film is Schoenbrun’s creative storytelling which, in this case, requires a character to enter the world of the film within the film to exorcize her own personal demons. In fact, the film we are watching becomes the film Kris is eventually directing. When the transition occurs is perhaps as unclear as when Charlie Kaufman begins inhabiting his own writing in 2002’s Adaptation, which is a film I highly respect and have found increasingly brilliant in the twenty-four years since its release. Perhaps I’ll feel the same about this one in time.
For now, I preferred the more reality-based sequences in the film than the bloody horror it develops into. There’s no question though that Schoenbrun is steeped in the history of horror cinema with references to Psycho (Billy is a blonde and there are plenty of stairs leading to terror) Halloween, and other classics of the genre.
There is also an ample amount of drug usage in the film which might be suggesting that what Kris experiences is nothing more than a hallucinogenic episode. Certainly, the media’s effects on us is also a major theme as is sexual dysfunction. Much has been made about the sexual relationship between Kris and Billy, so yes, this is partially also a lesbian story. Given that Schoenbrun is transgender it’s surprising that they don’t explore that aspect of the story more than they do. Kris is, after all a gay, not trans, woman. The character within the Camp Miasma film series she loves has struggled with people’s responses to their transitioning. Perhaps the connection is that Kris going through her own transition of sorts that may wake up the sexual side of herself.
Overall, this is a complex, well-acted film which may not be for everyone but definitely has a unique perspective on several social/sexual aspects of our culture.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is currently playing in theaters.