Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Jane Schoenbrun’s slasher romp about a director (Hannah Einbinder) making a cult horror remake and a faded film star (Gillian Anderson) gets to the heart of queer (cinematic) pleasure.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire set within a sequel to Friday the 13th. This is how director Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow, R&A 2024) described their new film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, at Cannes, where it won the Queer Palm award.
In the film, queer director Kris Williams (Hannah Einbinder) is making a new version of the 80s slasher Camp Miasma, which spawned a franchise at the time. In the original Camp Miasma, the villain – “Little Death” (Jack Haven), raised as both a girl and a boy and drowned by bullies – picks off horny teenagers at a summer camp one by one. The studio has hired Kris to make a “woke version” of the story.
Kris travels to meet the star of Camp Miasma, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) living as a recluse at the original film’s shooting location, in order to persuade her to join the reboot. Their meeting sweeps the pair into a whirl of desire and blood. Film and reality begin to blur as the little death draws near.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a slasher fan’s wet dream, updated for the 2020s. It is a gloriously queer horror romp that treats sexuality and bodily liberation with real insight. Schoenbrun’s film is a cult classic from the moment it is born.
Riikka Pennanen (translated by Kati Ilomäki)
Screenings
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Cinema OrionFri 18.9. at 21.00–22.52112 min, 1/3
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Cinema OrionTue 22.9. at 18.30–20.22112 min, 2/3
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Kinopalatsi 2Sat 26.9. at 20.30–22.22112 min, 3/3