Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a transgressive valentine to slashers

Image courtesy of MUBI

Jane Schoenbrun's third feature film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, opens with an overview of the fictious Miasma slasher franchise. There are headlines like, "Move over Freddy and Jason," praising the initial movie's box office success. There are VHS covers of sequel after sequel that resemble the art and titles of Friday the 13th films, followed by close-ups of toys and board games, before the franchise earned less and less at the box office and fell out of favor with fans and critics alike.

The initial sequence makes it seem like Schoenbrun's movie will be a love letter to the bygone era of 80s slashers, and in some ways, it is, but the movie is a lot more than that. It's an unabashedly queer love story about desire and creativity, and well, the female orgasm. Like Schoenbrun's previous work, the movie won't be for everyone, especially its second half when it really veers into heavier concepts and art house territory, but it's a layered and visually striking film with a stellar performance by Gillian Anderson as reclusive final girl Billy, who starred in the first Miasma film.

After the montage to 80s slashers, we're introduced to young director Kris (Hannah Einbinder). With a successful Sundance movie under her belt that was shot on a shoestring budget but became a critical darling, she's tasked with reviving the dormant Miasma franchise. To say she's a fan is an understatement. She knows about every sequel, even the cheesy and awful later ones. She can recite several of the lines and loves horror more broadly. This is her dream assignment, and for research, she writes Billy a letter and is invited to visit her. It turns out Billy lives at the filming location of the first movie, which is now a snowy campground. In that first film, it was known as Sleepaway Camp. It's a nice nod to another famous slasher, and this film really addresses that movie more than any other. We'll get to that soon.

From the moment Anderson is introduced as Billy, she really commands this film. She's incredibly funny initially, as she reveals that she bought two tubs of fried chicken for she and Kris. There's also a level of camp to this movie that's reflective of the New Queer Cinema movement, specifically the work of Gregg Araki, that's been so influential on Schoenbrun's work so far. Yet, Anderson also gives Billy a vulnerability. In one of the most effective scenes, she and Kris sit on the porch and smoke a joint. When Kris asks her why she never returned for another Miasma movie, or landed roles in other films, she admits that after the first movie, she needed a break, but then, they stopped calling her. She confesses that she likely aged out. It's a brutal and honest truth about Hollywood, specifically female leads, and final girls. Mind you, Anderson made a name for herself in her 20s as Dana Scully on The X-Files, a major franchise that became such a part of her image. It took years for her to become more than just that role in the media and pop culture. This movie is a firm reminder that Anderson remains one of the best and most versatile actresses around.

This critique is taken a step further when Kris runs into resistance from producers and her agent (Sarah Sherman) about casting Billy in the reboot, not in a supporting role, but as the lead. It's obvious they all want someone younger. In fact, during a Zoom call, few of the producers can even recall Billy or what she meant to the franchise. Again, it's a poignant commentary on final girls. Too often, we praise the villain/slasher, but seldom the final girl who bests the baddie and survives.

Eventually, Billy and Kris strike up a heated romance, and yes, there are some steamy and erotic moments on screen. Anderson and Einbinder do have chemistry. This dynamic is important because Billy teaches Kris not to be afraid of sex and to give into her emotions. There's a moment early in the film when Billy asks Kris to tell her about herself, and all Kris does is ramble about her work in academic terms. It's Billy who reminds Kris that slashers are also about "flesh and fluids." She helps her tap into a part of herself that she so long denied by drawing out a fantasy in which Billy imagines herself both as the victim and killer in the Miasma franchise. The killer is named Little Death (Jack Haven), a clever nod to the French expression for orgasms, "La petite mort," little deaths.

While there are references to several slashers in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, including Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and even The Burning, the movie most specifically addresses Sleepaway Camp, including its complicated ending depicting trans people as monsters, but also the killer's trans backstory. Little Death is a trans character who was bullied and drowned by other campers because of their fluid gender. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma does acknowledge the flawed aspects of 80s slashers, including the treatment of women and some of the negative depictions of queer characters, but it also makes clear their appeal, including their level of campiness.

Yet, for those hoping Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma will replicate an 80s slasher, they'll be disappointed. This is not that type of movie. Even a sequence that shows the initial Miasma movie doesn't feel like an 80s slasher, other than the graininess. The campground that Billy claimed as her home no longer resembles an 80s slasher set with foolish and horny camp counselors and a maniac killer. The movie is set during winter, for one, and the campground is abandoned. Meanwhile, the level of blood and gore in this movie is wildly cartoonish and silly, featuring geysers of blood. There's one sequence set to the Counting Crow's "A Long December" that's one of my favorite moments in any film this year. It is true that Schoenbrun at times elevates vibes over narrative, but their movies continue to be a dazzling delight to witness on the big screen.

Not all of these leaps and transitions quite work, but again, Schoenbrun takes wild swings and subverts expectations. Schoenbrun continues to be one of the most interesting and transgressive filmmakers around, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a movie that you have to sit with. It's a lot to take in, and like the director's previous work, especially I Saw the TV Glow, this is a very personal film. Overall, this is Schoenbrun's bloody love letter to 80s slashers, acknowledging their flaws, but showing how they can unlock desire and sexuality and why a queer person would be so drawn to their campiness.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now playing in theaters.

https://youtu.be/dimCiC_hdoA