Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 52 minutes, Director – Jane Schoenbrun
Looking to relaunch a classic slasher franchise, director Kris (Hannah Einbinder) visits the original film’s reclusive final girl (Gillian Anderson) leading to awakenings and confrontations for both.
Long before it became more upfront in recent years, horror has long been a lens for social commentary. Jane Schoenbrun’s latest feature combines how the pat and present have confronted this by following young director Kris (Hannah Einbinder) as she looks to relaunch the long-dormant Camp Miasma franchise – this world’s Friday The 13th, where Jason, here called Little Death (Jack Haven), has an air vent on his head – with a view to cast the original film’s final girl, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson – on fine form as a modern day Norma Desmond).
While the Camp Miasma franchise has been heavily criticised for outdated views, depictions and a slightly schlocky attitude, there’s something about it that Kris has fallen in love with over the years; another aspect has seen Little Death become an iconic character. Meanwhile, Billy, living in the camp the original film was made in, still holds traumas from her time filming. These layered meanings and dual existences are at the core of Schoenbrun’s film which feels less an analysis or thesis on the subject and more an entertaining look at the changing face of horror amongst evolving attitudes and reclamations.
While their work may not be for everyone, Schoenbrun has so far made films that have more than resonated with audiences but that they’ve actively identified and found something with – particularly 2024’s I Saw The TV Glow which, while I may have been lukewarm on preferring 2021’s skin-crawlingly unsettling internet horror We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, received a lot of praise, especially from late-millennials and early Gen-Zs.
The same may very well be the case for Teenage Sex And Death, which could have more mass appeal, as a viewing of a Camp Miasma film; complete with geyser-like blood sprays, starts to meld its way into woozy dream, or dream-like, sequences. Providing awakenings for the central pair, both wonderfully performed by the two leads who capture a knowingly Sunset Boulevard nature to the characters which also evolves once pointed out. The footage of Camp Miasma is an extended sequence which starts to feel overlong amongst the rest of the film, despite working well as its own thing, but there’s still the two stars to take us through the rest of the journey.
One that should work well for horror fans, but should be accessible for those who tend to avoid the genre; there aren’t exactly scares here as such, the main horror beats come through in the understanding and links to the genre, although there are patches of splatter. What helps Schoenbrun’s film is that understanding without feeling like a textbook. There’s an entertaining story of different identities through one film, and franchise, here. For different ages, experiences and traumas. Cleverly and enjoyably pieced together in a sexually-tinged crimson furor.
A smart look at the kaleidoscopic faces horror can wear, Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma may draw some tangents out a bit too long, but it all comes back to the two well-performed leads and their layered relationships with each other and the titular franchise, each modern and personal from Schoenbrun.
Just A Little Bit Random 