Being tasked with resurrecting the long dormant “Camp Miasma” slasher franchise, queer director Kris comes up with the idea to cast Billy Presley, the final girl of the original film in a key role in this new iteration. In an attempt to convince Billy, Kris sets up a meeting with her at the comfort of Billy's own home, which just happens to be the disused camp used as the setting for the original film. Upon meeting Billy, Kris finds the eccentric recluse to be more than a little out there and while trying to convince her to return for the newest installment of Little Death's massacre, Billy argues that rather than being just a movie character, Little Death was very real and was dying to come back, which sends both women down a rabbit hole of psychosexual thrills and kills.
One thing director Jane Schoenbrun is very good at is creating believable worlds around a certain product that she makes up. In her first film, “We're All Going to the World's Fair” it is a video game, in “I Saw the TV Glow” it is a long running Buffy-esque fantasy television show and here with “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” she has created a slasher film franchise. All of the incredible memorabilia and merchandise they have created for the franchise makes the “Camp Miasma” series so believable as a real franchise. Things like movie posters, videos, action figures, computer games, bubble-head toys, lunchboxes and arcade/pin ball machine have been put together so lovingly to create a believable world around these (made up) films, but all feel of the period and sufficiently banged up to look real and time ravaged. The amazing thing about this is this memorabilia is barely even glimpsed, only showing up in the film's opening credits, but again, they bring so much truth to the “Camp Miasma” franchise and just add to the atmosphere of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” itself.
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” sees director Jane Schoenbrun create a loving homage to the slasher films they grew up with whilst at the same time taking a pot shot at Hollywood executives who only want to revive dead IP franchises for the easy money (while never having any love for the franchises themselves), and then never wanting filmmakers to stray from the original formula by attempting something new or fresh. Schoenbrun also gets a kick out of mocking the “elevated” horror genre, by stating that they are only an academic exercise and usually miss the point of what horror films are really about: sex and death. Probably the most interesting thing about “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is that despite all the blood and guts found within the film (and believe me, there is a lot), it is not really a horror film itself. Ultimately the film is about identity, transformation/rebirth (a key theme in all of Jane Schoenbrun's films), and whether or not you need to kill a part of yourself to be reborn again, as well as looking at why these types of films effect us the way that they do. Personally, I am not sure Schoenbrun is as successful at exploring these things as they were with the brilliant “I Saw the TV Glow”, as their latest film comes across at times as bloated and self indulgent and more than a little vague.
A large chunk of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” revolves around Kris and Billy watching a 35mm print of the original “Camp Miasma” film, and the footage Schoenbrun has shot for the film-within-the-film is totally spot on. It was shot on real 35mm film itself and just looks exactly of the period, particularly the terrible eighties sportswear fashions. The lore of Little Death (the killer of the “Camp Miasma” franchise) is a mash-up of “Friday the 13th” (1980) and “Sleepaway Camp” (1983) but done with a loving respect to both franchises. Probably the most hilarious thing is the mask Little Death wears which is a square air-conditioning vent. It is probably the most absurd choice possible, but somehow it still works. While Schoenbrun has worked wonders in recreating the look of an 80's slasher film, sadly when it comes to the death scenes, they fail miserably by using CGI trickery instead of practical effects which was a huge part of horror films made in the 1980's. The much lauded one-shot Little Death massacre scene is also a major disappointment because from the design of the extended shot, it is all from Little Death's point of view, so we actually miss a lot of the graphic carnage being performed, as Little Death's “face” is regularly sprayed with copious amounts of blood, so we cannot see anything, with the victim then falling out of frame.
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is anchored by a wonderful lead performance from Hannah Einbinder who is both vulnerable and awkward as Kris, although I was less impressed by Gillian Anderson (as Billy) who appears to be doing her best Norma Desmond impression throughout but comes across far too goofy and aloof, giving her character no true gravitas. Like all of Jane Schoenbrun's films “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” eventually becomes a wild, hallucinatory experience as the real world and reel world begin to morph into one another and it is during this part where I feel the film loses it's way and becomes more than a little confusing. Schoenbrun is a director who wears their heart and influences on their sleeve and throughout their new film there are direct visual references (or homages) to the two Davids, Lynch and Cronenberg, and of course the “Friday the 13th” series, with the “Camp Miasma” series mirroring those of the Jason Voorhees franchise. One aspect of the film that I did love was the highlighting of the artificiality of movies with Schoenbrun really leaning into this by using obvious matte paintings for backgrounds and set extensions, and very clear sets filling in for “real”places.
One element of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” that I didn't think worked that well was the sexual disappointment or repression of both Kris and Billy, and how being killed by Little Death or watching them murder someone, unlocks this mental block, resulting in a pure unadulterated orgasm. For me, I do not understand exactly what Schoenbrun is getting at here (at least after my first viewing) but believe there is some word play involved here. The French call an orgasm “la petite morte” which directly translates to The Little Death......which is the name of the franchise's killer. Maybe I am just naïve or slow, but I still do not understand the significance of DEATH=SEX in this context. In slasher films, one of the “rules” are that if you are promiscuous or have sex, you will be killed by the killer, which is sex=death, but here it is the opposite where if you die or watch someone die, it can unlock your sexuality. Hmmmm, I am still not convinced by this and think, while interesting, this part of the film needed more fleshing out to make more sense.
When I originally watched Schoenbrun's previous film, “I Saw The TV Glow”, I thought the film was good but nothing special, but it lived rent-free in my head for weeks after I saw it. I felt compelled to give it a re-watch and on my second viewing, it was like the film opened up to me and exposed all of it's secrets. Suddenly I was able to read all of the trans subtext which I was blind to originally and I saw the film in a completely different light. It became such a sad and tragic film and I ended up absolutely loving it! I say all of this because I am hoping a similar thing will occur with “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”; that deeper themes and meanings will reveal themselves, causing me to re-evaluate the film in a more positive light. However after my initial viewing, despite there being a lot of good within it, I will admit that I found “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” to be overlong, over indulgent and more than a little confusing. That said, I am a big fan of films that deal with the theme of identity which this one does, so I look forward to watching it again in the near future.
3 Stars.
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