TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA | ©2026 MUBI
Rating: R
Stars: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Amanda Fix, Patrick Fischler
Writer: Jane Schoenbrun
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Distributor: MUBI
Release Date: August 7, 2026
Part of the fun of writer/director Jane Schoenbrun’s TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA is to spot its influences, although this is an instance of inspiration rather than derivation.
The single most obvious nod here is to FRIDAY THE 13TH, mainly because nobody can comment on the summer-camp-slasher subgenre without acknowledging that seminal franchise.
However, the film also tackles the SLEEPAWAY CAMP movies, which have a premise rooted in transphobia. Filmmaker Schoenbrun is trans herself and has clearly thought about what a modern adaptation would look like. More to the point, she muses about what would be going on behind-the-scenes, which she imagines as a cynical effort to politically-correct-wash the optics without doing much about the subject matter.
Perhaps best of all, TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA succeeds at something that many have tried but few have achieved – it coherently and persuasively articulates at least part of the appeal of slashers.
In TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA, Hannah Einbinder plays young queer filmmaker Kris, who has been tapped to reboot the CAMP MIASMA horror movies. Kris knows these films, their toys, their videogames, by heart. She also knows that she’s been given the director’s reins because the studio wants to paint over the original CAMP MIASMA’s transphobic premise, even though hiring a lesbian (albeit one with super goodwill towards the entire LGBTQ community) may not automatically align with trans positivity.
Kris is determined to meet Billy (Gillian Anderson in the present, Amanda Fix in the flashbacks/film clips), who played the final girl in the first CAMP MIASMA, but declined to appear in any of the sequels. Oddly enough, Billy has moved into a cabin on the old and otherwise deserted CAMP MIASMA set. This full recreation of a summer camp borders the shore of the lake where Little Death (Jack Haven), the franchise slasher, continually resurrects himself.
Billy is part secretive recluse, part down-to-Earth hostess. Something is going on here, and Billy isn’t quick to disclose it, but she and Kris bond over their love of the CAMP MIASMA movies and horror in general. The two women are also intrigued by one another, as individuals and as potential partners. As real life and fiction start to blur, Billy divulges there’s something in the lake besides Little Death …
There are a lot of filmmakers who seek to make a movie that can also serve as a doctoral thesis, but not many can do it as viscerally and empathetically as Schoenbrun does here.
Schoenbrun lets us know right away that TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA is part parody. The trailer shows us that Little Death wears an air-conditioning unit instead of a mask on his head; when he decapitates a victim, the resulting geyser would do Old Faithful proud.
The movie also displays Schoenbrun’s affinity for dark images with luminescent elements, and for outright surrealism. There are moments when the backgrounds turn to paintings.
So, it’s a bit surprising and irresistibly immersive when TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA begins to provide real insights as Kris and Billy investigate themselves and each other. The observations are solid and will resonate with many slasher lovers.
Anderson delightfully inhabits Billy, embracing her loopy, coquettish Southern belle attributes that slide easily into a much more knowing persona. Einbinder is natural, vulnerable and gives a fearless performance as the diffident Kris.
Schoenbrun and Haven give Little Death more personality than is customary for a silent masked slasher; he has discernible attitude in his use of his signature weapon. Fix is excellent as Billy’s younger, more plaintive self, and Patrick Fischler is a hoot as the film’s designated harbinger.
For all its out-there qualities, TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA delivers on the straightforward slasher front. But it’s when its strangeness and originality come to the fore that it really wins us over. It posits that horror can be a source of genuine joy and has the goods to back up this philosophy.
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