TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA: 3 ½ STARS. “Self-referential and self-aware”
SYNOPSIS: In “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” a new horror film starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, and now playing theatres, a reboot of the “Camp Miasma” slasher franchise turns into a study in desire.
CAST: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun.
REVIEW: Self-referential and self-aware, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is good gory fun that defies easy explanation.
“Hack’s” star Hannah Einbinder plays Kris, a queer filmmaker hired to reboot the “Camp Miasma” franchise. “I don’t want to make another dumb sequel in the Camp Miasma franchise,” she says. “I don’t want to make a remake of a remake of a remake. I want to make something that feels fresh and new.”
A longtime fan of the Miasma movies, Kris throws herself at the job, and tracks down the film’s original star, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) a recluse who lives at the abandoned sleepaway camp from the first film. “Someone’s got to be here when Little Death [the vengeful villain of the “Camp Miasma” franchise] comes back,” Billy says.
As they begin to work together their relationship blossoms beyond co-workers and into something deeper as the “Camp Miasma” movie mythology and reality blend. “She’s clearly the same person from ‘Miasma 1,’ the final girl,” says Kris, “but she’s so much more.”
There’s a lot more on this film’s mind than teenagers, sex and death. When they aren’t staging stabbing scenes where blood gushes like Old Faithful, writer and director Jane Schoenbrun speaks to everything from fan culture and horror remakes to queer desire and relationship dynamics. As the runtime ticks down to the end the movie feels overstuffed, with too many ideas tackled and fumbled, but despite the thematic onslaught, it’s still an enjoyably subversive satire.
Winner of the Queer Palm at Cannes 2026, the movie allows “Hacks” star Einbinder to display her razor-sharp comic timing, while making room for vulnerability, emotional honesty and some gritty, gory slasher movie physicality. As Kris, a filmmaker whose first movie was a “remake of ‘Psycho’ from the point of view of the shower curtain,” she is committed to the personal and sexual aspects of surreal material, which helps ground the meta story in relatable territory.
She shares great chemistry with Gillian Anderson. The “X-Files” star channels “Sunset Boulevard’s” Norma Desmond—there’s no monkey but loads of turbans and eye make-up—to deliver a weird and wonderful performance that borders the line between high camp and Old Hollywood elegance.
As Anderson’s Billy draws Einbinder’s Kris out of her shell, intellectually and sexually, they are the carny barkers on a roller-coaster ride that provides thrills with humor, horror and sexual awakening. One unlikely scene, involving KFC and “dipping sauce,” is an ASMR tour de force, brilliantly staged and performed. It is funny and just slightly repulsive, much like the blood bath that climaxes in the film’s final moments.
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is overflowing with ideas, but the boldness and intelligence of the filmmaking, that both pays tribute to and sends up 80s and 90s era slashers, is fresh enough to earn a look.
