In 1992, the term final girl was coined by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws, a canonical work of critical exploration of gender and sexuality in horror. Subsequently, the final girl would go on to live so many lives and so many deaths, ultimately becoming this symbolic and monolithic being. Rehashed, revitalized, parodied and deconstructed time and time again. But what if we looked closer at her? Tear away the academia, tear away the symbolism, the monolith. What are you left with? This is at the core of writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. An awe-inspiring feat of horror, blending fandom, academia, humour and sexuality into a singular vision with that Schoenbrun flare we have come to love.
Opening the 79th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma follows Kris (Hannah Einbinder), an up-and-coming director given the opportunity of a lifetime: rebooting the defunct 80s slasher series Camp Miasma. Being a true fan, she holds a special meeting with the original film’s mysterious first final girl, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) in an attempt to sign her on to the new Miasma project. A tale of blood, sex, and incorporeal being.
Schoenbrun crafts a story that delights in the exploration of horror as academia, critical analysis, and critiques of the genre and its conventions, but also caters to the other side of the coin. The horror fandom who love the kills, love the sex, love the franchise. This coin has always had these two sides, the two perspectives. Camp Miasma melts this coin transforming it into a new piece of art. Actively engaging in discourse surrounding gender, transphobia, sex and virginity within this era of filmmaking; critical pillars of horror academia. While simultaneously, not preaching but participating in the other side too, pure horrific carnal pleasure. Not shying away from the glitz, guts and glamour of the genre.
There are many references in both name and imagery of ghosts of horrors past to relish in. Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp being two of the major reference points for the film. Avid horror fans will love seeing the niche cameos and homages. Schoenbrun reunites with I Saw the TV Glow’s cinematographer, Eric Yue, resulting in imagery that is piercing and striking. It is a cavalcade of delectable macabre frames that stimulate the senses, amplified by a fantastic soundtrack and score by Alex G, another frequent Schoenbrun collaborator.
Women’s sexuality and pleasure is given the front seat with its pure unadulterated, unabashed queer desire. While I Saw the TV Glow is a gender identity tale, Camp Miasma leans further into our relationship with sex, sexuality and the media we consume. These messages can be felt deeply by anyone. This is what makes Schoenbrun a great artist. It is hard to talk about their work without getting personal, a sentiment shared by many people. Their films have such a specificity in their storytelling, yet affect masses of people.
As for the performances, Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson are a match made in lesbian heaven in a delicate yet feverous game of push and pull. Einbinder allows Kris to be both bold and vulnerable, flashing her comedic chops when needed in affectionate turn. Anderson works beautifully as her foil, tuning in perfectly between alluring and authentic. But there is one more true stellar stand out, Jack Haven as Little Death. His physicality and facial expressions add a whole other dimension to this film. An instantly iconic slasher. Tinged with a flare of melancholia, he infuses Little Death with an empathic quality. What’s a good final girl without her killer?
Ultimately, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a divine deconstruction and transformation of the final girl and her monster. How we as an audience relate to her and how she, as an exhibitionist, relates to us, the voyeur.
By Andrew Pankey
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as the Opening Night of Un Certain Regard and will open in US theaters on August 7th via MUBI.
