Jane Schoenbrun’s film “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” available on Mubi, is a surreal horror-comedy that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. The movie centers around Hannah Einbinder’s character, Kris, a young filmmaker tasked with rebooting an obscure horror franchise she idolized as a child. Through Kris's journey, the film explores themes of identity, sexual awakening, and psychological disassociation, echoing influences from David Lynch. Gillian Anderson plays Billy Presley, the original star who retired after the first film; their dynamic is described as sweet, funny, and strange.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
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Story summary
In 2024, Jane Schoenbrun released *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma* on Mubi, a film that pays homage to meta-slasher horror movies. The movie features Hannah Einbinder (from the show *Hacks*) as Kris, a young filmmaker who was heavily influenced by a fictional 1980s horror franchise called Camp Miasma. Camp Miasma's plot revolves around a villain known as Little Death, a spear-wielding maniac with an air-conditioning vent for a head. The film explores the blurring lines between Kris' personal life and her professional endeavor to reboot the Camp Miasma franchise she adores. This new movie is seen as a provocative take on the nostalgic influence of 1980s horror films.
Written for “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” on 2026-10-04,
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Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun revisits their pop-cultural infatuations with meta-slasher homage Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (now on Mubi).
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Schoenbrun → revisit → Mubi
In 2024, I Saw the TV Glow found its protagonists forging their identities within the strange aura of a Buffyesque TV series; in Miasma, Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) plays a movie director whose personal and professional lives blur together when she’s hired to reboot a horror-flick franchise she’s long been obsessed with.
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she → see → franchise
Its villain, dubbed Little Death (thematic hint: this is a euphemism for “orgasm”), is a spear-wielding maniac with a ceiling air-conditioning vent for a head, and they’re subject to heavy-breathing POV shots just like Michael Myers gets in Halloween.
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Myers → dub → Halloween
In what’s implied to be the ’80s, the film inspired a pile of shitty sequels and trading cards and action figures — and uber-ultra-mega-fans like Kris (Einbinder), a young-upstart filmmaker who watched Camp Miasma way too young, and now is reviving the franchise.
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who → imply → franchise
And she spiels about how producers want her to, you know, woke it up, to compensate for how transphobic and exploitative the old movies were.
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movies → want → it
If so, that’s her job here.
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that → ’ → ?
Kris’ first order of business is to get the original movie’s star on board.
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order → get → board
Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) was the OG Miasma final girl, then abruptly retired from showbiz.
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Presley → retire → showbiz
Kris sets up a meeting and learns that Billy lives on the deserted campground where the movies were filmed, next to the lake from which Little Death emerged.
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Death → set → which
Billy helps Kris stop overthinking the concept for the reboot by being as open as she is enigmatic, leading to Kris sharing her innermost feelings, including her inability to enjoy sex.
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Kris → help → sex
Which means this isn’t just a business meeting, and makes a screening of Billy’s personal print of Camp Miasma an act of foreplay — and busts down the wall between the reality of the movie and the reality of the movie within the movie.
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screening → mean → movie
And this whole time, our reality as viewers of the movie gets blurred into the movie and the movie within the movie, so I hope you’re taking notes.
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you → blur → notes
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
This is easily Anderson’s best screen role in years, and she and Einbinder develop a dynamic that’s sweet, funny, strange, and wholly endearing.
Sex And Skin: Lady toplessness; a non-graphic but nonetheless hawt sex scene; an icky sex scene from the movie within the movie.
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that → develop → movie
I take back that “taking notes” bit.
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I → take → bit
You may just want to let Schoenbrun’s depictions of psychological disassociation, sexual discovery and the ultimate release of death wash over you
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depictions → want → you
; as with the works of David Lynch — a clear Schoenbrun influence — applying journalistic who-what-where-when-why-how questions to the plot is foolhardy.
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applying → apply → plot
TSADACM is more of an intuitive experience than an analytical one, although broadly speaking, like TV Glow, it’s a rumination on identity, and unlike TV Glow, is ultimately about emergence.
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it → speak → emergence
Perhaps TSADACM bears too similar a thematic likeness to its predecessor; I also worried that the metatextual jibberjabber weighing down the first half would lead it right up its own ass.
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jibberjabber → bear → ass
But after a lengthy, amusing detour into the movie within the movie, the film stops telling and starts showing, shifting from supertextual (“That’s a lot to unpack,” a movie producer replies to Kris’ unhinged pitch) to suggestive, leaning into surreal eroticism that renders the film distinctive in its vision.
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film → stop → vision
Schoenbrun fearlessly explores bizarre fetishes (ranging from bright-colored candy and crispy KFC chicken to gooey mucus membranes) and big ideas, and the result is as tactile as it is ethereal.
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it → explore → membranes
Our Call: Kris: “I think I saw too many movies as a kid and it fucked me up real bad.”
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it → think → me
Werner Herzog hugged him once.
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Herzog → hug → him
The Aporia
