From the (Sub) stacks: Jane Schoenbrun Brings Sexy Back to the Slasher With ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma'
There’s a particular joy to watching a film that should not work. But trust Jane Schoenbrun, who weirded out audiences with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, to make the most unconventional ode to the slasher in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. And this time she has the star power.
Yes, Hannah Einbinder has name recognition and familiarity in her own right, but Gillian Anderson was always going to steal the show. Here she goes full camp as Billy, the original Final Girl of an 80’s horror movie franchise Einbinder’s Kris, a director (and Schoenbrun surrogate) is tasked with rebooting. They are a meeting of opposites that should oppose: Kris is a stereotypically buttoned up avatar for Gen Z, while Billy is a Norma Desmond who’s comfortable in her skin, swishing across the screen with a lavish Southern accent and fedora.
I reiterate, this should not work. The meta commentary of rebooting a franchise that has long since fallen into disgrace has been done, the movie isn’t really scary, it doesn’t bother to explain or tie much of anything together, it’s not actually about teenagers, and it’s a tribute to a genre it acknowledges is all about flesh and fluids while being a highly cerebral experience.
