A filmmaker (Hannah Einbinder) is hired to direct a new installment of the slasher franchise “Camp Miasma" and becomes fixated on casting the actress (Gillian Anderson) who played the final girl in the original film, including staying with her at her house, which is also the lake where they filmed the original movie.
I was really impressed with the style of the film. First of all, the director is great at recreating the look and feel of 80s slasher movies. But also you can tell she had a lot of different visual influences (examples: Wes Anderson, Joel Schumacher, Michel Gondry, and David Lynch), and she’s able to mix all these different styles together without having them contradict each other and make them feel like a cohesive whole.
Speaking of directing, there’s one part where we follow the killer, and it’s completely shot with this interesting close-up shot that I thought was pretty inventive and felt like a cool music video.
Hannah Einbinder was good at playing this dorky doe-eyed director that’s excited about tackling a franchise she loves, and Gillian Anderson brought a lot of charisma and gravitas to her role, not to mention you’re never quite sure if she’s normal or kind of crazy. How Anderson plays with that was pretty convincing and well done.
I was impressed with the world-building and how they set up the fandom and all the different ties to the “Camp Miasma Franchise” (different VHS movies, a tie-in video game, trading cards, a Little Death bobblehead); it felt very authentic to actual slasher movie franchises and got really close to mirroring the Friday the 13th franchise, to the point they’re almost copying the same movie titles and designs for the DVD menus… I’m surprised Sean Cunningham isn't about to sue somebody lol.
Sarah Sherman and Dylan Baker have small roles in the film, and I thought they had pretty funny dialogue and delivery.
The director (Jane Schoenbrun) makes a lot of references to 80s horror movies, and I have to say she has pretty good taste, like she makes some pretty obscure deep cut references that only someone like me would catch, which I appreciated.
The film touches on a lot of different ideas (fandom, nostalgia, sensuality, identity), so many that I wish it had focused on a few of them and had fleshed them out a bit more. Like there’s a somewhat supernatural explanation hinted at to what’s going on, and it’s an interesting concept, but they don’t really explore it as much as you’d hope, and for a film that has so many unique concepts, the actual story and plot are pretty straightforward. It’s still enjoyable and interesting, but I feel like the movie could’ve done more to make it feel even more unique.
Also, at certain points, we just watch characters watch sections of the original Camp Miasma. And like I said, it’s impressive how well they re-create it, and I found those sections enjoyable, but it also doesn’t add as much to the overall story; it could’ve used that screen time to explore some of the things I previously mentioned that could’ve been developed more, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything.
So the main villain and icon of the Camp Miasma franchise is called Little Death, who wears a white hazmat suit and has his big metal contraption on his head that looks like an air conditioner, and they go into Little Death's backstory, and while it’s fine for a slasher icon backstory, from where it ends, they never explain what’s on his head or how we got it in between the end of his origin and him starting slashing people. Again, that doesn’t really take away from the movie, and it’s a nitpick, but it is something I noticed.
Kevin McDonald and Patrick Fischler make cameos in the film, and it’s nice to see them pop up. McDonald brings a nice bit of humor, and Fischler has a nice little homage to his character from Mulholland Drive.
The ending is fine; it could’ve been more interesting, but what we got wasn’t too bad. I’m just sort of a plain regular ending.
Also, I’ve never seen a movie more in love with KFC; like, I half expected the film to be dedicated to Colonel Sanders lol.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised by Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma; it has a lot of love and passion for its subject matter, the actors all do a solid job, and the directing is very unique and creative. The story could’ve been fleshed out a little more, and I have some nits here and there, but if you’re a fan of these kinds of movies, I think you’ll definitely get some kind of enjoyment out of it. I’ll give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️; it’s definitely… Cut above a normal slasher. 🩸🪓 😂
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