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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)


Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma wastes no time letting you know exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. Unfortunately, that does not mean it is a movie that everyone is going to enjoy. Writer and director Jane Schoenbrun clearly loves horror and has plenty of ideas about the genre, but the film feels more like an art project than an actual horror movie. There are plenty of references to films like Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp, but most of the interesting ideas feel borrowed from movies that did this sort of thing much better.

Hannah Einbinder is the biggest problem with the film. Her character, Kris, is intentionally and incredibly bland and spends most of the movie fawning over Billy without giving us much reason to care about her. Even her appearance feels oddly disconnected from the movie, like the makeup department decided to take the night off. Once it becomes obvious that Kris is essentially a self-insert for Jane Schoenbrun, it becomes even more irritating to be stuck in this character's head. Why would I want to spend two hours living in the shoes of someone who clearly does not even like herself?

It was nice seeing Kevin McDonald again outside of Kids in the Hall, but the movie does very little with him. Gillian Anderson is easily the best part of the film. Her accent is great, and she brings considerably more personality to the movie than most of the cast. Unfortunately, even her character is hampered by some of the direction, which makes certain scenes feel awkward, eye-rolling, and much more self-important than they need to be.

The biggest issue is that this simply is not scary. There are attempts at jump scares and plenty of gore, but almost none of it creates any real sense of terror. The horror is supposed to be one of the main attractions, yet I spent more time waiting for something to happen than actually being disturbed by what was happening. Even the gore is disappointing because the movies this is clearly referencing relied heavily on practical effects, while Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma leans on CGI for some of its kills. The difference is noticeable, and not in a good way.

The other major problem is how often the movie stops to lecture the audience. It repeatedly hits you over the head with its queer messaging while the story itself becomes increasingly hypocritical. Instead of trusting the audience to understand what it is saying, the movie keeps making sure you know what the message is. There are long intimate scenes and seemingly endless conversations between two women, but very little of it feels meaningful or like it is saying anything that has not already been said repeatedly for the past six years.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma tries desperately to be meta and different, but instead of feeling clever, it comes across as an overlong art project when you compared it to the much better Moonlight.. The horror is weak, the pacing is frustrating, the messaging is heavy-handed, and the most entertaining ideas are largely borrowed from better movies. Gillian Anderson gives the film its best performance, but even she cannot save it from becoming a long exercise in self-indulgence. Result: D+

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