Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a very strange horror movie, and also a very personal one.

Plot

A director making a slasher sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film's 'final girl,' leading both women into psychological and sexual chaos.

Good Points

• Genuinely feels like it has its own identity

• A clever take on horror fandom and obsession

• The fictional Camp Miasma franchise is brilliantly developed

• Gillian Anderson Hannah Einbinder are fantastic

• Great chemistry between Anderson and Einbinder

• Funny without becoming too smug

Bad Points

• Occasionally explains its themes when the imagery could speak for itself

• A little more restraint sometimes needed

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Is Much Stranger Than Its Title

If you don’t know much about this film going in, you will probably/maybe think the title sounds like a kind of deliberately trashy slasher movie, but it isn’t that movie - Jane Schoenbrun has managed to take the slasher format and turn it into something about so much more - horror fandom, sexuality, filmmaking and how characters we watch can become important to us.

I think that also makes this a difficult film to review as a straightforward horror because the actual slasher material is only part of what Schoenbrun is doing, but that is what makes it such an interesting film, too.

I like horror movies that have their own identity, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma definitely has an identity.

A Movie About Why We Love Trashy Slashers

The film is basically about actually being a horror fan, and you can see and feel the genuine affection for the genre running through it, in paticular the effect horror movies can have on people, as we all know the horror fandom can be weirdly personal.

Camp Miasma understands that side of fandom, and I think that is one of its most interesting qualities, because it treats fictional horror as something capable of becoming part of someone’s identity rather than just disposable entertainment.

And for a lot of horror fans, it is an identity.

Jane Schoenbrun Clearly Loves Horror, but Isn’t Afraid to Mess With It

I particularly enjoyed the fake history surrounding the Camp Miasma movies, with the film giving this fictional franchise enough detail to make it feel like something that existed before the movie started, and is brilliantly handled.

A fictional movie-within-a-movie should feel like something I could actually imagine people becoming obsessed with - the merchandise, old movies and accumulated franchise baggage all help sell the idea that Camp Miasma has had a life beyond what we’re seeing.

It also gives Schoenbrun a lot of material to play with when it comes to fandom, as there is something funny about the way people can spend years analysing a ridiculous horror franchise as if it contains the secrets of the universe, but there is also something completely understandable about it.

A lot of meta horror can also become smug very quickly - you get the references, the knowing looks and the character tropes, but it doesn’t have that genuine affection it needs, but Schoenbrun clearly knows the language of the slasher and clearly enjoys playing with it, but with a curiosity about why those conventions work in the first place.

This film celebrates something while simultaneously questioning it, which helps give Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma more personality than another horror movie simply throwing in references to Friday the 13th or Halloween.

Gillian Anderson

I have loved Gillian Anderson since the X-Files days, she is fantastic here, where she gets to play with a very different side of herself, and I enjoyed watching her a lot, and I bet she also had a ton of fun with it, too.

I also think Anderson understands something important about this kind of film - you can’t play every bizarre moment as though it is bizarre, because if everybody acknowledges how strange everything is, the whole thing will probably collapse.

And her chemistry alongside the equally brilliant Einbinder is definitely one of the film’s strongest assets.

The Horror as an Obsession

I wouldn’t describe Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma as a relentlessly scary horror movie, nor would I say it is trying to be, as yes there is plenty of slasher imagery and gore, but the horror works more as a language for the film’s other ideas.

That might disappoint people who simply want a bloody new slasher, but it’s a film that wants you to think more about the imagery and what it says about the characters, rather than just wait for the next death/scare attempt scene.

Schoenbrun leans more on how visual information can be packed into a deliberately exaggerated slasher, where the blood, costumes, performances and ridiculousness aren’t just there because horror movies are supposed to have them.

This is meta horror, but done with a real love, understanding and passion for the genre - the bright colours, sexual energy, exaggerated slasher material and deliberately artificial fictional franchise all give it a personality that I think a lot of horror fans will fully appreciate.

If I had to say a negative point about the film though, I would say a little more restraint would have helped at times, as some of the ideas could have landed better if the film had already made its point and then kept going anyway.

At its best, the movie lets an image, performance or strange bit of horror speak for itself, but at its weakest, I could almost hear the explanation happening underneath the scene, but maybe I’m nitpicking a bit as well….

Final Verdict

Schoenbrun has created something here that feels genuinely personal, and that’s the biggest compliment I can give it - it’s weird, horny, bloody and far more thoughtful than the title suggests.

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