Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow was a critical darling and cult classic, signaling the arrival of a talent to watch after their auspicious early work. Their latest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, is their most ambitious and fun outing yet, leaning into genre while still feeling thoughtful and engaging.

What is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma about?

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma follows a director who is tasked with rebooting a cult classic horror franchise, becoming obsessed with having the original film’s reclusive star return for the leading role. A tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of slasher tropes that also offers Schoenbrun’s typical queer allegory, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is sure to be the talk of the town among horror fans.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Review

One of the most surprising things about Schoenbrun’s latest is how outright funny it is. Especially in the first third of the film, there are a lot of jokes poking fun at the horror genre and the film industry as a whole. Admittedly, many of these jokes are esoteric and aimed primarily at horror-loving audiences, but that makes up a majority of who will watch the film, anyway. 

The first half of the film is a slasher spoof with a target specifically placed on the Friday the 13th franchise. For those who are fans of the series, or those who kinda hate it, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma has plenty to offer. It really understands why people love these movies that are not very good, to put it mildly.

There is one sequence in the middle of the film that will leave audiences in awe as it creates an iconic new slasher villain in Little Death. It’s a genuinely fun, gory scene with excellent kills, feeling like both a fitting tribute to the films that inspired this and creative in its own right. Because of this, combined with the humor, Camp Miasma feels much more mainstream and accessible than Schoenbrun’s previous features.

But that’s not to say that the film is any more shallow or less queer. If you are familiar with sex theory, the “little death” is an important concept related to ‌orgasm, and Schoenbrun’s film is centered around this theme. It’s actually very clever how Schoenbrun ultimately transforms this well-known theory to be their own and uses it to convey an essential story about the queer experience.

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The final third of the film morphs into a Lynchian nightmare that is much similar to the work we are used to seeing from Schoenbrun, with surreal imagery and a more loosened narrative structure. But by this time, even mainstream horror audiences should be so invested in the story and characters that the abstraction of the final act will not cause them to check out.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is, by far, Schoenbrun’s most visually ambitious work yet, but that makes sense considering that it was made with a much larger budget. Schoenbrun is the type of visionary director whose unique voice comes not from originality, but from the amalgamation of a diverse set of influences. The result is a film that feels familiar yet refreshing and seems to have every single dollar reflected on screen.

Unit Day 04: A Bad Day At Camp Tivoli

The film is also much more star-studded than the director’s past work, being led by Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder. Although Einbinder’s comedic chops do get a bit of a chance to shine, this is her first shot at doing something that is generally more dramatic. While it does feel like she was typecast as the sort-of awkward but ineffably charming queer heroine — essentially the same character she plays in Hacks — she’s clearly very good at doing this.

Playing it more out of range is Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), who has arguably never been better than she is here. Although she is playing an actress who is a scream queen, Anderson’s performance gives less Jamie Lee Curtis or Heather Langenkamp and gives more Norma Desmond. However, the divaish approach to this character gives Anderson plenty of opportunity to chew the scenery, making the film a tremendous amount of fun to watch, but she also manages to find the sadder streak running through the character that lends the film genuine emotion.

Is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma worth watching?

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is an ambitious horror spoof from Jane Schoenbrun that sees the filmmaker working on a much larger scale without sacrificing the things that made their previous work so special. It’s hard to make a spoof that pokes fun while showing its love for the films it satirizes, yet that is exactly the balance that Schoenbrun manages to strike here.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, which ran from May 12-23.

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