2026 Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

• Directed by: Jane Schoenbrun
• Written by: Jane Schoenbrun
• Stars: Jack Haven, Hannah Einbeinder, Gillian Anderson
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes
• Trailer: https://youtu.be/dimCiC_hdoA?si=HkUSMA270uLqYpos

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

Sexual and psychological hijinks occur when the director who is going to reboot a classic horror movie franchise visits the camp where the first movie was filmed and tries to talk the final girl from the first movie into returning to acting. And of course she has to convince her agent that’s a good idea too. It’s weird and surreal and gets more so as the movie progresses, almost like being about horror and fandom than actually being horror, and it blurs the lines between fantasy and reality.

We both agree it had good parts, and was interesting, but we were kinda bored for big chunks of it.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on a movie set, and then cut to a young couple walking through a field. A crazy man with a box on his head, “LIttle Death,” kills them excessively. Credits roll as we see newspaper clippings about what a hit the movie, “Camp Miasma” was back in the days of videotape. There are numerous sequels and merchandising gimmicks. Nowadays, it’s considered a “problematic classic.” But now, there’s a new reboot in the works!

Kris calls Mari, who talks about Thor, about the new remake. She gets to the strange little Hilton Inn and talks to the proprietor about borrowing a DVD player that he has to dust off. She watches Part VI of the franchise, and it is pretty awful.

She eventually comes to Camp Tivoli, which is clearly closed for the winter. They do, however, have a building marked “Cinema,” so she has to check that out. At just about the point where she’s expecting a jump scare, Billy Presley, the star of the films, shows up. She just might actually believe that Little Death is real. He’s still waiting down at the bottom of the lake, and he always comes back. We then get a montage of them eating fried chicken…

The two discuss how Camp Miasma isn’t woke enough for modern audiences, but if they hire a queer director like Kris, that makes it OK. Kris explains all about being polyamorous, which is new to Billy. It’s a long conversation, and after, Kris wants to leave. Still, it’s late, so Billy convinces her to stay the night.

Meanwhile, out in the center of the frozen lake, something glows and starts to break free.

The two women watch the original film, released back in 1980, and it’s clear that Billy still identifies with the younger version of herself in the film. We watch as the camp counselors arrive ahead of the kids and tell the legend of the Little Death. There was a weird mute kid there one summer who was a boy on some days and a girl on others. Eventually, the other kids just drowned him. We see Little Death rise from the cold dark lake. He immediately starts killing people and spraying CGI blood everywhere. LOTS of CGI blood. He kills all the counselors within a few minutes.

Back in the real world, Kris and Billy continue watching the film. There’s a sex scene involving young Billy, and we see the killer approaching them. Just as the Little Death is about to kill them, the power goes out and the film stops.

Then we stop as Kris takes her shirt off to seduce Billy, and it appears to work quite well. Kris has visions of Little Death right in the middle of sex, which she finds annoying. Kris wants to be the victim of Little Death, or at least that’s her fantasy,

The next day, Kris does a video conference with the backers for the film. Kris reports that she’s pretty sure she’s signed Billy to be in the project, but the others aren’t at all impressed with that idea. They all expect a Little Death origin story, but she explains her concept for the film, and it’s pretty weird. [At this point, I’m looking to see how much longer this is]. The producers decide to… get back to Kris.

Kris, on the other hand, finds herself suddenly in the Miasma movie, with all the original actors and characters. Then she goes back to camp to dance and hang out with Billy again.Billy talks about losing her virginity, and it was its own “Little Death.” Kris sees Little Death rise out of the lake to chase her. She obliges by stripping down to her panties and a shirt with no bra. Mari and Thor show up just in time to be killed. So does her agent and others as things get more and more over the top like she’s in a Miasma movie.

As Billy and Kris make love in bed, Little Death approaches from outside and kills them both, which seems to be a romantically happy ending? Little Death creates the next film in the series, which stars Billy and Kris.

We flash back over all the dead bodies of people that Little Death really did kill, as he walks back out into the lake until next time. Both dead girls wake up, their fantasies fulfilled…

Brian’s Commentary

It truly is the golden age of gummy candies.

There’s so much product placement that it probably made a profit even before it was released. The in-movie movie, Camp Miasma, is a send-up of all the slasher films of the 80s, mostly the Jason Voorhees ones, but it’s far more over-the-top than those films ever really were. There’s also a lot here about washed-up actresses and ruined careers.

Most of the outdoor scenes are clearly not real places, but it gives the whole thing a surreal side that emphasizes the weirdness of the camp setting. The visuals overall are quite nice, and the in-movie gore is excessively silly, but very appropriate.

Much like the director’s previous film, “I Saw the TV Glow,” this one is heavily LGBTQ and trans friendly. It’s kinda all over the place, storywise. The in-movie Miasma stuff is hilariously gory, but the wraparound story with Kris and Billy really drags and drags.

It’s a weird one, but I have to say I was bored through about 35% of it.

Kevin’s Commentary

I too noticed the product placement. Lots of it and pretty obvious.

I thought casting Amanda Fix as young Billy, AKA young Gillian Anderson, worked really well.

Candy. There is so much candy in this movie.

I’d call it at least interesting. The visuals and acting are great. But not a lot happened in the first half, and I thought the second half started dragging. I was longing for more movie within the movie. But the ending was intriguing. I’m going to go with I liked it more than disliked it.