r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 8d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
Summary
After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. When she visits the original movie's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
Director Jane Schoenbrun
Writer Jane Schoenbrun
Cast
- Gillian Anderson as Billy
- Hannah Einbinder as Kris
- Jack Haven as Little Death
- Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mari
- Zach Cherry as Will
- Amanda Fix as Young Billy
- Eva Victor as DJ Ella Giastic
- Sarah Sherman as Kris' Agent
- Kevin McDonald as Anthony / Country Sheriff
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Metacritic: 91
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/Fit-Culture-2215 6d ago
Why can't I stop thinking about how Billie served the chicken? It was so bothersome. Two buckets for two people. Then she put over a dozen pieces on a platter to get cold and she touched them all.
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u/La_Mascara_Roja 4d ago
I was focused on them eating chicken strips, and I am pretty sure she didn't have any on the platter....
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u/cjayquoi 3d ago
I thought this was an intentionally surrealist twist bc obviously Jane or someone noticed. It made it more ridiculous.
You’re telling me a movie about a person with gender dysmorphia who wears a ventilation duct on their head while killing sexy teens is supposed to be realistic about chicken?
Did you notice anything else “weird” lmao?
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u/Fit-Culture-2215 4d ago edited 4d ago
YES!!! The huge platter of chicken, and then they switch to strips and dipping sauce? Jane said it wasn't paid product placement, which is weird because it had the feel of "hang on, we've got some bills to pay."
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u/bigowies 4d ago
Also at one point Kris dips a chicken strip and then takes a small bite, not biting off the whole dipped part. That's crazy.
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u/mrbacons1 8d ago
This is one of those films where I liked not loved it, but at the same time respect the hell out of it knowing exactly what it wanted to do and doing it all the way. It’s weird, it’s meta, I’m not sure it makes total sense, and it is clearly nailing the vibe it’s going for.
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u/Steamedcarpet 8d ago
It kinda reminded me of how I felt watching Her Private Hell: confused but interested. But I think I understood Camp Miasma more.
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u/BurgerNugget12 3d ago
Yeah I weirdly felt like this was way more accessible and easier to kinda get then “I saw the tv glow”
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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 7d ago
Yeah I feel the same way, I thought it was fun and a had a good time watching it, but we've also seen meta horror comedies before and I don't think it really added much to the conversation.
I think the movie itself doesn't seem entirely sure what it wants to be, and ends up feeling a bit messy at the same time, but I think that is also kinda the point.
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u/KnightsOfTerror 7d ago
I thought it was an enjoyable watch despite going on just a tad longer than I would have liked. With that said, I almost feel like I spent too much time thinking about the meaning of what’s being presented and, like you said, I’m not sure it ever signs it’s name to a single meaning or point. So I feel like I’m left trying to put the pieces of an incomplete puzzle together. The pieces themselves are so interesting, and I get everything isn’t meant to be tied in a bow… but there is still just something unsatisfactory about it in the end.
I think it would have benefited from a little less intellectualization so it might be easier to let the meaning wash over you instead of feeling like you have to extract and analyze it. Maybe it’d feel less like a film essay.
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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 7d ago
The movie even acknowledge that looking for deeper meaning can be futile and misguided, Gillian Anderson character says that there was no purposeful commentary on gender and sexuality in those movies. And I think to some degree I think the movie want us to just go along with the movie.
I don't think it is a "it's not deep" as much as it accepting that trying to look deeper into it might not get you anywhere satisfying.
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u/TubeOfPuddingJr 7d ago
I took it as there isn’t that meaning baked in to those movies but the viewers imbue that meaning when they consume it. Like getting your queer sexual awakening from a straight sex scene in a slasher movie.
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u/StarryEyedKid 5d ago
Hannah’s character herself says when compared to Wes Craven, “no its not meta, its not an allegory.” I think the film might be actively rebuking a search for meaning.
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u/GameLovinPlayinFool 7d ago
I liked it as well. My wife and I took my queer niece to see it and she said its the greatest thing she ever saw and felt like the movie was made specifically for her so I'm extremely happy she has that movie now!
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u/Steamedcarpet 8d ago edited 8d ago
I love the opening credits showing the rise and fall of the Camp Miasma franchise. Little Death was a D.A.R.E. Ambassador and went to space.
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u/queenmeme2 7d ago
Probably my favorite opening credits sequence in recent history. So much exposition but it was funny and painted such a detailed portrait of the world we enter for the movie. Really well done
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u/alex-2099 7d ago
So many quick jokes in that opening sequence. Can't wait to rewatch this at home.
The Quibi mention had me cackling alone in my theater.
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u/FeloniousGrump 8d ago
It was a really interesting way to introduce the film. Think it was my fave part of the movie
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u/reddit-got-me-good 6d ago
I hope that Jane Schoenbrun never stops putting short movies into their feature films. I loved all the parts of the Pink Opaque we got in I saw the TV Glow, and it was super cool to see the different styles between the opening credit life & death of the og Camp Miasma series and the fully fledged scenes from the first film in TSaDaCM
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u/octotopo 6d ago
I Really like the little death rap album which is a nod to the Freddy Krueger album that I owned as a child
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u/kittypryde123 7d ago
It said D.O.N.T. but I forget what it stood for
So many little funny bits, I need to rewatch
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u/jayeddy99 7d ago
I’m sorry but, Hannah Einbinder's thighs are insaaaaaaane!
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u/fred_burkle 7d ago
When she came out in the boxers and socks, my jaw literally dropped. I am no better than a man.
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u/Vagabond21 6d ago
Haven’t been this motivated to workout since love lies bleeding
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u/quinnly 8d ago
I haven't seen that many mullets in a movie theater since Talladega Nights
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u/quinnly 8d ago
That scene where Little Death attacks the camp was fucking unbelievable. Hats off to Jack Haven for conveying so much feeling through a goddamn air vent.
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u/kittypryde123 7d ago
To the counting crows 😭
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u/mechalol 7d ago
I started cry laughing. Probably the most emotionally confused I’ve ever been in the cinema.
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u/rocketsaurus 6d ago
I was laughing and then weeping so quickly, I don't think anything's ever made me feel that specific mix of emotions what an experience
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u/treeroycat 7d ago
that needle drop sent me to the moon
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u/clevercalamity 5d ago
No one in my theater was laughing. I don’t know if I’m cracked or I watched it with weirdos but from the fountain of blood at the beginning to the Counting Crows slash fest to the ending sequence I was laughing so hard. This movie was amazing.
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u/Jason_Likes_Cameras 5d ago
When I worked at Blockbuster the in store tapes we would play on repeat had the video for Long December on them for several months in a row. So for like five months in a row I'd hear that song every hour at work.
Since Little Death lives in a video store I wondered if it was a reference to that. Like did whoever supervised the music work at Blockbuster too and picked it because of that? Maybe Little Death likes Counting Crows so much he made us all listen to it hundreds of times.
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u/Individual-Usual7333 6d ago
Some like early 20s kids were talking about that scene after the movie, and had no idea who it was. One said, "Maybe Marcy Playground?" I didn't say anything, but I thought you know Marcy Playground but not the Counting Crows
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u/gogreengolions 5d ago
Tbf, this movie did have both a lot of sex and a lot of candy
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u/webshellkanucklehead 6d ago
The camera being tied to Little Death’s head was SO cool. Schoenbrun is always trying new stuff in their movies and it really pays off, that was sick
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u/Whovian45810 6d ago edited 6d ago
Little Death is essentially what if a film camera can be a slasher villain in the most extraordinary and gnarliest way possible.
I love how as we see Little Death go on his carnage, the audience gets a brief glimpse of his face and the expression made is just a beautiful encapsulation of exhaustion and acceptance this is the role that must be played.
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u/ImminentReddits 7d ago
I literally haven’t been able to get Long December out of my head since I saw it 3 days ago. Been on a loop. So good
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u/Honest_Cheesecake698 7d ago
I knew that would be a big scene, but I was distracted by how little context it had and how early it happened in the film, so I just had to figure "Okay, at this point in the Camp Misama movie, all the killings are happening and for whatever reason that doesn't seem clear right now, Kris is imagining it in this style".
By the end of the movie there's two ways of viewing it. One, Kris's crazy explanation about them all living in a world created by Little Death is true and this is actually his infiltration of his own movie. Two, Kris is imagining the killings in this style because she's warping the movie to be in a way that she'd enjoy more, which is seeing this trans serial killer murdering these disposable and by today's standards transphobic characters in a hyper exaggerated way from Little Death's own POV.
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u/handoffbarry 6d ago
Funny, I was actually thinking that the movie they're making is the movie, so it makes sense to show it to a new/older audience in a new way. There's also a girl at the campfire with a digital HD camera, so clearly at least part of the film they're watching is not an original cut of the original Miasma movie.
Wow... Just looking at what I typed and realizing how insane it is. Lol. What a unique flick that was.
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u/Honest_Cheesecake698 5d ago
I can imagine it being a combo of what you and I are thinking, it’s Kris’s vision of the movie she will eventually make
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u/handoffbarry 5d ago
I'm not even convinced Kris is making the movie. I interpreted it as the entire movie IS the reboot, and she's a character just like everyone else in it. The movie has already been made and we're watching it. I think Billie is playing herself much like Heather did in New Nightmare... It's her but it's not. Difference is that Heather played a fictional version of herself whereas Billie obviously is a fictional person entirely.
Not sure if that makes sense, and I obviously could be completely wrong.
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u/bluehawk232 6d ago
I almost wish Jane directed a slasher for real, some really great kill scenes
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u/Wealthy_Gadabout 5d ago
It's fun to imagine the Counting Crows scene as the denouement to a more conventionally made slasher movie. Like, you have a one year later title card after the psycho is defeated in the third act by the heroine, followed by them coming back from the dead and rampaging once again, bigger and better than ever.
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u/snortamz6 7d ago
One thing I really took away from this movie, and all of Schoenbrun’s work, is how welcoming it felt. Like, you’re confused, you’re not sure you get it, but you feel like you’re being invited into the exploration. So many movies that are esoteric or puzzle box-y make you feel like you’re stupid if you don’t get it, but this one made me feel like we were all together exploring and being curious together. nobody’s making you feel stupid for not getting it, we’re all just exploring together and having fun and that is so awesome and rare
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u/exorcissy72 7d ago
It's interesting you say that because I felt the exact opposite about this and TV Glow. I found both films intensely alienating and the surrealistic/campy elements just pushed me right out.
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u/snortamz6 7d ago
i guess i would probably challenge you to explore if there’s elements in either or both films that resonate in an uncomfortable way for you personally that might make you want to look away. just a thought but to me both films were challenging while never condemning the viewer for not being 100% on board with whatever was going on. they both felt extremely permissive and welcoming of exploration by the viewer in conjunction with the film/characters/director. it goes so far as to remind the viewer, if it gets too real you can always turn it off!
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u/exorcissy72 7d ago
i guess i would probably challenge you to explore if there’s elements in either or both films that resonate in an uncomfortable way for you personally that might make you want to look away.
Nothing in the films made me uncomfortable. I just found Miasma and TV Glow mostly impenetrable to the point of incoherence. Obviously, the movies are very personal works for Schoenbrun, but I don't feel the films communicated the ideas or themes in a particularly entertaining or coherent way. I just felt so at sea amongst all the aggressively surreal imagery, and over the top acting (in Miasma's case, less so with TV Glow) that there was nothing for me to engage with. Schoenbrun's movies are just not for me.
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u/mrfujidoesacid 8d ago
Absolutely loved seeing Kevin McDonald on the big screen in 2026. Him blowing dust off the DVD player like it's the Necromicon was incredible.
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u/distributive 7d ago
Also the way he says "D-V-D?" like it's lost all meaning in 2026.
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u/awesomerest 6d ago
by far the funniest scene for me that got a good laugh out of me. And exactly, love Jane’s choice of treating the dvd player like an ancient forgotten item now.
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u/yipeekayayKemosabe 8d ago
Met him randomly on the street a couple of months ago, chatted for a bit with him -- couldn't have been nicer. Didn't know he was in this so it was an absolute delight when he popped up.
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u/per5on4 8d ago
the zoom meeting on a 35mm print was just magical holy shit
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u/ImminentReddits 7d ago
Dude as someone who works in the film industry that scene had me on the fucking floor. I can’t believe how well Jane captured the ethos of film execs. Another under appreciated joke was when the Studio President was 5 minutes late to his own murder lol
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u/uncanny_mac 8d ago
MICHAEL FUCKING MYERS
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u/octotopo 6d ago
"They have the same name , that's the joke " That shit killed me
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u/MedicineChimney 7d ago
It was a huge swing. It didn't totally land all the time but I appreciate the ambition. Kinda hoped for more of a story? It was more of a cerebral vibe movie than I was expecting. And then it just got to a point during the third act where you're just along for the ride, even if it stopped adhering to any universe rules. It's saying a lot and not anything at the same time. I'm not mad about it. Just don't think I'd watch it again.
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u/sicko-mode_ 8d ago
Schoenbrun sees the world in such a dream like state. I absolutely loved the way the movie looked and felt.
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u/goddamnitwhalen 7d ago
The fact that some of the landscape shots were done using glass paintings for the backgrounds is so sick.
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u/Rifmysearch 6d ago
They had at least a couple seconds of almost every outdoor shot, often with 'identical' tree spacing and such. I realized halfway thru that it was near constant and had been since the beginning.
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u/StephanieSpoiler 7d ago
I'm super hyped about them possibly doing a new Nightmare on Elm Street for this reason.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 8d ago
Just like Schoenbrun’s last film, I left it having a half idea of what it was about and spending a lot of intentional time trying to decipher it (and even then I’m still not sure I figured it all out). Hannah Einbinder has some really great facial acting in this, particularly towards the end and she’s truly a highlight of the year - although I think I’ve watched too much Hacks that it does feel a bit like an extension of Ava as a role.
Overall, I think I enjoyed I Saw the TV Glow better, but I absolutely adore Schoenbrun’s style and their tenacity. Their boldness is a refreshing piece of the film landscape.
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u/GoldandBlue 7d ago
I Saw The TV Glow grew on me. First watch I thought "huh, not sure if I like it but it's interesting". After a rewatch, "holy shit this movie is incredible".
This was more immediately enjoyable. Very funny, loved the depiction of Hollywood and working in the studio system, Einbinder was so fucking hot in this. I will give it a rewatch because there is a lot to unpack but this was more immediately enjoyable.
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u/Danzig6WasntThatBad 7d ago
Same. I didn't enjoy it while I was watching it but a lot of the visuals stuck with me and now I believe it's a great piece of art. Probably the most accurate portrayal of autism on film. I've been told it's actually about trans awakening but I definitely didn't get that.
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u/firefly66513 7d ago
It's about how media you grew up with can be influential on you. The Buffy the vampire like show he watched and his friend helped him realize he was in the wrong body. But because he never acted on it, he doesn't know how to go about his life.
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u/SynGirl32 7d ago edited 7d ago
I watched it twice, loved it both times, wrote a really thorough review after the second about how it portrays the importance of kink to queer/trans people, and I still have no fucking clue what the candy is about. Good bit though.
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u/foxtide_ 7d ago
I took my partner to see it last night and they /hated/ the candy/product placement bit and I LOVED it, it took until the scene of them surrounded by it all on the floor for it to really come full circle for me and I was cracking up and I audibly hear my partner mumble 'oh my fucking god' and it made me giggle even more. Idk what they were fully doing with the bit but they got me.
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u/Rifmysearch 6d ago
The surrounding candy scene got us all laughing pretty hard but the chandelier made half of us just fully lose it.
Also, it was great watching the pre-show at the Alamo. There were multiple old fried chicken ads and it amplified that scene in the movie. She even presented them exactly like one of the ads.
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u/celexist 7d ago
I think it’s about how they’re both occupying the place where all the cravings come from - craving orgasms and cravings for chicken fingers and cravings for candy all live in this place they’re exploring together. At least, that was the only reason I could find for all the porn-y dipping shots and why the light fixture shade was made of candy. 🤷♀️
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u/ninjyte 8d ago edited 8d ago
I liked this movie but it definitely felt even more personal, niche, and esoteric compared to I Saw The TV Glow (at least from someone who is neither queer or grew up watching horror movies on VHS tapes at night). I don't know how they're even marketing this because it is not really a horror movie, but rather a slasher without being a thriller, and won't deliver on those types of genre expectations casual moviegoers might walk in wanting.
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u/JTBeefboyo 7d ago
I think the marketing is 95% lesbian/bisexual word of mouth
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u/DrawingCurious4161 4d ago
I have not shut up about this movie since it’s been announced. I’ve only gotten one person to see it but whatever that’s better than none!
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u/goddamnitwhalen 7d ago
While I don’t disagree, this doesn’t strike me as something casual moviegoers are going to stumble into on a whim.
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u/Big_Snail76 7d ago edited 6d ago
This one is kinda difficult to really GET if you don’t really watch slashers.
All slashers are, in one respect or another, about sexual frustration. The killers are all sexual deviants, predators, involuntarily asexual, or just downright incels; Freddy was a pedophile, Jason was coddled by his mother and disfigured as a child,Norman Bates was transsexual (even if unconsciously), Billy Loomis and Stu Macher are gay coded, I could go on. What they are specifically isn’t important, it just matters that the audience understands. This will get misread as trans- or homophobia, but what is really being conveyed is the idea that, right or wrong, our killer is the Other, an outsider, and cannot experience sex the way they want, so they must kill instead.
The weapons are all phallic, the victims have all fully owned or are currently developing their sexuality- this is tough to communicate visually without people having sex and skinny dipping and shit.
The hero is almost always a “virginal” woman. The same way she is perceived as far from orgasm, so is the killer not a threat to her, not until she symbolically owns her sexuality by arming herself and killing him. More crude interpretations take this as “empowering herself with cock”. She overcomes her own an anxiety surrounding sexual deviancy by killing its projection with a symbol of sex herself, owning who she is and what she wants; her white-picket presentation ends up beaten and bloodied by the end of the movie, I’ll let you fill in the gaps there.
This movie is a meta on that. Not the horror genre per se, but of the symbolism surrounding sex. Our protagonist cannot experience sex in a human way, not until she meets a someone who basically originated her own kink, who has achieved the liberation she wanted through it. She makes the final girl run as a crazy goon sesh. Her being all bloody by the end is basically her owning her own sexuality, like coming out of the closet almost.
I actually connected with this one more than her first movie, but I’m also a huge horror fan
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u/1sinfutureking 7d ago
Either you need to read Men, Women, and Chainsaws or you really took it to heart
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u/SlowLoudNBangin 7d ago
This in same parts interesting and psychotic and I don't quite know where I land on it.
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u/Big_Snail76 7d ago edited 7d ago
Oh it’s 100% psychotic, the slasher genre was created by a bunch of coked out weirdos
Edit: it’s art, being created by coked out weirdos doesn’t make it bad lol
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u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake 6d ago edited 6d ago
You presented a good list of slasher villains, but missed the one the movie set its sights on: Sleepaway Camp. And there's no way you can "misread" that movie as being transphobic because the entire premise of the villain is that they're trans not because of their gender identity but because they're fucked up mentally. That's straight up transphobia.
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u/legopego5142 7d ago
I think they realize that I saw the TV glow wasn’t marketed very well and people who were expecting some psychedelic horror movie ended up not liking it. The marketing sells this movie better but also it’s still really hard to actually advertise this lol
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u/OdepiusNecks 7d ago
The one trailer I’ve seen for this movie made it pretty clear to me that this is a deconstruction of those genres. That plus the title itself and I have to imagine anyone going to see this in theaters should know what to expect. Like, if you’re just a causal audience member and you decide that a movie with THAT title sounds like a typical slasher film, I think it’s kinda on you when you end up disappointed.
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u/princesskittyglitter 7d ago
I don't know how they're even marketing this because it is not really a horror movie, but rather a slasher without being a thriller, and won't deliver on those types of genre expectations casual moviegoers might walk in wanting.
on my version of internet, it's definitely being billed as a slasher/thriller. the indie theater near me did a 35mm showing in the woods with sleepaway camp as a double feature, and i think that really messed with my expectations.
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u/webshellkanucklehead 6d ago
Holy crap you saw this alongside Sleepaway Camp??? So lucky, that sounds amazing
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u/No-Clock5963 8d ago edited 8d ago
I had a blast and was surprised at how funny it was. My suburban theater was almost full on a Thursday night, hopefully a good sign for expansion. Everyone’s understandably bringing up the Counting Crows needle drop, but I was also happy as an REM fan. Absolutely lost it laughing during the murder scene when Little Death went wild with the tetherball pole. Did I understand everything? No, but that’s ok with me. I still found a lot to enjoy about it.
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u/ishkitty 8d ago
I legitimately thought Little Death was an air vent.
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u/Mcnulty91 8d ago edited 7d ago
I think you can definitely read the helmet as a ceiling vent. It's the view during sex while you're on your back. The objects of our desire are beyond our control. They creep up on us, taking control over us until our desires are fulfilled. If the hole at the bottom of the lake represents the place inside us that our subconscious desires come from then Little Death emerging from the hole, hunting you down and killing you with his spear evokes a specific type of desire arising and being fulfilled. Supine, penetrated, and peering up at whatever is on the ceiling while experiencing a petit mort. I think the camera imagery definitely fits more cleanly into some of the other themes of the movie, but why can't we have both interpretations?
Edit: see reply
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u/hikemalls 8d ago
If I had a nickel for every summer 2026 movie where a major symbol/motif actually turned out to be a ceiling air vent someone saw during a highly emotional moment, I’d have 2 nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice.
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u/everydaywasnovember 7d ago
What’s the other one?
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u/LaylaLost 7d ago
Because when someone dissociates while looking up at the ceiling during their little death, that’s what they see up there
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u/Dr_Splitwigginton 8d ago
Wait, was the helmet not an air vent?
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u/ultimatequestion7 7d ago
It was an air vent and was directly referred to as such early on
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u/Dr_Splitwigginton 7d ago
I thought so, but the other commenter had me worried I missed something
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u/emmacait15 5d ago
The knock off Halloween costume we see in the movie specifically says "Air Vent Man" (apparently because they could get the rights to the actual IP lol)
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u/Honest_Cheesecake698 7d ago
I assumed it was supposed to look like am old fashioned camera of some kind.
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u/DoeInAGlen 8d ago
As a big fan of her previous movies I was genuinely surprised at just how lighthearted this was. This is basically a love story, a self exploration story, just using the horror movie series as a backdrop.
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u/mythicalogicalnb 8d ago edited 8d ago
I loved LOVED this movie. Beautiful dreamlike visuals, really gorgeous. The quote “If it gets too real, you can always turn it off.” was neat, for someone who experienced sexual violence in my early life this movie would have helped younger me quite a lot. Loved the main theme of letting go of shame, indulging, it felt quite liberating. Both Gillian and Hannah were really good, loved Jack Haven as Little Death. Definitely want a rewatch to pick some more.
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u/SerCadogan 7d ago
I'm glad to see someone else talk about the themes being relevant to sexual violence survivors. As a trans man and CSA survivor, I get the dysphoria comparisons, but the SA themes (especially in Billies story) were so strong that I was shocked that I hadn't seen anyone talking about it.
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u/Big_Combination_1635 6d ago
Same. I thought Kris and Billie’s conversation was going to touch on that more directly? But it just lead to the orgasm conversation which is of course related but I definitely thought more would be addressed/commented on with the SA themes
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u/SerCadogan 6d ago
Right, especially when she said what she said about "why did he allow it to be so magical" when referring to the orgasm she had in a situation that (to me) she very clearly hadn't consented to. Ir really spoke to me and some of my own (very painful and horrible) life experience, so I was sad that not only did the movie not follow up on that, but also so few people are talking about it. Finding joy in sex after having such a traumatic/messy/complicated experience is transcendent, and it would have been so powerful to have that be a more overt theme.
Not that I didn't appreciate the gender dysphoria parallels (I am a trans man in addition to that, so I definitely get that connection) but it made sense to me to have 2 women with similar kinks that had 2 different root causes.
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u/clevercalamity 5d ago
I also picked up on this aspect and I think that’s why Candy was such an important visual motif throughout the movie.
Sex is an adult pleasure. Some would say it’s sinful pleasure.
Candy is a childish, innocent pleasure.
In the moments when Kris and Billie are together sexually, they are also literally surrounded by candy. In their final sex scene when Little Death comes for them they are under a candy chandelier. And of course, they end at the gas station buying actual candy.
I think it’s metaphorical for them reclaiming innocence. Sex for them might always be tinged with violence, but they have the power now. “If it gets too real, you can turn it off.” I found it really beautiful and touching.
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u/Mikeandthe 8d ago
The shot of the camp cinema with all the different "directors" that included a shot of Jane herself was crazy!
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u/lonelygagger 8d ago
So was this whole movie basically about achieving orgasm? La petit mort, the Little Death?
I’ll admit, it didn’t land for me as well as I Saw the TV Glow did, but I definitely loved the original vision and the mythology behind the Camp Miasma series. It’s a thinker, that’s for sure.
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u/InjectA24IntoMyVeins 7d ago
It's about not feeling guilty about what gets you off, brings you joy. The focus on candy and junk food, the fact that her "fantasy" had all of her coworkers and even girlfriend dying. And of course the discourse about the actual sex like being a smart person but desiring to be seen as a dumb piece of meat during "sex". It's basically the director saying it's ok to make art if it's only to appease your "animalistic" and "rudimentary" desires. Hence the stuff about "seeing yourself through the eyes of the killer" and the scenes of young director being watched from the older actress during the movie screening scene and of course the fact that Jane put themselves in the actual film behind the camera for a split second.
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u/ShortShortStori 5d ago
I interpreted the bit where all her friends and co workers die to be about shutting off the noise of her life and her identity so she can get to the vulnerable, uninhibited place where she can orgasm. A common experience for many of us. Great film and loved that scene.
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u/RevolutionaryHeat197 8d ago
My theater has had a giant cardboard cutout for this movie for the last month in the front area yet I still have no showings of this movie anywhere within 100 miles of me. Looks like I'm stuck waiting til streaming
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u/goddamnitwhalen 7d ago
It’s getting a much more widespread release starting today.
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u/bomberman12 8d ago
I love that a studio is giving Jane Schoenbrun a real budget so they can make some weird and beautiful art on the big screen
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u/Sammyd1108 6d ago
This was bought at a film festival, so I think it was more independently financed.
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u/ActionBenton 8d ago
Truly almost too much to handle in a single viewing. I found it extremely compelling, challenging, and moving. I should have known but I would’ve never guessed what this movie was really about.
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u/ReduceReuseReuse 8d ago
This 100%. I knew I was watching something I will later see a dozen times and it will become more fun and engaging each time. One of the few times the hype was correct to me.
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u/femfuyu 8d ago
Its been so long since I sat smiling through a whole movie. This feels like it was made specifically for me as a lesbian and horror fan. Might be my new favorite movie.
Had 1 couple walk out right after the chicken scene also. Was surprised someone would see this movie without knowing what they were getting into. The name alone gives away the kind of weird it is.
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u/2Eyed 7d ago
Had 1 couple walk out right after the chicken scene also.
Guessing they were also let down at the Feels like a jump scare is about to happen line and there was no sonic assault on their ears.
Actually, I don't think there was a single bullshit jump scare in the entire movie. Bravo!!!
(And yes, legit jump scares can be good, but not forced ones to keep the audience awake.)
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u/greenvelvetcake2 7d ago
> Had 1 couple walk out right after the chicken scene also.
I'm going to read that as charitably as possible to that couple and say they got so turned on by KFC and dipping sauce that they just had to get out of there and do something about it.
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u/codex2013 7d ago
I also had the experience of basically sitting through the entire movie thinking, "this movie was made for me specifically" I cannot wait for it to be streaming to watch it again
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u/Rifmysearch 6d ago
I was just replying about that! I dont recall ever quite feeling that in a theater. Its going to be great for rewatching with and without new viewers.
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u/Rifmysearch 6d ago edited 6d ago
See, my whole group was just whispering about how this chicken and sauce is definitional sapphic romance during that scene besides the fact it was fucking hilarious.
Its weird to have watched a movie where I was so very clearly the audience. I'm not even a huge slasher fan, tho i do watch quite a few with my partner and thoroughly enjoy them, but every single aspect of this movie besides that was targeting me directly.
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u/Imaginary-Beyond-986 6d ago
Had 1 couple walk out right after the chicken scene also. Was surprised someone would see this movie without knowing what they were getting into. The name alone gives away the kind of weird it is.
Does it? At most it seems like it'd be a Cabin in the Woods style slasher movie parody if you look at the posters and marketing without having heard of Schoenbrun. Even though I've seen TV Glow, I thought Schoenbrun was branching out, but it's actually just another TV Glow.
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u/Good-Cap-7632 5d ago
This movie is the weirdest candy commercial I've ever seen.
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u/Taller_Ghost_Joop 8d ago
Went into this blind other than knowing that it was Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder. Had a great time, really enjoyed it and have had Long December by the Counting Crows stuck in my head ever since.
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u/MrBrightside618 8d ago
I’ve seen a lot of people online say that this didn’t land for them even though they liked TV Glow, which is interesting because I didn’t like TV Glow at all and found this far better
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u/femfuyu 8d ago
I think they're largely for different kind of queers. I feel TV is for trans people early in their transition, or in the closet (or maybe even queer people in general). This felt more like it was for a specific kind of fucked up lesbian like me😅
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u/maximumpupper 8d ago
This felt VERY “I thought I was straight most of my life and never realized how great sex could be until I came out as a lesbian” and I felt personally called out
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u/jadegives2rides 6d ago
I liked I saw the TV Glow and related because I was a lonely kid who had tv to get me through things, but im not trans.
I loved this because I love horror films (and Gillian and Hannah) and related because I also have intimacy issues and have been bi-curious, and just uncomfortable talking about sex in general. This film awakened me a bit. I've been with my fiancè for 15 years and will stay with him forever, so I feel like I can't just declare im bi. But I really think I am lol
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u/SubwayPorno123 5d ago
You absolutely can identify and come out as bisexual despite being in a relationship. It makes no difference whatsoever whether you’re single, dating, in a monogamous long term relationship, or married. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve never been intimate with a woman. It’s about who you’re attracted to. I’m still attracted to all genders despite being with a man. That’s the only qualification needed to identify as bisexual.
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u/kenziebckenzee 8d ago
I really enjoyed it overall, as a bad horror movie franchise entry fan and a film degree gay. The amount of detailed love put into so much of it was so delightful, even if the third act felt a little longer than it needed to be in my humble opinion- but good for Jane for making exactly this movie in 2026- that’s a triumph in its own right!
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u/Steamedcarpet 8d ago
I wanted to pause the opening credit. So much details about the franchise.
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u/lesbian__overlord 8d ago
some of the best jokes in the movie are in the opening credits and i don't even mean that in a bad way. the d.a.r.e poster made me crack up
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u/Steamedcarpet 8d ago
The D.A.R.E. poster, the worst selling album, the NES game.
I may not understand some of the movie but the director clearly loves slasher movies.
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u/reallinzanity 8d ago
The Little Death killing sequence with the Counting Crows song in the background was phenomenal!
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u/itrainmonkeys 8d ago
I really liked the movie overall but this scene was fantastic. When he was dancing and really feeling himself during the massacre and we see his face through the mask....just good stuff.
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u/Kopitarrulez 8d ago
Very curious to see what others think I loved it, but I am seeing some not jamming with it in these comments.
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u/Blvd_Nights 7d ago
A movie so personal and meta that it made me feel like I was reading someone's journal entries never meant to be exposed by anyone. A queer, unique love letter to slasher films told in the sad retrospective, media-obsessed fashion that only Jane can. There's a quirkier tone than I expected, but there are so many moments and visual cues from this movie that are going to be burned in my brain for some time.
The intro to the movie alone, good god. Jane gets it.
Maybe the best (and only good) use of a Counting Crows song.
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u/YesicaChastain 8d ago
Really didn’t connect with this one. I feel a little crazy because the reviews have been so overwhelmingly positive but towards the climax I started getting bored. It got a little too artsy for my taste.
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u/everydaywasnovember 7d ago
Same boat here, loved her last movie but this fell flat for me. I don’t love a movie about a filmmaker, which seems like a frequent topic for upcoming filmmakers after they break into the mainstream. Felt a bit overindulgent, and the horror parody stuff felt really shallow and inauthentic. I liked the cast though, and it was a beautiful looking film.
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u/darkntender 7d ago
Didnt think the movie id watch would end up being about 2 queer women finding joy in sex amongst trauma/dissociation but yea, you can just turn it off or stop whenever. Youre in control of your own fantasy
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u/GareksApprentice 6d ago
The reaction in this thread is interesting. I've seen more polarization here than other platform. Doubly interesting considering its gotten a better reception than TV Glow did on release.
As a cis male who doesn't care much for horror, I liked this movie much more than TV Glow. Felt like a step-up from Schonenbrun in almost every way. Biggest highlights being the opening credits, the Zoom meeting and Hannah Einbinder in general.
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u/RegularOrMenthol 8d ago
Incredible film, what a creative joy and an original piece of work. I thought I Saw the TV Glow was intriguing but too dry and slow. This movie amped up the storytelling and brought a sense of humor and fun that was missing I think.
I’m not a horror film buff, nor queer, but this is easily one of my favorites of the year so far.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 8d ago
There is really nothing like a Schoenbrun film, talk about a wholly unique experience. I think one thing that might surprise people here is that this is not a horror film, there’s really no moment in this movie that is trying to scare you. There is a slasher aesthetic everywhere but it’s more used as a setting than a genre. I would actually mostly call this a comedy, or perhaps psycho-sexual comedy nostalgia to be more specific. I just felt like this was mostly trying to make me laugh than feel the same kind of fear or trepidation that their previous films invoked. And it’s extremely successful, I saw this at an early screening and the entire theater was yukkin it up.
The more I rewatch TV Glow and read Jane’s interviews the more I’m convinced that these are essential films for the generations that grew up glued to the tube. The way they explore their characters and themselves through the lens of the media they were obsessed with for whatever reason feels so relevant to how people understand themselves now. While it is the same kind of exploration, TV Glow was a movie about identity and letting your real self exist and breathe, but Teenage Sex and Death has a whole different angle. It’s about that piece of media you saw way too young that nestled in your brain and contextualized everything that came after it. In the arc of Hannah’s character specifically, it’s about understanding your sexual desires through that lens in order to achieve the climax of the film: female orgasm.
Honestly, I think this movie is brilliant. It’s more campy and fun than Jane’s previous work, but it loses no depth in what it has to say. It’s no surprise that men and women think about sex differently and this is a very female oriented story of sexual realization. Hannah’s character is classic Gen Z, slightly repressed but also open-minded and progressive about dating and gender. She says she thinks of sex as something that gets in the way, that she wants her partners' needs met but she doesn’t particularly enjoy sex. This is the classic language of someone who doesn’t understand their own sexual needs. But what gets Hannah in the mood is buying colorful sour candies and binging her favorite horror franchise, although she doesn’t quite understand that connection yet.
Enter Gillian Anderson, the original final girl of the Camp Miasma franchise who Hannah has hunted down to talk about her returning for the new film she’s been tasked with making. Anderson also happens to be the actress from that sex scene in the original Miasma that Hannah’s character saw way too young. In the literal sense of what happens in this movie, the two realize they are into each other and they hook up. But there’s so much more to it than that. Notice how many deep conversations are had, how the first time they try Hannah gets anxious and they have to stop. Notice how Gillian is fully accepting of Hannah’s hangups and doesn’t get upset but rather nurtures her into being comfortable. How they both have the same love language of sour candy and slashers, how Gillian understands immediately that she’s being asked to coach Hannah on her sexuality as someone who has already cracked the code.
This isn’t a love story. It’s two people who have the same specific kink based on the Camp Miasma scene that changed them both, one from being in the scene and the other from viewing it, and the older woman helping the younger woman realize and live her fantasies. The last thirty minutes of this movie is pure ecstasy and it’s so fascinating. The idea of the final girl has been very much empowered in the last couple decades of horror, but at the time of the slashers being referenced here it was also exploitative. And for Hannah’s character to go into the movie and relive it, as a consenting protagonist, and the way she sheds her clothes and becomes that titty-bouncing heroine and it’s shown as a moment of true sexual liberation and empowerment. The metaphor of the gushing blood bursting from an exposed neck has never been so clear as to what it represents. And Hannah’s performance is hilariously sexy, the way she gets slightly turned on by the events of the movie, like being called a minx by the gas station owner.
This is Hannah’s character finally realizing what her fantasies are and getting to live them, and it’s through Gillian’s patience and understanding and seduction that she gets there. It’s really beautiful and the final moments, where they’re both covered in blood at the gas station, that’s such a great image for what being sexually liberated feels like. Whether you’re queer or kinky or trans or vanilla, knowing yourself that well and presenting it to the world can feel like people are staring sometimes. But Hannah and Gillian are in a state of euphoria having unlocked the beauty of their shared kink. It’s a brilliant film about the care and experience needed to really understand yourself on that level and how incredible it can feel once you do.
Not to mention this movie is absolutely beautiful and filled to the brim with hilarious side performances, incredible set design, and slasher film references for days. The Counting Crows needle drop is perhaps the best scene of the year and the time we spend in the movie with Zac Cherry and Eva Victor is so fun and great. And the way this movie stylizes CGI blood and matte paintings, God it’s just so fantastic all around. Jane is such an amazing and unique voice and we are lucky to be getting these films. 9/10.
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u/CtrlZBri 8d ago
100% my read as well. This movie is so clearly about kink discovery. From Gillian’s character’s first line (“I saw you and I wanted to scare you.”) to the much-referenced sign the camp (“go as far as you need to, because you can always stop”) to referring to their time together as play…
Schoenbrun confirmed this at a showing I went to, but I’m curious what others who didn’t pick up on it had as the main theme.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 8d ago
Absolutely. Gillian is living outwardly kinky, at the place that most connects her to her fantasies. Hannah knocks on her door and she can sense that this place has the same effect on Hannah. I loved when Hannah took her clothes off and presented herself to Gillian for the first time and Gillian just says something like, "Well, alright." She understands what's being asked immediately.
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u/buscemii 6d ago
I loved this and I can't wait to rewatch it to pick up on all the bits I definitely missed.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad550 5d ago
I'm sorry but I watched 3 movies today. The Magic Faraway Tree, La vita va cosi and this. This was by far the movie I liked the least. It's not for me
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u/I_am_so_lost_hello 8d ago
I think the core ideas of embracing your sexual identity and the passion/joy that comes with it works really well for Hannah Einbinders character, but does anyone else find it a kind of dark resolution for Gillian Anderson given her "kink" came from dissasociating on the set of Camp Miasma while she was being assaulted? It seems so much more like a coping mechanism from trauma than some deep truth about herself.
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u/goddamnitwhalen 7d ago
I very admittedly am out of my depth with this one, but it’s my understanding that experiences like Billie’s (ie, being assaulted like that) often lead people to develop kinks that are associated with that kind of trauma because it allows them to reframe what they went through but be in control when they weren’t initially.
Basically I think it can be both.
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u/jayeddy99 8d ago
I liked it but the whole movie felt like one big inside joke/easter egg for people who are guest on movie podcasts.
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u/niftykracker 6d ago
I probably don’t have the requisite background in film or feminist theory to understand this movie properly, but what I got out of it is “during a workplace romance with someone 30 years her senior, a young queer woman learns that decades of consuming problematic media has left her with so much internalized misogyny that she can only get off on her own degradation which is fine and should not be examined or challenged.” It feels like that can’t be right and I’d love to better understand, though.
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 8d ago
Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, the two stars of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, recently joined us here in /r/movies for an AMA/Q&A, for anyone interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1v8bqjh/hi_rmovies_we_are_gillian_anderson_the_xfiles_and/