The Venn diagram of queer film lovers and horror movie fans has an especially bustling intersection — and right at the heart of it is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun’s deeply meta take on slasher reboot culture.
The film’s first official trailer, released this morning, offers the fullest look yet at the director’s third feature-length outing, including extended shots of Jack Haven as Little Death, a summer camp killer who wears an A/C vent on his head and slays his victims using some kind of tipped spear. It’s an immediately iconic design that perfectly coheres with the Friday the 13th era, to which Miasma pays loving — and bloody — tribute. (The end of the trailer even gives us a peek at an adorable Little Death wind-up toy that I hope MUBI has the good sense to sell.)
The two-minute preview also offers a more in-depth look at the romantic dynamic between Kris (Hannah Einbinder), the young filmmaker tasked with rebooting the fictional Camp Miasma horror franchise, and Billy Preston (Gillian Anderson), the reclusive star of the first Miasma film who now lives in the abandoned summer camp where it was filmed. “Sex seems so easy for so many people, but I’ve never been able to get there unless I’m really far away in my head,” Kris says, over shots of her and Billy gazing into each other’s eyes and slow dancing in a candlelit room.
The film’s cast has been outspoken about the film’s sapphic themes. “I felt really challenged by the material,” Einbinder recently told Variety. I think this liberation from shame and embracing desire was something was something that, in reading the film, I had to reflect on that myself on a personal level. It was almost therapeutic.”
For full, mildly spoiler-y thoughts on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, you can read Them’s full roundtable discussion of the film — but if you want to go in fresh, stick to the trailer. After Miasma took home the Queer Palm from the Cannes Film Festival, I’m even more excited for people to finally get the chance to see this one in theaters on August 7.
