Film Review by Steven Smith | ★★★★★
Wow, fabulous to see the ladies getting a look-in! This is so sexy I might become a lesbian. That would certainly explain my lack of dating! It is also the campest, pardon the pun, slasher movie I have seen in years. A must-watch. It is bloody brilliant!
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is not your average horror movie. Forget the predictable screaming teenagers, the masked lunatic lurking behind a tree and the obligatory blonde running through the woods in her underwear. This is something altogether more delicious, daring and wonderfully deranged.
Director Jane Schoenbrun has taken the slasher genre, given it a fabulous queer makeover and served up a gloriously twisted cocktail of sex, obsession, psychological horror and dark humour. It is outrageous, seductive and utterly compelling.
The story follows an enthusiastic young filmmaker, played by Hannah Einbinder, who is given the opportunity to resurrect the once-popular Camp Miasma horror franchise. After years of increasingly dreadful sequels, the series desperately needs new blood. And goodness, does it get some!
Her journey leads her to the original film’s mysterious star, played by the magnificent Gillian Anderson, who has withdrawn from the spotlight. What follows is a disturbing and intoxicating exploration of desire, power, fantasy and the dangerous relationship between an actress and her admirer.
Now, can we please talk about Gillian Anderson?
My goodness, this woman is extraordinary. Anderson delivers a performance so hypnotic, sexy and commanding that you simply cannot take your eyes off her. Every glance, every carefully measured word and every movement seems calculated to draw you deeper into her web.
There is something almost dangerously seductive about her presence. She doesn’t merely occupy the screen; she possesses it. She can make a moment of silence more electrifying than an entire sequence of bloodcurdling screams.
Anderson has always been an exceptional actress, but here she reminds us why she remains one of the most fascinating performers of her generation. She is mysterious, powerful, vulnerable and terrifyingly alluring, sometimes all within the same scene.
Hannah Einbinder is equally impressive, bringing an intriguing mixture of ambition, fascination and emotional vulnerability to her role. The chemistry between these two women is electric. Their relationship becomes the beating heart of a film that is as interested in psychological seduction as it is in horror.
What I particularly loved is that the film refuses to behave itself. It plays with the conventions of the slasher genre while examining fame, female power, sexuality and the strange obsession audiences develop with their screen idols.
It is unapologetically queer, gloriously camp and refreshingly different. There is something wonderfully liberating about watching a horror film in which women are not simply waiting around to become the next victim.
Be warned, though: this is not conventional popcorn horror. It is strange, provocative and deliberately unsettling. But that is precisely what makes it so memorable.
As for Gillian Anderson, darling, forget the masked killer. She is the real danger here. One smouldering look and I would probably surrender without a fight.
Five stars from me. Sexy, sinister, spectacularly camp and utterly irresistible. Go and see it. Just don’t blame me if you develop a crush on Gillian Anderson!
