Here is our first trailer for Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
This was one of the most talked-about films from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, at least for U.S. press. The international press wasn’t as won over by this one, and I find myself in their camp, although this is the type of film that could probably benefit from a rewatch, which I’ll eventually do closer to its release date.
The film is definitely bold and highly inventive — a queer meta-slasher that blends horror, romance, and film-industry satire into a surreal exploration of desire and identity.
The story follows Kris (Hannah Einbinder), a young filmmaker hired to reboot a long-running slasher franchise, whose work leads her to the original “final girl” of the series — played by Gillian Anderson. Their relationship becomes both creative collaboration and emotional obsession, with the abandoned camp setting serving as a space where reality and fiction begin to blur.
At its core, this is a story about the difficulty of achieving intimacy and pleasure, with Kris’ psychological spiral reflecting a deeper struggle with sexual anxiety. It’s essentially an autobiographical dissection of Schoenbrun’s own struggles.
A major strength is its dreamlike, artificial environments, which feel both stylized and disorienting. However, I had significant frustrations with the execution. The film can feel overly theoretical and self-conscious, with its ideas sometimes overwhelming its narrative momentum. The pacing drifts, and certain metaphorical elements feel repetitive or overly explicit.
That said, I seem to be in the minority here. The film sits at 91 on Metacritic and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes — if and when I post my review on RT, that perfect score will no longer be perfect. I’m willing to give this one another shot, but for now, my take is that it’s being overpraised to the high heavens by critics.
The film is set for a summer tour ahead of its theatrical release through Mubi beginning August 7.
