Editorial · Article
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026): Jane Schoenbrun's Cannes-Winning Queer Meta-Slasher, Explained
In US theaters August 7, 2026 · MUBI · Written & directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) · Winner of the Cannes Queer Palm
By Alan Willey · · Updated
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma reaches US theaters Friday, August 7, 2026, distributed by MUBI. It is the third feature from Jane Schoenbrun, the writer-director of I Saw the TV Glow, and it arrived at Cannes 2026 as the opening film of Un Certain Regard. It won the Queer Palm and drew a nine-minute standing ovation.
Camp Miasma is not a real slasher franchise; Schoenbrun invented it for the film. The story follows a young filmmaker hired to reboot a beloved fictional 1980s summer-camp slasher series, who becomes obsessed with the reclusive actress who played its original final girl. It is a slasher film about slasher films, and a queer love story.
We have not seen it yet, and we score films only after watching them. It opens in August, and predictions on Watch Darkly stay open until it does. If you want to call its score before release, you can log your prediction on the film page.
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Quick facts
- Releases
- Director
- Jane Schoenbrun
- Studio
- MUBI
- Runtime
- 1h 52m
- Rating
- R
- Cast
- Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Eva Victor, Sarah Sherman, Zach Cherry
- Home release
- Theatrical via MUBI at launch; expected on MUBI streaming after its theatrical run
Is Camp Miasma a real slasher franchise?
No. There is no real "Camp Miasma" film series; Jane Schoenbrun built the entire fictional franchise for this movie, mythology and all. In the story, Camp Miasma was a 1980s hit that spawned sequels, merchandise, and a cult following around its killer, "Little Death," a gender-fluid teenager bullied to death by fellow campers who comes back as the series' masked slasher. That backstory covers the themes Schoenbrun's films return to: queerness, cruelty, and characters turned into monsters by how they were treated.
The film follows Kris (Hannah Einbinder), an up-and-coming director who uses Sundance buzz to get the Camp Miasma reboot and becomes fixated on casting Billy (Gillian Anderson), the mostly-forgotten actress who was the original's final girl.
Schoenbrun's most conventional horror film
Schoenbrun's earlier features, We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, are not conventional horror. Both deal with the internet, old television, and how the screens people grow up staring into shape them, and both use horror to get at the difficulty of becoming yourself. Camp Miasma is their most conventional horror movie to date, a slasher homage with real kills. Cannes reviews suggest it is still recognizably Schoenbrun, psychedelic and psychosexual, with the focus on the two female leads rather than a body count.
It opened Un Certain Regard, won the Queer Palm, and drew a nine-minute ovation from the festival audience.
Einbinder and Anderson: the central pair
The film centers on its two leads. Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) plays Kris, the fan-turned-director; Gillian Anderson plays Billy, the recluse Kris is trying to bring back in front of a camera. As the two work together, the relationship turns obsessive and psychosexual, and it bleeds into the production. The supporting cast includes Jasmin Savoy Brown, Eva Victor, Sarah Sherman, Zach Cherry, and Dylan Baker.
Will Camp Miasma land for you?
Schoenbrun's films divide viewers: some connect with them strongly and some do not connect at all. The nine-minute Cannes ovation and the strong early reviews are one signal. How you felt about World's Fair and TV Glow is another, and probably the more reliable one.
Whether a Schoenbrun slasher is actually scary is an open question. The widget below lets you predict its scores before release and rate it once you have seen it.
Related films on Watch Darkly
The Final Girls(2015)
The closest existing comparison: a meta-slasher in which characters get trapped inside a fictional 1980s summer-camp slasher franchise. It shares Camp Miasma's premise of a made-up slasher series treated as real.
Scream(1996)
The film that made the slasher self-aware. Camp Miasma works in the meta-slasher mode Craven established: a horror movie that knows which horror movies it is quoting.
Friday the 13th(1980)
The 1980s summer-camp slasher template the fictional Camp Miasma franchise is modeled on. Little Death is the fictional franchise's answer to Jason Voorhees.
Bodies Bodies Bodies(2022)
Another recent queer slasher with a satirical, internet-era sensibility. The closest tonal comparison among recent wide releases.
Common questions
- When does Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma come out?
- It opens in US theaters Friday, August 7, 2026, distributed by MUBI. It premiered May 13, 2026, opening Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
- Is Camp Miasma a real slasher franchise?
- No. There is no real 'Camp Miasma' series. Jane Schoenbrun invented the fictional franchise for this movie. The story is about a director hired to reboot that made-up franchise, whose killer is a figure called 'Little Death.'
- What is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma about?
- A young queer filmmaker, Kris (Hannah Einbinder), is hired to reboot a once-popular 1980s slasher franchise, Camp Miasma. She becomes obsessed with casting Billy (Gillian Anderson), the reclusive actress who played the original's final girl. Their working relationship becomes obsessive, and the reboot's production turns violent.
- Who directed it?
- Jane Schoenbrun, writer-director of I Saw the TV Glow (2024) and We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021). Camp Miasma is their third feature.
- Who's in the cast?
- Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson lead, as Kris and Billy. Supporting cast includes Jasmin Savoy Brown, Eva Victor, Sarah Sherman, Zach Cherry, Patrick Fischler, and Dylan Baker.
- Did it win anything at Cannes?
- Yes. It opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2026, where it won the Queer Palm, and earned a nine-minute standing ovation. Critics gave it a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
- Is it gory?
- It's an R-rated slasher (rated for bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, drug use, and language), so yes, there's blood and violence, but it's a Schoenbrun film, so expect psychosexual dread alongside the kills rather than nonstop gore.
- Will it be on streaming?
- MUBI is releasing it theatrically first; as a MUBI title, it's expected on the MUBI streaming service after its theatrical run. No date confirmed yet.