Schoenbrun's 112-Minute Camp Miasma Probes Identity Through Slasher Reboot at Cannes
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 13
Schoenbrun's 112-Minute Camp Miasma Probes Identity Through Slasher Reboot at Cannes
9 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 13
Hannah Einbinder stars as Kris, a Sundance-bred filmmaker rebooting the fictional Camp Miasma franchise, whose trip to cast original star Billy turns into a blood-spattered search for sexual and bodily self-understanding.
Jane Schoenbrun uses the movie-within-a-movie slasher — centered on bullied, gender-fluid killer Little Death — to examine desire, dysphoria and the wish to escape anxious self-consciousness.
The 1-hour-52-minute film, playing in Cannes' Un Certain Regard, mixes comic one-liners with exaggerated gore and stylized fantasy landscapes rather than trying to mimic an actual 1980s horror movie.
The review says the film is less emotionally resonant than I Saw the TV Glow and can feel alienatingly offbeat, but argues its intimate candor and Gillian Anderson-Einbinder pairing still leave a strong impact.
Is Jane Schoenbrun's vulnerable filmmaking its greatest strength or the reason for its polarized reception?
Can a film about a horror reboot also be a radical story of trans self-discovery?