If You Like Teenage Sex And Death (At Camp Miasma), You Should Also Watch...

"[T]he movie is structured to be moving towards these multiple climaxes, to put it in the parlance of the female orgasm."

--Jane Schoenbrun, on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Spending several years watching 30+ horror movies each October put me in solid standing for Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, the new film from trans indie director Jane Schoenbrun (We're All Going To The World's Fair, I Saw The TV Glow). Really, Teenage Sex and Death felt like a culmination of the whole process for me, and maybe a bit of a relief, like, oh thank satan I haven't just been wasting my time with this garbage. The film, after all, represents a seemingly quite personal engagement with horror as a genre, and the pleasures of flesh and fluids. The protagonist of the film, Kris, is a trans indie director (you see?) tapped to make the long running Camp Miasma slasher franchise palatable and fresh for contemporary audiences. They reach out to Billy, the reclusive star of the first film in the series, who turns out to be holed up in the camp used as the former film site.

And that's mostly what I'm going to give you, if you haven't seen the film yet. Well, a couple more things, maybe. First, a genre pitch cobbled together from several other descriptions I've seen, that will either set expectations effectively or totally baffle you. This film is perhaps the first ever stoner romcom age gap yuri eroguro. 

 

Nightbitch: Reject The Nuclear Family And Return To Puppy

Nightbitch, a film about a frustrated housewife who starts turning into a were-dog, actually resonated a lot with me as a trans woman... until it defanged itself and got weirdly domesticated.

One Sad Grey Note: Hellraiser 2022

If elevated horror films are so desperate to give us "deep" metaphor about drug use, why do all their drugs suck? Sometimes Hellraiser 2022 gets the allure of its Cenobites, but I feel like it's constantly trying to scare me straight.

My Dress Up Darling Is The World I Want To Live In

The protagonists of anime My Dress Up Darling occupy a kinder world, more free to explore their identities and passions. Our world has more dangers, but have we given up on treating causes of harm when kids have latitude to express themselves, in favor of treating the symptoms with crude amputation?

Hey Look At This... Comic? The Timekeepers of Eternity

Timekeepers of Eternity rips and tears the material of classic Stephen King serial the Langoliers to shreds. It might just accidentally be the greatest motion comic ever made, and it's made of photocopies. What's the deal with this strange fan edit?

Zenshu: What Is The Soul Of Sakuga?

Zenshu, one of the standout animes of last season, positions itself as a love letter to animation. But under all the smooth movement and beautiful effects, what does it think animation really means?

It's Just You: Getting Your Audience Agency Back

Most modern criticism agrees, audiences have a lot of interpretive say. So why do people still talk about media like it's being inflicted on them? Sink your teeth into the difficult films No Country for Old Men and Nosferatu and learn to get your agency back as an audience.

 

Colorless █​█​█​█​█ Ideas: There Is No Antimemetics Division Review

There Is No Antimemetics Division reminded me why I keep coming back to speculative fiction.

The Twilight Zone Reboot, Five Years Later

Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone reboot is a bizarre time capsule of issues liberals said they cared about in 2019. Just five years on, many of them seem unspeakable at the highest level of politics. What insights into this rapid about-face can we glean from its first season?

Jon McNaughton: Reactionary Painter As Postmodernist

 Hey, you see the recent output from Jon McNaughton, painter of all values traditional and all aesthetics that uphold the Western Tradition? Yeah, is it just me or is it starting to look a little... you know... degenerate?

A Multiverse Around The Corner (Where Your Dead Friends Live)

Isn't it weird how many stories lately feature villains trying to tap into alternate or simulated realities to reunite with loved ones? Let's take a tour of this multiverse full of dead relatives and what they have to say about our cultural moment.

Just, Ruinous: Poker Face and Interview with the Vampire as Superhero Stories

Our culture is saturated with superhero stories, but as those stories turn towards action adventure narratives it's up to a detective story and an epic vampire horror serial to ask "just what is a hero?" 

Age of the Executive Auteur

The Auteur as a figure in entertainment is dead. Grown strong on digital production, a more artistically bankrupt creature emerges in their place. It is the Executive Auteur, and it's coming soon to a theater near you, whether you like it or not.

Some Nightmares Before Christmas Or Thereabouts Part 3

Happy Friday 13th! In the middle of January, we have to face the facts. Halloween indeed... ends. Send the season out at last with my top horror movies of all time.