Depending on how capable you are of bearing embarrassment, Jane Schoenbrun’s newest film may cause some issues when you get to the front of the queue to buy your next cinema ticket. The film has only just been released and has already received rave reviews with an incredible 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Can it live up to the hype? I went to my local cinema to find out.

I went inspired by a trailer I’d seen before The Odyssey (a film with a very different vibe and target audience, I’ll admit). Although I wasn’t familiar with Schoenbrun’s earlier work, the title and trailer intrigued me, and I decided to give the film a go. Research told me that Schoenbrun has a dedicated following within the LGBTQ+ community due to their careful explorations of gender, sexuality and identity. Although I have not experienced gender dysphoria myself, it sounded like a film that could be right up my street.

Camp Miasma is certainly unlike any other film I’ve recently watched. The trailer suggested a visual aesthetic similar to Panos Cosmatos’s Mandy, which I loved. There are also some David Cronenberg references, particularly the shot where a videotape slides into a vagina-like slit in a flesh wall. Yes, this is not a film for people who like things plain. And then there’s a hint of that other David (Lynch) in the films unapologetic sense of weirdness.

All of these comparisons (with male film makers, I should add), however, don’t do justice to the originality of Schoenbrun’s vision. In an interview they have explained that the film is deeply personal and based on their own experience of gender dysphoria and transitioning. Heavy subjects that they explored in their previous films too (although I haven’t seen them yet, but I will), but Camp Miasma adopts a much more optimistic and at times funny tone.

One of the reasons for this is the film’s use of slasher horror and camp tropes to build the film’s world. Film maker Kris, who is obsessed with the (fictional) Camp Miasma horror franchise travels to the remote holiday camp where the first film in the series was made to meet Billy. Billy once played the lead in the first film, then retired from acting, and became a recluse. When Kris meets her and mentions Little Death, the franchise’s villain, Billy seems to believe that he truly exists. Has she lost her mind?

At this point I was expecting a homage to slasher horror, a little bit like X, but Camp Miasma is different. The film’s opening sequence brilliantly visualizes how horror takes on a cult status in our world, including the arc many franchises have followed (from great to meh to awful) and the insufferable academic papers written about them. The last bit in particular made me chuckle, for I used to be an academic who wrote such papers. I don’t regret any of it, the writing process helped me shape my ideas and, to a certain extent, my identity. But as Billy reminds Kris, sometimes we need to move away from intellectualism and just, well, feel something.

I’ve shied away from describing the film’s plot in much detail because, to tell you the truth, there isn’t that much plot. And it doesn’t matter. Camp Miasma is more about feelings, self-discovery, and gentle satire. The scene in which Kris sits on a Zoom call with her film studio and their Queer Assistant (who is actually named as such) is hilarious. Other scenes are similarly funny without turning the film into a comedy. It’s funny and often surprisingly light for a film about murder and violation. But it’s mostly a film about love and daring to be your true self.

Looking at some of the reactions online, I can tell that this film means a lot to a lot of people, just like Schoenbrun’s earlier work. They have clearly tapped into something that transcends their own experiences and managed to capture feelings felt by many in film form. It fills me with hope that a film like this can still get made and find an audience in this day and age. A film which depicts a queer relationship honestly without turning it into the main plot point. A film that depicts female sexuality without restricting its viewpoint to the male gaze. A film that doesn’t shy away from discussing female pleasure even if it might make some viewers uncomfortable.

But what do I know? Why not go and check it out for yourself?

Photo by Wasis Riyan on Unsplash