Featuring: Filmspotting Podcast | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and The Brink of War

Table Read - iHeartPodcasts

Film Spotting explores Jane Schoenbrunn's latest film, 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,' a genre-blending horror-comedy that examines

Key takeaways

• Schoenbrunn's films reflect a deep personal evolution, moving from online immersion to queer identity exploration and self-discovery.

Main topics

• The intersection of queerness and horror in contemporary cinema
• Jane Schoenbrunn's artistic evolution across three films

Notable quotes

"My work explores the intersection of queerness and cultural depictions of monstrosity." – Chris, played by Hannah Einbinder

Conclusion

Film Spotting celebrates 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' as a bold,

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Speaker 6 (0:02) Guaranteed human. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (0:40) I'm Nick Turturro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, The Longest Yard, or Spike Lee's Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone, from Seth Rollins. What are you doing with my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Turturro. It's called happiness. Delivering happiness. And many, many more. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro, and listen now. Speaker 3 (1:15) I'm Hoda Kotb, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb. You know, I'm always searching for inspiration and useful tools to maximize joy. Like when my friend Henry Winkler offered advice to aspiring actors and really anybody hoping to stand out. Speaker 8 (1:31) You're not hired just to fill time and space. You're hired to fill the space with you. Listen Speaker 3 (1:37) to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (1:45) Our hometown is Speaker 5 (1:47) not a test tube. Speaker 6 (1:48) 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town. Speaker 5 (1:54) Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is Our Town, a Speaker 3 (2:01) podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 2 (2:20) Film Spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. See any standard 2D movie, anytime, with no blackout dates or restrictions. Sign up now on the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code FILMSPOT26 to receive 15 % off. Speaker 4 (2:45) What kind of a show are you guys putting on here today? You're not interested in art? No. Well, look, we're going to Speaker 2 (2:50) do this thing. We're going to have a conversation. Speaker 7 (2:54) From Chicago, this is Film Spotting. I'm Adam Kempinar. And I'm Josh Larson. Speaker 8 (2:58) Out here, there are certain nights when you just get this feeling that some psycho killer is going to chop you up into a million little pieces. Speaker 2 (3:15) Director Jane Schoenbrunn may be flying under some people's radars, but they're quickly becoming one of the most exciting filmmakers of their generation. The new Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the director's follow-up to 2024's Speaker 7 (3:29) I Saw the TV Glow. We've got a review, Speaker 1 (3:32) plus the new The Brink of War, starring Jeff Daniels. That and more ahead on FilmSpotting. Speaker 1 (3:44) Welcome to Film Spotting. Josh, we're talking about Jane Schoenbrunn this week. They made We're All Going to the World's Fair in 2022. That was a Golden Brick nominee for us. Then in 2024, I Saw the TV Glow. That made your top 10 list. It was a movie I recommended as well. Now they've made Teenage, Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. If my math is correct and I'm not great at math, that means it's their third film. That's prompted our poll question. That's prompted our poll. Thank you. Your math. The new deeply flawed film spotting poll is asking about other third features that have Speaker 7 (4:25) come out this decade. I think it's a fun one. Speaker 2 (4:27) Yeah, we'll get into those options. I was just looking at the list Sam put together. I realized, man, we've got some great filmmakers of, and not even up and coming anymore, but a younger generation. putting things out and kind of made me excited about where we're at, where cinema is at. So look forward to talking about where we would vote in that poll and giving those options to listeners. I Speaker 1 (4:53) think I know where people are going to vote, but film spotting listeners always surprise us. Also later in the show, I caught up with the new Brink of War starring Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan in that Cold War era drama. A reminder, Film Spotting is now available as a video podcast. You can watch us over at youtube.com slash filmspotting. Up now, teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma. Speaker 8 (5:22) I'm Billy Presley. Speaker 8 (5:28) You must be the writer-director. Speaker 7 (5:34) Yeah, hi. Speaker 7 (5:37) You came out of nowhere. I didn't know you were in here. I'm Speaker 2 (5:40) sorry. I saw you and I wanted to scare you. Not too long into teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma, former screen queen Billy Presley, played by Gillian Anderson, patiently listens to a treatise from Chris, a young film director played by Hannah Einbinder. Chris talks at length about the real meaning of the original Camp Miasma slasher that Billy starred in and how Chris plans to deconstruct that 1983 film with her planned reboot. Chris explains, quote, My work explores the intersection of queerness and cultural depictions of monstrosity. Billy matter-of-factly responds that the first Camp Miasma movie was about little more than, quote, flesh and fluids. Speaker 2 (6:28) What does our pop culture mean to us, Adam? This is a question that appears to mesmerize Jane Schoenbrunn, the writer and director of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and with this third feature, now one of the defining voices in American cinema working today, to my mind. In Schoenbrunn's debut, We're All Going to the World's Fair, the teen protagonist gives herself over to an online horror game. Something comparable happens in I Saw the TV Glow, where a pair of unlikely friends bond over a cheapo sci-fi TV series until it swallows them whole. In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Chris, the young director, thinks she has a handle on the handle that the Miasma slasher series has on her. But while staying with the reclusive Billy Presley over a few days on her remote Pacific Northwest estate, Chris begins to realize that her relationship to slashers, cinema, and sex is much more complicated than the intellectualization she has confidently offered. Not to sound too much like Chris and make this academic, Adam, because Camp Miasma is a ton of fun, which I'm sure we'll get into. I do want to start with a larger question about Schoenbrunn's work thus far. From online horror to sci-fi TV, now to slashers, what do Schoenbrunn's films suggest about contemporary popular culture and our relationship to it? And how do you see teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma fitting into that? Oh man, you are Speaker 7 (8:09) starting off difficult going, going into professor mode right off the bat. I don't know what it says. You're limited to 500 words. Okay. I'm going Speaker 1 (8:18) to Speaker 7 (8:18) tell you that. Great. What does Speaker 1 (8:20) it say? We like to watch. We like to watch ourselves. We like to be naughty, but we can't admit it because flesh and fluids make us uncomfortable. You could go with. You could go with our lives are completely mediated through screens. That's fairly pedestrian, but that's there as well. I don't know if any of that's what you had in mind or particularly insightful, but I am fascinated that you posed that question because while I think it's fertile, my processing of this film in the moment and in the aftermath. I guess I'm going to dodge here a little bit, Speaker 5 (9:03) but truthfully, it has little to Speaker 1 (9:06) do with culture. I think I'm going to get into it deep enough for your liking, Josh, here over the course of this conversation. Okay, so bear with me. But it does have little to do with culture. Looking back at my notes, that also isn't really how I processed I Saw the TV Glow either. Whereas the main character's online immersion and the blurring of fantasy and reality and we're all going to the World's Fair. That did seem more ripe for extrapolation and interpretation. And maybe part of that was simply that we didn't have any relationship to Schoenbrunn's work at the time. And now over three films, we feel like we do. But I saw Camp Miasma through a personal lens. And I'll go inside out. I saw it through the lens of Einbinder's queer filmmaker, Chris, coming to terms with her sexuality. I saw it through the lens of Sean Brunn as a trans filmmaker and a trans filmmaker in Hollywood. Sure. And I saw it, I saw it through my lens as an individual viewer, whatever resonance Chris's journey and potentially Sean Brunn's has for me. I think the depiction of Chris's journey is, is so specific that it will resonate with a lot of viewers, whether. They're, of course, in Hollywood or filmmakers or they're queer. It doesn't matter. You don't have to have anything directly in common with her or not. That's how specific this film is. And I do want to say this too. Generally, Metacritic lists this movie, the genres, as drama, horror, romance, and thriller. I might take issue with thriller a little bit, but otherwise it's accurate. On IMDb, they have the same four, but they also have first, slasher. And here and there on the Internet, others just refer to this movie as slasher horror or a slasher film. Yeah. Nobody lists it as a comedy. Even though this is, I think, a deeply funny movie. Oh, it absolutely is. Yeah. And it's also the first movie I watched this year. That I immediately wanted to sit down and watch again because there's enough mystery in it to reward another viewing. But also I'm going to agree with you, but also because it's just so damn much fun. Any movie that combines Sunset Boulevard. Well, first Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Friday the 13th and The Shining and Sunset Boulevard. And infuses all of that with a Lynchian sensibility, has to be, and it does all of that. But what's the key is that it does all of that and has shown Brun's distinct point of view. When we talk about, I was thinking, I was thinking about this, this is, this is where all my notes led me. And I wonder if you agree. When we talk about, and we do, all critics do this, when we talk about an emerging filmmaker, someone with just a few films under their belt, and they're maturing as a filmmaker, or if they're a director or a writer-director, aren't we almost invariably talking about that development only in terms of craft? Higher production value, even more intentionality in their camera work and editing, maybe being even more innovative. More experimental, better control of tone, drawing out more refined performances. All of that is true for me here, but... What makes teenage sex and death so exciting is that Schoenbrunn's evolution as a filmmaker seems to be unfolding in tandem with a deeper realization of self. That's what I see in the progression from World's Fair to Camp Miasma. And that's what I'll try to unpack a little bit here as we get through the conversation. But that's my reaction to this film. Where are you with this movie? And do you have a grand take in terms of culture with Camp Miasma? Speaker 2 (13:17) I think that's fair. I think we see that in terms of a sense of self with other filmmakers. But Shonduran's material is so directly tied to their own experience that it's at the forefront. And to its credit, this is the opposite of navel-gazing, because it is speaking from a personal place in a way that resonates beyond anyone who's coming from a trans experience. Honestly, we talked about this with I Saw the TV Glow, which was a more clear parable. allegory, whatever term you want to use. Yet the two of us found it deeply moving and affecting. So I think that's true in terms of an emerging filmmaker. This is why it's so exciting is because there is that control of the exploration of personal interests and themes. It's so funny what you say about how to, what genre to place this in. Now I'm in knots because I stupidly, when I designed my website. put a genre tag that I have to give. And it's only bedeviled me since, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with this one. Maybe I'll just agree with you and go with comedy. I also had a note early on, Adam, that I abandoned while watching this movie. I think it was when Chris goes to check in at the hotel and we get her conversation with the clerk who mentions how he had a part in an earlier Camp Miasma movie. And it starts to feel... a little unnerving. And I thought, and I just wrote down, will this work as a horror movie? I threw out that question 20 minutes later because it no longer mattered to me. It's just, it's writing its own rules. Every 10 minutes, Speaker 7 (15:02) they're different rules. And that's so, so pertinent and applicable to the film as a whole. Once you've seen it, isn't it? Speaker 2 (15:10) Absolutely. So it didn't even matter to me whether it was working as a horror movie after a certain point, even though there's some scary moments. Sure. Yeah. Far more funny moments. I won't belabor the, you know, what does pop culture mean to us point if it's, you know, not quite as interesting to you. I think for me, it does relate, however, to what you're saying about this being a personal movie. And I think. One of the things Sean Braun is working through, who seems to... Speaker 2 (15:43) have experienced much of life via pop culture. This may be the only way I would compare them to Quentin Tarantino, because I think they're worlds apart in so many crucial ways. But you do get the sense from most of Tarantino's movies that this is someone who's only lived movies, really. I would not say that you get the sense Sean Brunn has only lived pop culture, but these three movies... Do suggest to me that trying to figure out how you are, who you are, I should say, has been mediated for Schoenbrod, as it is for many people. Through online horror games, through crappy TV series. That's right. Beloved. Beloved. And now cinema. Here, let me. Right. And now, and specifically slashers, right? And so I would say, what does our pop culture mean to us? For Sean Brunn, the filmmaker, at least, it means everything. It is not how we pass the time. Um, it is not what we do for entertainment. It is not just part of modern life. Pop culture is life. And I think what's interesting and has, and I think there's a distinction with camp miasma from their previous two films. Um, how do we feel about that? How do we feel about, you know, where does that lead us? As I suggested in my setup, maybe not to the greatest places. For the characters in the previous two films. I think we're seeing something different here. There's a little bit of, there's a bit more confidence in having mediated. Your existence through pop culture, which for many people may not be a choice. This may be just how you've grown up. And so what do you do with that reality? What I'll say with this movie is Sean Brown has made of it at this point. Mid-August, the best film of 2026. Speaker 1 (17:59) Aye. I'm a Speaker 7 (18:02) little Speaker 1 (18:02) bit dismayed to say that I agree with you, even though we haven't had a case where we've had the same number one film since the year you joined the show. And you hadn't even officially joined the show at that point, I think, 2011, when we both put the Tree of Life there. Tree of Life. We'll Speaker 7 (18:17) see Speaker 1 (18:17) if this holds. Wasn't Speaker 2 (18:20) there one other one? No, there might Speaker 1 (18:21) not have been. We had a number two. We've definitely shared a number two, I think. Yeah, Speaker 2 (18:25) yeah. So Speaker 1 (18:26) I'm with you at this point. It's my favorite film of the year by far. And I am going to try to dig into this a little bit further. But what you're saying about media and the way shown run through these films, what what they seem to be expressing, how their lives are mediated through this, this imagery and through pop culture. It's seeing here's here's what I'm I'm taking from it is that. It's seeing yourself reflected. But the thing is, it's not that simple. Self is very complicated. Self, seeing yourself reflected doesn't mean the type of characteristics that you might immediately think of. It doesn't mean demographic information. Right. It doesn't mean things you would fill out on a form or even necessarily behavioral information. During our I Saw the TV Glow conversation, I talked about. This liminal space that's created when you have a character who is seeing themselves caught in this in between between the person they are on this side of the TV and the person they see themselves as they see themselves as on this side of the TV. And there's this space in between, which you can equate to that that transitioning experience if you want to to read it that way. So that's that's the seeing yourself. And I think you can you can look at. We're all going to the world's fair similarly. So self is complicated, but it's seeing yourself reflected. And it's through these three films, seeing that self reflected in different forms of media, but also seeing yourself at different. in your life and at different points in your. Journey in terms of your identity. So, of course, you're going to have different experiences with that media, Speaker 5 (20:21) regardless Speaker 1 (20:22) of the media and how it's different. You're coming at it very differently because you're a different person at this point. So. I've mentioned Lynch. I always mention Lynch when I talk about Sean Brun's work. Sean Brun. I'm pretty sure has been on record saying Lynch was an influence. There's often a dream logic to these movies. And I watch them and feel that as well constructed as they are. The way you put it earlier was great. I have something similar in my notes. It's like someone's unconscious thoughts are being created before our eyes. When I was setting up for you, I saw the TV glow. I referenced Kant's notion of free play. This idea that I think applies even more here, Josh, he says, beautiful art, music, and ideas offer a kind of cognitive tease. They dangle the promise of comprehension, but never provide the full satisfaction of getting it. That's the best description of that that I've ever come across. And I don't think that there's getting camp miasma, but I'd argue it's also very straightforward. And Schoenbrun isn't shy about expressing themes and key ideas directly in the text. I didn't take French in high school, so I didn't immediately understand why the slasher was called what the slasher is called. It took this scene in the van from the movie within the movie for me to start to piece together where I thought the movie was going before then Chris. verbalizes it later. And then I retrofitted, I'll give myself a little credit. I retrofitted the slasher's name without knowing the French aphorism because it's, it's such an odd name. And, and frankly, it just made sense to me, this idea of little death, La Petite Mort, the little death. This is, this is a movie about a woman coming to terms with her mind and body and sex. And how repressed she has been. So I'll go back to the cultural connection, I suppose, Josh, and give you a little bit more. It is about how through this individual lens, it is about how we treat sex and how. Speaker 1 (22:52) Distancing or how how we like to distance ourselves from thinking about flesh and fluids, how we're not prepared to reveal our true selves to others, especially our desires, especially if our desires are remotely, remotely taboo. I think that's what I think that's what Sean Brun is is exploring here. That's how it resonated with me. Speaker 6 (23:14) I'm just thinking about what it's going to feel like. Losing your virginity? No. Die. Speaker 6 (23:25) On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's