Camp Miasma: adolescence, sex and death

The Mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire – a young socialist – offered free tickets to see this film during the heatwave. A feminist and queer horror film that had opened the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes – even the festival on the Croisette occasionally steps outside the confines of cinephilia to see what’s new. We still recall the dusty old analyses of misogyny in horror: in "Camp Miasma", everything is turned on its head; sexual minorities – lesbians, in this case – take the lead. Kris (played by Hannah Einbinder from ‘Hacks’, a brilliant series that hasn’t yet gained the popularity it deserves) is a young director who wants to track down the ‘final girl’ – the young woman who survives in horror films. The saga – entirely fictional – was titled “Camp Miasma”, starring Gillian Anderson – she played Dana Scully in “The X-Files”. She now lives in seclusion, right next to the lake where the series was set. From the murky waters, when the thirst for blood begins to make itself felt, Little Death emerges on his rampages, preying on young campers. He is not your typical monster or maniac. He wears a white jumpsuit, wields a long pike for his murders, and has a ventilation grille in place of his face. A love of cinema – the pop variety, not that of the scholars who say “nevvero”. A great love for the genre, matched only by a desire to overturn its clichés. Self-deprecating humour and a poignant love story.