How a fictional slasher franchise was built to feel real in Jane Schoenbrun's new film
The makers of 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' invented an entire decades-long history for a fake slasher franchise using painstakingly detailed props. The film opened in theaters on August 7th.
Director Jane Schoenbrun, known for I Saw the TV Glow, has released a new film called Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. It follows Kris (Hannah Einbinder), a young director tasked with rebooting a long-dormant horror franchise, who first seeks out Billy (Gillian Anderson), the surviving "final girl" from the original movie, now living isolated in the woods.
The franchise at the center of the film, Camp Miasma, doesn't actually exist. It's a fictional slasher saga about a killer called Little Death who stalks a summer camp. To make audiences believe in its decades-long existence, production designers Matt Hyland and Brandon Tonner-Connolly built an extensive collection of props chronicling the fake franchise's history.
Research and meticulous craft
The process began with studying real slasher series such as Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween. Working from Schoenbrun's script, the designers then compiled a detailed internal history of Camp Miasma, tracking release dates, directors, critical reception, and merchandise for every installment.
That research produced movie posters, VHS boxes, a board game, photographs, and mock reviews and news articles, all featured in the film's opening title sequence, which traces the franchise's decline from box-office success to direct-to-video obscurity over roughly 30 years. The board game was made fully playable with a complete instruction set, and the team even created multiple versions of tie-in lunch boxes designed to look distinct depending on their supposed release year.
The designers say their goal wasn't to exactly replicate existing slasher aesthetics, but to capture the feeling of half-remembered childhood movie memories — an approach they also used on I Saw the TV Glow. The film opened in theaters on August 7th.
