Editor’s Note: A version of this story also appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.
Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma
Taking the crown for most audacious title of the year, Jane Schoenbrun’s latest film has an impact that lingers long after the slight blush of telling the box-office attendant what you’ve come to see.
Promotional trailer for “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (2026) (Credit: MUBI via YouTube.)
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” was highly anticipated after the success of Schoenbrun’s surrealist, thrilling, and poetic “I Saw the TV Glow” (2024). Living up to the hype, their new feature is a slasher unlike anything you’ve seen before — while still being chock-full of pop culture references. It stars Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) as Kris, a novice filmmaker hired to direct a reboot of the 80s horror franchise “Camp Miasma.” The fictional franchise had a dozen slipshod sequels that earned it a reputation as cultural garbage. On top of that, the series had been criticized as offensive, particularly in its transphobic portrayal of the franchise’s villain. Despite this, Kris has genuine passion for the project and feels that, as a queer director, her intellectual vision could subvert the problematic source material. Kris is obsessed with casting Billy Presley, played by a Southern-drawling Gillian Anderson, who, as a teen, starred in the first “Camp Miasma” film. She hopes to persuade Billy to return to acting and join the project by traveling to visit Billy at her home — the abandoned campgrounds where the original “Camp Miasma” was filmed.
What follows is an ambitious story that uses horror conventions to explore sex, lust, repression, trauma, and fantasies. The film continually plays with familiar rural-horror tropes, particularly its secluded setting in the Pacific Northwest. Billy captures this inversion of on-screen portrayals of isolated environments when she slyly remarks, “Out here, there are certain nights when you just get this feeling that some psycho killer is gonna chop you up into a million little pieces… ooohh, I like that feeling.” Rural environments that would typically be played as a source of dread instead become the object of fascination and even pleasure. Instead of deploying the slasher genre to merely frighten the audience, Schoenbrun uses it to analyze the strangeness and complexity of desire.
The poster for “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (2026) showcases some of its impressive gore. (Credit: MUBI via IMDb).
With an incredible soundtrack, impeccable chemistry, beautifully odd painted backdrops, and a compelling mix of gore, libido, and comedy, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a film that demands to be remembered.
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is playing in theaters and streaming online.
–Susannah Broun
Lanterns
We live in a time of “superhero fatigue” in the view of many commenters, with comic book blockbusters no longer reliably ruling the box office (excepting a certain web-slinger). Whatever your own level of enduring interest in the genre, HBO’s new series “Lanterns” is worth your time. Yes, this is yet another superhero adaptation, focused on the Green Lantern line of DC Comics. But the approach here makes it so much more than just another retread. At turns presenting like an alien invasion story, a crime procedural, and even an “Odd Couple” or buddy-cop comedy, the series is diverse enough in its influences to appeal to a wide swath of viewers.
Promotional trailer for “Lanterns”(2026) (Credit: HBO Max via YouTube.)
Fortunately, the team involved is amply up to the task of juggling, and maximizing, all these disparate elements. Co-creators Damon Lindelof and Tom King bring their customary expertise, being known for transcendent re-interpretations of comic book characters on the page and on screen. With them is showrunner Chris Mundy, of “Ozark” fame, a steady hand for this slow-burn, character-driven affair. In front of the camera, leads Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge”) and Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”) balance winning charm and genuine conflict to propulsive effect. And in what is still quite a novelty for most superhero movies and shows, all of it is set against the backdrop of Rushville, Nebraska, a tiny town full of secrets and surprises.
Rushville, Nebraska is the setting for the latest superhero show, “Lanterns” (2026). (2026) (Credit: HBO Max via IMDb.)
The central mysteries of the series unfold as if relayed through a clever, knowing glance; “Lanterns” leans into some typical rural stereotypes at the onset, before slowly upending and twisting them on the road to the truth. All the elements combine in such satisfying fashion, and the small-town setting is a vital ingredient that brings it all together. There’s no fatigue to worry about when the work in question achieves two oft-used, dueling descriptors for these types of genre adaptations: here’s a superhero story that’s both grounded and elevated in the best of ways.
“Lanterns” is currently airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.
-Adam B. Giorgi
The Dog Stars
Any fan of Ridley Scott knows the director can’t resist a good survival story. And his new dystopian flick, “The Dog Stars,” adapted from Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, fits the bill.
Promotional trailer for “The Dog Stars” (2026) (Credit: 20th Century Studios via YouTube.)
Jacob Elordi plays Hig, a resourceful ex-mechanic, opposite Margaret Qualley’s kind and grounded Cima. Both are part of the lucky minority—or unlucky, if you ask Josh Brolin’s jaded character, Bangsley—who’ve lived to see the other side of a deadly flu pandemic. Neither expects to find connection in their desolate surroundings. Then, they meet by chance, click instantly, and team up to locate other survivors.
The movie is picturesque, thanks to Oscar-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank” 2020), and its rural Colorado setting (although many of the mountain shots were actually captured in Abruzzo, Italy). Since Hig is a pilot, intent on flying to Grand Junction, CO to look for others like him, viewers enjoy the sweeping scenery from the sky. It’s oddly comforting to take in the natural beauty that—at least in this version of the apocalypse—endures after much of humankind dies out. The only people who survive are those who know how to live off the land or scavenge like their life depends on it (it does).
Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley star in Ridley Scott’s new post-apocalyptic thriller. (Credit: 20th Century Studios via IMDb).
“The Dog Stars” boasts high highs: the quiet chemistry of the main couple, a heart-thumping action sequence depicted in first-person POV night vision, and a surprisingly eerie twist that comes when Hig and company finally reach Grand Junction.
But in the valleys between those peaks, which make up the majority of the runtime, “The Dog Stars” feels like watching our suspiciously attractive protagonists get suspiciously lucky; they escape from danger in the nick of time, never want for food or water, and conveniently have access to medical supplies and an iPod loaded with Caamp’s “By and By.” It’s heart-warming, but, in a world we’re told is collapsing around them, it’s a bit too tidy.
“The Dog Stars” is now playing in theaters.
– Madelon Basil
This article first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. Join the mailing list today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up
The post Rural Roundup: Three New(ish) Picks for Your Watchlist appeared first on The Daily Yonder.
Follow