Jack Haven says they approached Little Death, the slasher villain in Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, as a character driven by curiosity and inevitability rather than cruelty. The role matters because it reframes a familiar horror antagonist with vulnerability and innocence, while placing Haven in Schoenbrun’s latest high-profile project after their collaboration on I Saw the TV Glow.

In the film, Hannah Einbinder plays a young filmmaker rebooting the fictional Camp Miasma slasher franchise, with Gillian Anderson as its celebrated “final girl” and Haven’s Little Death terrorising campers. Haven, 31, said they immediately accepted the part after hearing the character wore a helmet and had a slobbering tongue; they also described working with Schoenbrun as creatively freeing and said they would readily collaborate with the director again. The film premiered at Cannes, an experience Haven found personally overwhelming despite valuing the recognition for the cast and crew.