The Plague

Very much in the vein of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies novel, Charlie Polinger’s debut feature that premiered at the Un Certain Regard at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival is a stylish, spellbinding, and compassionate thriller that does a solid job of blending thriller elements with heart, even if it gets unsettling on its themes of bullying and conformity. Instead of taking place on a stranded island, Polinger trades in swimming pools that take place in 2003 at a water polo camp. We are introduced to Ben (Everett Blunk), a 12-year-old boy who is hushed, and his fellow campmates are already in cliques, and they have already formed their own social hierarchy.

The main group is a cruel one, led by a leering, supercilious kid named Jake (Kayo Martin). Jake also begrudges and picks on an outcast kid named Eil (Kenny Rasmussen). Eli is socially awkward and an intruder who is into magic tricks and theater. He also has a bunch of acne on his face and rashes over his body. Jake tells Ben to keep away from him, and every time Eli comes over, Jake and his pals quickly run to another table and keep social distance.

The Plague certainly covers a lot of familiar ground with its coming-of-age terror that chronicles what we have seen before in high schools, baseball diamonds, and football locker rooms. The pools of water polo add to the film’s ominous atmosphere, which foreshadows something chilling lurking in the surface of adolescent affliction. Being a pre-teen can be very isolating, especially when you’re ousted out of social circles and cliques. One of the most unsettling scenes is when Jake begins to develop similar skin rashes and acne like Eli. Of course, this leads to having the same mistreatment from Jake and his friends.

Courtesy IFC Films

This is adolescence at its cruelest; instead of showing kindness and empathy, the solution is to mock, judge, and humiliate. The movie makes you ponder about how society has treated others before with diseases, and it’s relieving to see these cruelties play out in a fresh setting. The theme comes full circle after their coach (Joel Edgerton, also serving as producer) asks the kids what water polo is about, and Ben answers, “Working together as one big family, or whatever.” This is the polar opposite of what unfolds as rugged individualism kicks in, and Jake coerces Ben and Eli to coerce for themselves as parents are out of reach and the coach is inept to the pain, and we observe how fear leads to complete brutality.

Later, as Eli becomes more emotionally tormented, he begins to deteriorate, and this causes Ben to become something he most disdains, cruel like Jake. Eli’s torment is heartbreaking—and often horrifying—but his friendship with Ben is equally disturbing, as it shows how fear is a primal fear within us. It’s a nice balance of drama and terror, which shows humans’ kindness can evaporate within moments due to suspicions or fear.

The Plague runs a swift 95 minutes, and it’s paced very well, as so many films overstay their welcome anymore. And it includes some really natural acting with its young cast, and it haunts you to the core well past the closing credits crawl. The narrative and themes are indeed overly familiar, but for the most part, this is a satisfying psychological dramatic thriller.

GRADE B

THE PLAUGE IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE