Publication Date: 01-04-2026

The Plague (2025) review

Dir. Charlie Polinger

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

It’s summer 2003, at a water polo camp for prepubescent boys, coached by an adult they call “Daddy Wags” (Joel Edgerton). We are first introduced to the collective via an underwater camera that shows the tranquility of the large pool before, one-by-one, the boys plunge into the water, their gangly limbs flailing around in the deep blue, the great equalizer. What follows is a film that, particularly for men, will make you grateful that your salad days are behind you.

The film is Charlie Polinger’s The Plague, which drew raves out of Cannes back in May 2025, and now sees a theatrical expansion across the country. Rooted in realism and complemented by an understated series of small-scale sequences and vignettes, the film looks at the bullying culture that permeates this camp and soon turns it into a Lord of the Flies-esque arena that shows the rocky social conditioning of these young boys.

We see the camp through the eyes of Ben (Everett Blunck), a sensitive 12-year-old who is new to the area, having just moved from Boston. His accent coupled with his under-developed voice leads to the silent pronunciation of the letter “T,” so when he pronounces “stop” like “sop,” he inadvertently gets the nickname “Soppy” from the other boys. The leading prankster of the group is, Jake (Kayo Martin), who makes his presence known as the person who drew a penis on coach’s whiteboard on the first day of camp.

Jake galvanizes the crew of roughly seven young boys — most of whom making their feature debut — for he’s the most confident speaker of the group. We’re led to believe he’s the one who has ostracized the awkward, seemingly older boy, Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), whom everyone claims has “the plague.” If you touch him, you get the plague, and “your brain turns into baby food,” Jake tells Ben. Steven Breckon’s aqua-toned cinematography and Polinger’s reticent screenplay due their part to make you question whether Eli’s skin rash is something benign or something that really warrants group trepidation.

The tricky part is Ben connects the most with Eli. Far more than he does the other kids, who fantasize about the girls in a summer synchronized swimming course in the same facility, and play “would you rather” with the typical, heinously juvenile spin. By sitting in the sauna with Eli after practice, Ben quietly worries if he himself will be ostracized just like his peer, who, while strange in his own right, appears harmless and ultimately just lonely.

Polinger does such a brilliant job at positing otherwise harmless, should-be inconsequential actions amongst the group as defining moments in this social hierarchy. Everything from cafeteria seating to shower etiquette carries weight with the boys in some fashion, so much so that the water polo itself seems to be the least of everyone’s concerns.

The man behind The Plague‘s hauntingly memorable score is Johan Lenox, who has produced for the likes of Travis Scott and Kanye West. I’m familiar with him due to his work with the masked singer-songwriter RMR, and his involvement with Polinger’s debut immediately caught my eye. And very quickly, my ear. Lenox’s score is sharp and staccato. It’s less conventional music and more a growing medley of chords and percussion that expertly builds tension, especially when paired with Polinger’s wide-shots of the community center’s interiors.

Polinger sidesteps the temptation to really have the top blown off the metaphorical tea kettle as far as what he’s having all of this pressure build towards. He never loses grip on the realistic nature of this story and the characterization of the boys themselves. Frequently, the dialog is comprised of all the boys shouting over one another, the most believable inclusion of all; tween boys don’t wait for each other to finish their sentence before they interject. I’d be fascinated to see Polinger make a sister sequel to The Plague, so to speak, revolving around the girls at the aforementioned swim camp. The potential for narrative overlap would be exciting, and what could unfold would be two wildly different films set under the same roof. That said, there’s reason for excitement with whatever Polinger — who successfully got Edgerton and director Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds) to produce his debut — does next. He’s earned the confidence after hitting a home run his first time at bat.

Starring: Everett Blunck, Kayo Martin, Kenny Rasmussen, Joel Edgerton, Lennox Espy, Lucas Adler, Elliott Heffernan, Caden Burris, and Kolton Lee. Directed by: Charlie Polinger.