The Plague (2025)
Directed by: Charlie Polinger
Premise: A socially awkward tween (Everett Blunck) attends an overnight water polo camp. He tries to fit into the pecking order but sympathizes with an outcast boy who has a skin condition (Kenny Rasmussen).
What Works: Like many movies about young boys, The Plague invites comparisons to William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies but it shares much more in common with Bo Burnham’s 2018 picture Eighth Grade. The Plague is about the male experience of early adolescence. Ben, played by Everett Blunck, is a quiet but good-hearted kid attending a water polo camp with other thirteen to fifteen-year-old boys. In a few effective early scenes, the filmmakers establish who Ben is and the relationship dynamics among the boys. The team of water polo students is led by Jake, played by Kayo Martin, a bully with a keen sense for detecting weaknesses. The boys direct their aggression at Eli, a social outcast who may be eccentric or may have mental illness and is afflicted with a skin rash the boys call “the plague.” The boys are convinced that anyone who comes into physical contact with Eli is infected. Being part of the in-crowd means ridiculing Eli or at least going along with it. The Plague is a study of an early adolescent boy facing a crisis of conscience. The moviemakers stage and film sequence from Ben’s point of view and communicate his inner conflict visually. The young cast is very good. Everyone gets their characters and the filmmakers allow these boys to be their age. They are not idealized Hollywood versions of adolescence. That includes the cruelty of the bullying but also the unglamorousness of hormonal teenage bodies. There is a horrific quality to The Plague that’s very effective. At the same time, it is beautifully shot and uses sound effectively.
What Doesn’t: Aside from Eighth Grade, the most obvious influence on The Plague is 1976’s Carrie. There are a number of moments that are right out of Stephen King’s story. However, The Plague isn’t quite as satisfying as Carrie especially in the ending which feels like a misstep. For much of the movie, Ben is torn between assimilating into the group and appeasing the lead bully or reaching out to Eli. Ben makes his choice which comes with its own consequences. Instead of playing out the consequences of that choice, Ben’s relationship with Eli regresses. The final sequence backtracks into familiar territory, retreading some of what we’ve already seen, and it feels out of place with the rest of the picture.
Bottom Line: The Plague is simultaneously an unsparing depiction of male adolescence and an empathetic moral drama. It is uncomfortable to watch at times but it’s also produced with technical polish and brutal honesty.
Episode: #1082 (January 11, 2026)