Kids can be very cruel. Especially during adolescence when bodies change and nobody really understands what is happening. But throw in the natural competitiveness that comes with sports, and it can be downright heartless and long-lasting in its impact. Enter Charlie Polinger’s The Plague, which takes some of that pent-up frustration and anger from bullying and transforms it into one nasty-looking thriller…or is it a body horror?
Joel Edgerton, who is having a moment right now for his role in Train Dreams, stars as a water polo coach at an all-boys’ camp where the bullying of a kid with a skin condition goes way too far.
Polinger directed and wrote the screenplay, with The Plague making quite the impression at Cannes earlier this year.
SYNOPSIS: At an all-boys water polo camp, a socially anxious twelve-year-old is pulled into a cruel tradition targeting an outcast with an illness they call ‘The Plague.” But as the lines between game and reality blur, he fears the joke might be hiding something real.
Also starring Everett Blunk, Kenny Rasmussen, and Kayo Martin, The Plague hits select theaters on December 24th, before going wide on January 2nd 2026.
