The pain of adolescence is explored in “The Plague” from IFC Films. Charlie Polinger makes his directorial debut with this film.
“The Plague” features a moment when a deliberately troubling hypothetical is presented like a social grenade: would you rather commit a secret act so shameful that it eats away at you from the inside, or remain innocent? At the same time, the entire world thinks the worst of you.
Thirteen-year-old Ben (Everett Blunck) answers without hesitation. He believes that privacy, even if tainted, is better than public exile. This instinctive response from Ben reveals the writer-director Charlie Polinger’s intention. “The Plague” isn’t a horror film about infection; it’s about reputation, fear, and the quiet violence of belonging.
The film’s emotional dynamic is primarily carried by its three teenage leads, all impressively authentic. Ben is the new kid, still trying to navigate the unspoken rules of the Tom Lerner Water Polo Summer Camp in the early 2000s. Eli (Kenny Rasmussen) is the designated outsider, marked by a mysterious rash and a long-sleeved shirt he never takes off.
Jake (Kayo Martin), who appears outwardly unremarkable, becomes the ringleader— not through overt cruelty, but through the more insidious power of social permission. Polinger smartly makes Ben the focal point, portraying him not as a hero or villain, but as the observer who hesitates, sometimes joins in, and convinces himself that he has no choice.
Bullying in this film is subtle. It is represented by avoidance, disguised as self-preservation. Eli is treated as if he’s contagious, a living rumor that the boys fear more than they understand. The title’s “plague” serves as a versatile metaphor: disease, puberty, desire, shame, and masculinity, all intertwined.
Polinger’s direction leaves us questioning whether the threat is physical, psychological, or entirely imagined. This ambiguity is enhanced by a soundscape filled with breath, gasps, and the sound of bodies churning in water.
Notably, “The Plague” largely sidelines adults. The sole authority figure is Daddy Wags, the camp coach, portrayed with gentle melancholy by Joel Edgerton. His role is small, which feels intentional. When he shares a bittersweet conversation with Ben about how adolescence is the worst phase of life—but survivable—it comes across not as a solution, but as a reminder of how alone kids truly feel during these years. Adults can empathize, but they cannot intervene in the social dynamics at play.
What makes “The Plague” linger is Polinger’s refusal to create character growth where none exists. Ben doesn’t evolve into a moral crusader. The final sequence, featuring a hypnotic dance amid swirling lights, resolves nothing. The plague remains. Childhood is lost. Yet, the world keeps moving, and Ben moves with it—uncertain, complicit, and still hopeful.
It’s a disquieting and perceptive debut that understands that the absolute horror of coming of age isn’t what happens to you, but what you allow to happen so that you won’t be next.
Final Grade: B+
“The Plague” is in theaters now.
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