Film Review: THE PLAGUE (2025): Charlie Polinger’s Nightmare Come to Life About Bullying is the Creepiest Movie of the Year

The Plague Review

The Plague (2025) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton, Everett Blunck, Kenny Rasmussen, Lennox Espy, Lucas Adler, Caden Burris, Elliott Heffernan, Kolton Lee and Kayo Martin.

It’s hard to figure out where filmmaker Charlie Polinger’s bullying drama, The Plague, is headed at first. Let it be said that this film expertly captures the essence of what it’s like to be bullied and then some. Polinger creates a creepy swim camp where some of the most peculiar looking young teens are assembled. Of course, they could be just a bunch of normal kids looking to have some fun, but the movie soon makes it clear that there’s a reason so many of the kids seem creepy and that’s because they are. Not all the kids bully, but collectively, they seem like they’re out to get our protagonist, Ben (a terrific Everett Blunck), for whatever reason. Let it also be said, the first half hour meanders with creepy shots of kids lingering in the pool and zeroes in on some exchanges which don’t seem to be heading anywhere interesting until Polinger hits the audience over the head with a sledgehammer with a totally disturbing last half hour. If you think I’ve overused the word creepy in this first paragraph here, you haven’t seen the film yet.

One of the best scenes in the movie comes between the swim coach played by Joel Edgerton (reminding the Academy that his stellar performance in Train Dreams is this year, for their consideration, of course) and Ben. Edgerton’s character tries to convince Ben that life will get better as Ben seems to be struggling with fitting in at the camp. It’s a hard sell for Ben as Edgerton’s coach admits that there are life hurdles at almost every age that differ greatly in difficulty. Let’s not beat around the bush, though, this is a horror film through and through. Blood drips at a couple of key intervals and creepy crawlers are thrown on a key character and mark that said character up very disturbingly.

This film effectively deals with bullying even though it pushes the envelope to the extreme but, after careful thought, it does rightfully so. There is a key heavy in terms of the bullies and that character is the most normal looking one in the bunch- go figure. His name is Jake (Kayo Martin). You could believe that Jake is not guilty of what he is actually guilty of up until the point where he nearly drowns Ben late in the picture. However, Ben isn’t the most socially awkward of the bunch of young teens the movie presents. Eli is. Eli is played by Kenny Rasmussen in a fine turn. This character eventually takes on a dance with an artificial girlfriend at a party which leads Ben to rebel against Eli’s actions with harrowing results.

There is a lingering first hour of The Plague that is unpredictable because it’s impossible to decipher what is in store for the viewer from the earlier scenes. Girls appear to sort of tease the boys and Ben stares towards at least one of them affectionately. Jake isn’t playing with Ben, though, and when Ben makes a report of sorts, Jake responds in a terrifying way. This movie builds suspense effectively even if it’s a lot more grueling to get through the opening stages of the movie than it could have been had we been more aware of the tone that the director wanted to set. By telling you this is a horror film, I’m solving most of the audience’s potential dilemmas with the picture as, now, audiences will know what is to be expected and be ready for it.

The performance by Blunck is superlative. He walks a complicated line from victim to bully as the character soon starts acting out the violence and hostility that is thrust upon him. People can take out the evil that is experienced on others and that is the case here as Ben goes after Eli with a vengeance and learns that any sort of bullying can have tragic consequences that can be frightening in their excesses.

Blunck’s no-holds-barred turn is all the more effective when you consider the difficulty of the scenes he has to pull off. He has to make the audience sympathize with his predicament and the viewer most certainly will thanks to Blunck’s amazingly layered and plausible performance. In support, Martin turns on the charm factor to hide the fact that he’s a vicious individual and Rasmussen is believable in his own solemn and intense role within the picture.

Edgerton, once again, makes his presence known as the central adult here who is the voice of reason and the protector of the kids. This character does a lousy job of dealing with the bullying until things fly way out of proportion. He tries to help the kids, but the movie suggests that bullying will occur even with adult intervention and, sometimes, because of that adult intervention. Things spiral out of control in the movie and there is no turning back for all involved.

The Plague is fascinating and disturbing. It’s almost like an early Stephen King tale of terror and that praise will give one an idea of what to expect. It’s a creepy movie and when I say creepy, it’s definitely with a capital “C,” but those who can handle it will find that this film gets under your skin much like the creepy crawlers who gets under our lead character’s sheets in what is potentially the most disturbing scene you’ll see at the movies this year.

Rating: 7.5/10

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