The Plague
A psychological coming-of-age drama about a socially insecure boy who becomes embroiled in a cruel tradition whilst at summer camp.
At an all-boys’ water polo camp, socially anxious twelve-year-old Ben 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, Ben fears the joke might be hiding something real.
Blending shades of body horror and psychodrama, writer/director Charlie Polinger instinctively captures the combustible nature of adolescence in his debut feature. It follows a group of twelve-year-olds who believe an inexplicable disease is spreading among them at a water polo summer camp. The film’s young ensemble strikes a raw nerve in how realistically they exchange crude jokes, form alliances, and tear each other down.
Shot on 35mm and contained almost entirely to the campgrounds, The Plague burrows itself under your skin – singular and affecting in how viscerally it transports you back to the social anxiety of adolescence.
Among the talented young actors, the deceptively angelic Kayo Martin particularly stands out as Jake. This young talent also won an Independent Spirit Award (a sort of alternative Oscar) for ‘Best Breakthrough Performance’ for this role. Ironically, following this film about a supposedly contagious disease, charming Martin has now become a viral sensation on YouTube himself.