Ah to be young. When the clamour for social acceptance was ever present, tricky and treacherous, and all while we were at our most vulnerable. For the lucky, sheltered, naive or unrepentant, this time in one’s life is forgettable, and maybe even looked back upon with bliss. Yet, for a lot of us, it was a horrible, horrible time within a social soup of kill or be killed. Writer-director Charlie Polinger’s debut film The Plague (2025) indicates that he is among the later, as he smacks the rose-coloured goggles off the look-back at adolescence and dives head first into a relatable experience, one that reflects just how terrifying the formative days can be for a pre-teen boy. The setting: a summer sleep-over water polo camp where newbie twelve-year old Ben (Everett Blunck) struggles for acceptance amongst the other boys or “vets” who’ve attended and bonded during their previous session together. A ruthless hierarchy and shorthand amongst the boys is already well established, with arrogant leader/cool kid Jake (Kayo Martin) at the helm. At the bottom is Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), who let’s just say is a different kettle of fish with an unfortunate skin condition, and who Jake has denounced a plague victim. He is the pariah, outcast, reject, whipping boy, punching bag. Newcomer Ben tries to get along, while questioning the system, and as the boys’ aggression grows, he can’t help but empathize with Eli. King Jake recognizes his unwillingness to go along to get along and thus Ben is shunned as he too is left tasting ostracization. Polinger deftly focuses on the boys and their intimate reality beyond the comfort of adult supervision. The only man we meet is the coach (Joel Edgerton, also a producer), who is little help to Ben. Adolescence is when we discover our sovereignty and it is quick. Ben hopes for and tries to will a steady moral code into place, but it’s complicated, especially since his contemporaries are equally clueless and are trying to make their way just the same. This is not a horror movie, but it also is. It’s a study of groupthink and the cost of kindness. We all want to believe we would do right by Ben, but obviously many of us out there did not. Isolation is a weapon and for boys shaping themselves into men, they can choose to wield its power, stay safe amongst the herd, or not. And the decision is one we all make alone.

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