At the time of writing this, Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool is on Hulu. If you – like me – find yourself endlessly scrolling through your queue and beyond looking for something that sounds right for your mood, maybe this will be the one that wins out some night. Is it right for your mood? Well, I’m not going to spoil my own review by telling you all the way up here! So, without further ado, let’s get into it, shall we?
James is a writer whose sole published output made a moderate splash when it came out. But that was years ago. Since then he’s had writer’s block. He’s on vacation with his wife, Em, at a lavish resort (he “married rich”) in a fictional Eastern European (?) country. There, he meets Gabi and Alban. Gabi is a fan of James’s work and the two couples end up hitting it off. Gabi and Alban convince James and Em to accompany them off grounds to have a picnic in the countryside, despite repeated warnings that they should stay on the property. After drinking and a clandestine handjob, James hits and kills a local while driving back. When the police take him in he learns of this country’s very unique form of capital punishment – death at the hand of a relative. But there is an option that a wealthy person like James can choose. He can have himself cloned and his doppelgänger can be killed in his stead. James chooses the clone option and finds the experience strangely exhilarating. Em is repulsed and leaves the country while James stays behind and gets mired in hedonism, debauchery, and murder with Gabi, Alban and their like-minded friends. Things spiral out of control rather quickly.
So what mood would you need to be in to enjoy Infinity Pool? I guess there isn’t a very simple answer. For me, it would have to be: I need violent, out-of-control existential horror and I need it to be creative and artistic. For you, only you know. Maybe you just want a weird story. Or a violent one. Or one with twisted world building. Or one that ramps up the pace from chill to intensely frenetic over its runtime. Or maybe you just want to see Mia Goth absolutely go all in and knock another indie horror role out of the park. Whatever your yen (as long as it’s dark), Infinity Pool delivers. Cronenberg the Younger has shown us that he has grown into a very competent filmmaker. Antiviral was great but maybe a little bit straightforward despite its goopy, body horror subject. And Possessor was a terrific descent into existential madness. This film wraps the products of his well-honed skills into a horrific package and delivers a no-holds-barred gut punch of a story replete with psychedelic imagery and detestable villains. Maybe don’t watch if you’re in a cynical “everyone sucks” kind of mood. It just might push you into a full on depression.
The Final Cut: Infinity Pool is peak existential horror with outstanding performances – Mia Goth in particular is superbly unhinged. This goes well beyond the body horror inextricably connected with the Cronenberg name.
No Real Danger 