What The Plague is really about
The Plague sets its story at an all-boys water polo summer camp in the early 2000s, where a group of 12-year-olds becomes consumed by a rumor that one ostracized camper — a kid named Eli — is carrying some kind of plague. That's the hook, and it's a good one, because the film isn't actually about disease. It's about how quickly a group of adolescent boys can manufacture a reason to hate someone, and how that hatred spreads, mutates, and calcifies into something genuinely horrifying. Sensitive newcomer Ben (Everett Blunck) watches it happen, and the film's central tension lives in that watching — in the gap between knowing something is wrong and having the social courage to say so. The water polo setting isn't incidental; the pool, the team hierarchy, the coach's authority — all of it becomes the architecture of cruelty.
How The Plague came together: production, cast, and festival wins
Charlie Polinger wrote and directed The Plague as his feature debut, a fact that becomes more impressive the longer you sit with the film's tonal control. It's produced across a consortium that includes Spooky Pictures, The Space Program, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Five Henrys, and Doublethink — an international lineup that gave this decidedly American story (shot partly in Romania) the resources to avoid the cheap-looking corners that sink a lot of indie horror. The cast is anchored by Everett Blunck as Ben, Kenny Rasmussen as the bullied outcast Eli, and Kayo Martin as ringleader Jake, with Joel Edgerton lending adult weight as the camp's coach. Edgerton's presence here matters — he's not playing a villain exactly, but a figure whose willful inattention makes everything possible.
The film premiered on the festival circuit and didn't just survive it — it dominated. The Plague won Best Feature Narrative at Woodstock Film Festival, Best Picture in the Main Competition at Fantastic Fest, and the ensemble cast took home a Best Actor prize at Sitges. Perhaps most notably, it received a Best Sound Creation Award at Cannes, which tells you something about how carefully Polinger and his team constructed the film's atmosphere (the pool acoustics alone are worth noting). It opened in limited U.S. theatrical release on December 24, 2025, and has since earned roughly $684,000 at the domestic box office — modest, but respectable for an indie horror film that doesn't traffic in jump scares. It carries a runtime of 98 minutes and spans the drama, thriller, and horror genres simultaneously, which is exactly as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Why The Plague works — and what makes it genuinely unsettling
Honestly, what I keep coming back to is the film's refusal to make the cruelty legible in a way that lets the audience off the hook. Brent Marchant, reviewing the film, noted that bullying narratives have increasingly been receiving the disparaging attention they deserve — and that Polinger's debut is a welcome, if unlikely, addition to that chorus. That's the right framing. This isn't a revenge fantasy or a cautionary tale that wraps itself in a tidy moral. The Plague holds the discomfort steady.
The young ensemble is doing real work here. Blunck's Ben is not a hero waiting to happen — he's a kid who doesn't want trouble, which is a more honest portrait of adolescent complicity than most films bother with. Rasmussen's Eli carries the film's body horror dimension almost entirely through physical performance, and the scenes where the "plague" rumor starts to manifest in genuinely somatic ways are where the thriller and horror genres earn their place on the poster. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a Fresh rating, with critics frequently landing around 4 out of 5 stars and calling it one of the first standout films of 2026.
What critics have zeroed in on — and rightly so — is the specificity of the setting. Water polo is not a sport that shows up in horror films. But Polinger uses it cannily: the physical contact, the obscured violence beneath the waterline, the way a coach can choose not to see what's happening right in front of him. Boca Magazine called it "the first great film of 2026", which might be a bit of early-year enthusiasm, but it's not wrong about the film's ambition. The sound design — that Cannes award wasn't ceremonial — makes the pool feel like a place where something is genuinely wrong before anyone can name it.
Where to stream The Plague online
The Plague became available to stream on AMC+ in early February 2026, which is where most audiences will find it now that its limited theatrical run has concluded. Digital rental and purchase are also available through Fandango at Home if you'd prefer to own it. The Where-to-Watch widget at the top of this page reflects current platform availability in real time — Movie OTT tracks streaming rights across major services as they're updated, so if distribution expands to additional platforms, you'll see it there first. Hard to say if a wider streaming deal is in the works, but given the festival pedigree and the critical reception, it seems likely that more platforms will pick it up as the year progresses. Check back here for updates.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where can I watch The Plague?
The Plague is currently streaming on AMC+ and is available for digital rental or purchase through Fandango at Home. Movie OTT's Where-to-Watch widget at the top of this page tracks current availability across platforms as distribution deals change.
Q: Who directed The Plague, and is this really his first film?
Yes — The Plague is Charlie Polinger's feature directorial debut. He also wrote the screenplay. The film is produced by Spooky Pictures, The Space Program, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Five Henrys, and Doublethink, with Joel Edgerton among the cast.
Q: What awards has The Plague won?
The Plague won Best Feature Narrative at Woodstock Film Festival, Best Picture in the Main Competition at Fantastic Fest, a Best Actor ensemble prize at Sitges, and a Best Sound Creation Award at Cannes — a strong haul for a debut indie feature.
Q: Is The Plague based on a true story?
No. The Plague is an original screenplay by Charlie Polinger. It's set at a fictional all-boys water polo summer camp in the early 2000s, though the dynamics of hazing and peer cruelty it portrays are drawn from recognizable social realities rather than any specific incident.
Q: Is The Plague appropriate for younger teenagers?
The film's body horror elements and its psychologically intense depiction of bullying and hazing make it better suited for older teens and adults. It's classified across the drama, thriller, and horror genres — parents should consider that before screening it with younger viewers. Movie OTT recommends checking platform-specific content ratings before watching.
Final thoughts on The Plague — and who should watch it
The Plague is not an easy watch. That's the point. Polinger has made a film that treats adolescent cruelty as the horror genre it actually is — not metaphorically, but structurally, with body horror and psychological dread doing the work that supernatural threats do in lesser films. If you've ever spent time in any hierarchical group setting (a sports team, a summer camp, a school) and recognized the particular mechanics of how someone gets chosen to be the target, this film will feel uncomfortably familiar. It's one of the more assured debut features in recent memory. Don't miss it.
