Infinity Pool review: blood, sex, and a vicious horror bite

Infinity Pool This is the most terrifying horror-satire ever about Americans, Brits and Austrians. Hostel. The hype surrounding the movie focuses on the depravity on display in Brandon Cronenberg’s follow-up to PossessorFair (2020): The squibs and nudity are full-frontal and the psychedelic orgie sequence is prolonged. But there’s a trenchant point to all the blood, sex, and urine.

On the fictional island nation of La Tolqua, guests of the Pa Qlqa Pearl Princess resort are forbidden to venture outside of the barbed-wire gates of the “compound.” And why would they? Pa Qlqa, a paradise on the beach with a Chinese restaurant and Bollywood dancing performances is known as Pa Qlqa. The world of Infinity Pool, it’s a simulacrum of the world that allows tourists to feel like they’re getting an “international experience” without having to interact with anyone who doesn’t speak English. It’s the ideal tourist economy, everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

The removal of a community’s identity is bound to lead to the loss of human dignity. That’s the appeal for a darker subset of Pa Qlqa regulars, who come to the island specifically to take advantage of a rule that allows foreigners to get away with any of the many crimes that carry the death penalty in La Tolqua. Blasphemy, drug possession, murder — all capital crimes, and all of them forgivable for the right price. (This is such a common practice, there’s an ATM in the police headquarters specifically for withdrawing payouts.) Americans such as Gabi (Mia Goth), Alban, and their friends can treat La Tolqua as a paradise where nothing is forbidden.

Photo by Neon

Gabi and Alban exude a great deal of energy. This is evident in their non-discriminatory cuddling. And indeed, they pull unsuspecting married couple James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) into their wanton lifestyle using a “we saw you across the bar” type of tactic, only in this case, it’s “I read your book.” James is an author, and not a terribly successful one; it’s been six years since his first (and last) novel came out, and he and Em, whose rich dad bankrolls the couple’s lifestyle, have come to La Tolqua in search of “inspiration.” They’ll get it, but not in the way they were expecting.

James and Em accept to go with Gabi and Alban for a private excursion away from La Tolqua. This bizarre mix of tropical paradise, late Soviet-style industrial decay and rural state is a strange combination. The outing ends in James and Em being interrogated at La Tolqua Police Headquarters by Detective Thresh, Thomas Kretschmann. There’s a sci-fi element to the country’s get-out-of-jail-free policy, which is best not spoiled here. To once again yadda-yadda past the details, the process blows James’ mind and shakes Em to her core, setting up a conflict that’s exacerbated by Gabi’s aggressive sexual advances on James.

2022 was a big year for Mia Goth, who seems to have found her lane as an actor through her dual roles in Ti West’sX Pearl. She performs in a similarly deranged register here — there’s no one in the game right now who can cackle maniacally while firing a gun quite like Mia Goth, and Cronenberg takes advantage of her gift for unhinged ranting throughout the film. Skarsgård, meanwhile, plays the sub to Goth’s chaotic domme, pushing past his character’s initial discomfort to a primal place beyond both morality and impulse control. (Ironically, Gabi and her friends frequently refer to La Tolquans as “animals” while behaving animalistically themselves.) As he hangs his head low, and his eyes glaze over while spitting maraschino cherries at disgruntled resort guests, he crawls around on all fours and wears a dog collar.

Photo by Neon

Infinity Pool spins out into body horror as its decadence grows more psychedelic, thanks to a drug called “ekki gate,” which Gabi reassures James is the only hallucinogen allowed in La Tolqua. (“It’s a religious thing,” she says.) This is a clear parallel to Americans traveling to South America in order to try ayahuasca. So are the orgies: There’s a chain of hotels in Jamaica called Hedonism II that advertises itself as a place where couples can go to fulfill their wildest erotic fantasies — all inside the safety of the resort, of course. There’s also a thread in the movie about toxic masculinity and “domesticated” Western men seeking to “free themselves” through violence and subjugation — a theme that’s especially resonant in the wake of Andrew Tate being arrested in Romania (one of those “fake” countries where American men get to do whatever they want) on charges of human trafficking.

Cronenberg’s script for Infinity Pool Many of the darkly funny jokes in this book are hilarious. (Early on, Gabi says she’s an actress who specializes in “failing naturally” in commercials.) Although there are many odd touches to this movie, they all have their purpose. The Leatherface-esque masks that you see in the trailer serve two purposes. One, it enhances the depersonalization effect and the other, it evokes the commodification native cultures. However, the film’s conclusion is predictable from the moment it is revealed. The film has so many flashy, violent decorations that it would be difficult to create a complex storytelling structure. Infinity Pool It is difficult to understand. It is obvious that a numbed out cyclone of entitlement is one of the most vile things an American or any other nation can do.

Infinity PoolFilm opens at the theaters January 27.