It’s still only January, but already we have our first serious contender for horror films of the year. Yes, thank you Megan, but please move over – here comes Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool.
In his follow-up to the sublime Possessor a young married couple (Alexander Skarsgård and Cleopatra Coleman) settle into holiday in a gated resort somewhere in a vaguely defined “developing world” country – think somewhere on the boarder between Costa Rica, Armenia and Myanmar. When they are coaxed into a trip beyond the barbed wire fence out into the real world by a friendly stranger (Mia Goth) and her husband, things take a slide and the holiday of a lifetime becomes a depersonalising descent into psychedelic/psychotic hell.
Infinity Pool continues Cronenberg’s fascination with extreme psychological states triggered by absurd, existential sci-fi concepts (no spoilers here as to exactly what sends Mr Skarsgard over the edge) and features dashes of everything from Clockwork Orange to The Prestige, and even (maybe) a quick reference to The Fly. Cronenberg successfully channels the spirit of late-period JG Ballard (in particular his novels Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes).
Skarsgård does a great job of losing his mind, and Mia Goth is demonically babyish as the little devil that leads him astray. Shout out to for Thomas Kretschmann who does a lot with a comparatively small role as a jail official named Thresh.
Dan Martin’s effects work is also once again grade-A stuff; after his stellar input on Possessor he gets chances here to portray a drug-up orgy in which body parts emerge from other, quite unexpected body parts – plus a very crunchy/pulpy fist fight. This man really does know how to bring the gloop (and shattered teeth) to practical effects.
I loved this trip into the darkness, with all its existential dread, and can’t wait for Cronenberg’s next project – which is, apparently, a direct adaptation of Ballard’s Super-Cannes, which would make a great thematic double-bill with ‘Pool. Come on in, the water’s depersonalising!
Infinity Pool is out on Friday in the US, and in March in the UK. The Sundance Film Festival is ongoing.
Whitlock&Pope 