Brandon Cronenberg lives up to his name. As the son of body horror master David Cronenberg (“The Fly”), he clearly has big shoes to fill – especially since he’s clearly interested in the same topics as his old man. After ‘Antiviral’ was still below, ‘Possessor’ would create a bit of hype in 2020. Also because Brandon Cronenberg did not shy away from extremely violent excesses.
His new film ‘Infinity Pool’ was released in cinemas on April 20, 2023 and was another psychological horror shocker that also took full advantage of its potential. In this case too, the FSK 18 approval is no coincidence! Haven’t you seen “Infinity Pool” yet? Then you can now catch up with a subscription to WOW (formerly Sky Ticket). But beware: not for the faint of heart!
That’s what Infinity Pool is all about
Six years have passed since James’ (Alexander Skarsgard) semi-successful first novel. With his wealthy wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman), the writer enjoys a perfect holiday in a remote island resort: beautiful beaches, the best food and luxurious accommodation. Here he hopes to finally gain inspiration for his second work.
On site, the couple meets the mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth) and her husband Alban (Jalil Lespert). The couple convinces James and Em to leave the safety of the resort grounds together and explore the island on their own. However, during the joyride, James accidentally runs over and kills a man standing on the country road.
It turns out that the island nation has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to crime. Detective Thresh (Thomas Kretschmann) tells James he is being sentenced to death. But there is still a loophole: for a large sum of money, a clone double could be performed in its place. James agrees, pays and is released, but ends up in a whirlpool of violence and lust…
A journey of self-discovery has never been so disgusting!
In the official FILMSTARTS review, “Infinity Pool” received a very good 4 out of 5 possible stars. The conclusion of our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen is as follows: “Probably the most twisted journey of self-discovery to ever find its way to the big screen.”
In fact, you’ll have to be quite experienced to simply stomach “Infinity Pool,” as even sophisticated audiences will likely be quite surprised by Brandon Cronenberg’s shocker. His disturbing cocktail of urine, semen and blood mercilessly exposes the depravity of prosperous tourism – and does not shy away from any human abyss.
The penchant for ugliness is method in ‘Infinity Pool’: ‘When it comes to production, Brandon Cronenberg also consistently avoids ‘beautiful’ images: the police station with its cloning device is reminiscent of authoritarian propaganda architecture, while a surprise handjob, shown in close-up until the climax, is even less sensual than a skull beaten to a pulpin which Cronenberg lasts much longer than is actually ‘appropriate’ for a non-gorefest.”