Dir. Branden Cronenberg | Now Streaming On: Prime | Rating: 4/5

I went into Infinity Pool with little information or expectations, which seems like the best way to go into buzzy films these days. I wasn’t a fan of Brandon Cronenberg’s widely popular Possessor, finding its commentary on morality and mortality to be trite. Infinity Pool blows its predecessor out of the water with a psychedelic take on hedonism and wealth. ⁠
⁠
There is a ton to unpack in this film but it delivers a few core messages. The whole time I was sitting in the theater watching this, I was wishing Oscar Wilde was alive to see this acid trip. This story really serves as a contemporary foil to The Picture of Dorian Gray. Through Gabi and her gang of “zombies,” we see the evil in wealth and power. What is so unsettling about the story sculpted in Infinity Pool is that to an extent, this is believable. Think of Jeffrey Epstein, the NXIVM cult, even Scientology. When you have enough money to cheat death, what else can it do for you? And in the character of James, we grapple with self hatred on a whole new level. When you can’t live with your own reflection, what are the lengths you will go to destroy it?⁠
⁠
Infinity Pool will keep you guessing until the very end and this film will certainly not be for everyone. It’s filled with gratuitous drug use, full frontal nudity, and orgies to the point of an overkill. These stretches of obnoxious hedonism seem to take away from Cronenberg’s inherited knack for visceral, raw, and gut wrenching body horror. Mia Goth steals the show yet again as our lead, further cementing herself as a standout icon of the new horror era. ⁠
⁠
Creative, darkly comedic, and sickeningly relevant – Infinity Pool delivers “eat the rich” by the spoonful and I’m here for every moment of it. ⁠
⁠
Know Before You Watch: Features death, blood, flashing lights, sex, nudity.