‘The Plague’ Trailer: Summer Camp Is Hell, and So Is Adolescence, in a Twisted Fusion of Body Horror and ‘Lord of the Flies’

Adolescence, and especially at an all-boys summer water polo camp, is hell in Charlie Polinger’s memorably disturbing first feature, “The Plague.” In the psychodrama-meets-body-horror movie, Ben (discovery Everett Blunck), a socially anxious 12-year-old, becomes part of a ritualistic tradition that targets an outcast among them with an illness they call “the plague.”

But as there are real corporeal implications, it’s starting to look as if this imagined social disease might be real. Is the plague in this acne-scarred nightmare an even more horrifying version of puberty? “The Plague” almost feels like an allegory for it, but it’s never predictable. Below, IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer ahead of the film’s upcoming debut on December 24.

Joel Edgerton also stars in the film as the boys’ coach, who turns out to be extremely out of his depth when faced with the cruelties they inflict upon each other. “The Plague…