"Is there a swimming pool in your plot? Take a dip, mind the drip." by Lindsay Costello 8. POOL PARTY: Is there a swimming pool in your plot? Take a dip, mind the drip. Infinity Pool It’s easy to see director and noted nepo man Brandon Cronenberg embedded within the plot of his own film. In Infinity Pool, Alexander Skarsgård plays a bankrolled but blocked creative who coasts at a ritzy resort in search of inspiration. All hell breaks loose after a fatal accident and a run-in with a hedonistic freak played by Mia Goth. In fact, Infinity Pool could confidently be renamed It’s Rich People’s Fault: The Movie. (And for the record, I agree with this sentiment.) I wasn't anticipating its darkly comedic—and at times grotesque—reckoning with whiteness and exploitation. Everyone fucking sucks here. Resort visitors “find themselves"—or at least trip out and attempt catharsis—at the expense of working-class people in a fictional country, then buy convenient loopholes to wiggle out of the messes they've made. This dynamic works in the film's favor; not-so-subtle subtexts of othering and alienation are found amid its more utterly gruesome, shocking scenes. It's Cronenberg’s 2020 film Possessor with a lot more narrative direction. I waited patiently through Infinity Pool's 118-minute runtime for an actual swimming pool to show up, and it never did, so in an interesting twist of events, it doesn’t technically fit into this challenge's "pool party" category. However, if floating in some gloopy science goo that replicates DNA for government-mandated retributive murder purposes counts as a “pool,” this film fits the bill! Watch if you like unidentified psychedelics, Francis Bacon’s Figure with Meat, waving guns around, and/or Mia Goth’s Peppa Pig-esque accent. The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re going to share our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀