Club Dread
2004
While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. A tragic accident leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you'll be executed, or, if you’re rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.
Brandon Cronenberg
James Foster
Gabi Bauer
Ketch
Em Foster
Jennifer
Alban Bauer
2/1/2023
8/10
Infinity Pool is a horny, horrifying look at ego and self-indulgence based on self-doubt and failure. The film follows novelist James Foster (Alexander Skarsgard) as he is mesmerized by Gabi (Mia Goth) resulting in a stained week of violence and debauchery. The plot is a story of two halves, the first being incredibly strong as the audience is learning the mystery behind the experiments, guests and their past. Viewers can resonate a ton with Foster's wife as she is constantly neglected and misused by her husband. That is ever apparent in the shot selection as she is constantly out of frame or unfocused. This part really worked for me, but as the story progressed the scope grew too large for its own good. The ending becomes unfocused, resulting in aspects that do not make sense or are incredibly unbelievable in the world that the film has set up. The film has fantastic cinematography though, filled with interesting visuals that create for a very unique and chaotic viewing experience. Every shot is calculated and filmed in an interesting way that creates suspense and uncomfortable feelings. The performances are superb, Mia Goth has found her niche in the "elevated" horror genre becoming a modern-day scream queen. Although, after X, Pearl, and now Infinity Pool, I would like to see her do some more diverse work, but she has nailed this type of character. Alexander Skarsgard is also great with some emotionally engrossing scenes mixed with cold, emotionless scenes that create an interesting dichotomy for the characters headspace. Although the film slightly stumbles towards the end and might have a bit of a bloated run time, there is still a ton to enjoy with a creative story, mind bending cinematography, and powerhouse performances. Score: 77% Verdict: Great
3/24/2023
6/10
This one's a good watch if you are not expecting something monumental. A descent rollercoaster of a watch to escape momentary boredom.
3/25/2023
6/10
Struggling writer "James" (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wealthy wife "Em" (Cleopatra Coleman) are having a vacation on an exclusive island resort where they encounter the enigmatic "Gabi" (Mia Goth) and "Alban" (Jalil Lespert). A trip outside their compound together ends in a rather drunken tragedy and to the most peculiar of government-backed solutions to a problem that could well have seen the ritual slaughter of "James". That's quite intriguing, but the rest of this recycles that theory as an increasingly debauched and unentertaining series of scenarios are played out in front of us, presumably in order to illustrate a range of human frailties and issues with confidence and self-belief. There is one rather amusing scene with Goth on the bonnet of her car towards the end, but the remainder of this is just a rather messy, drug infused, meander of a story that left me wondering why it went on for almost two hours. At times the writing is quite smart, but all too infrequently to sustain this thinnest of stories and by midway through I could honestly say that I couldn't have cared less about any of them - even if Skarsgård does have a nice ass. I suspect you will either love or hate this, there were people at the screening who laughed, others who left - I was probably more on the side of the latter. Certainly no need at all to watch on a big screen.
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