The Plague
IFC Films | Release Date: December 24, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostSonia RaoJan 2, 2026
The Plague does an exceptional job of making viewers share in Ben’s growing sense of dread. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comClint WorthingtonJan 2, 2026
The Plague isn’t a horror movie per se, but it moves with the mood and music of one. Read full review
91
Original-CinChris KnightJan 2, 2026
The Plague is what remains if you strip most of the actual horror out of a horror movie, but keep the fear. The tension gets so thick you could cut it with a knife. Then it goes beyond that; you’d need something stronger, and sharper. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJan 2, 2026
Like the weeping sores that spread on Eli’s body, the bloody gouges that Ben carves into his thumb with nervous scratching, and the haunted look in Daddy Wags’ eyes, Polinger delivers a troubling and heart-stopping lesson that such childhood horrors will always leave a mark. Read full review
89
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiDec 26, 2025
I’d say if The Plague wasn’t nominated for Best Original Score there’s something terribly wrong with the Oscars, but The Plague didn’t even make the short list, so there’s just something terribly wrong with the Oscars. Read full review
88
The Travers TakePeter TraversJan 2, 2026
A terrifying first film in which a tween water polo team becomes a "Lord of the Flies" metaphor for the hell of modern bullying. The scares are killer, but it’s the violence of the adolescent mind that hits hardest and haunts you longest. Read full review
85
The Daily BeastNick SchagerDec 26, 2025
Taut and entrancing, it’s a stark reminder that adolescence sucks. Read full review
83
IndieWireSophie Monks KaufmanNov 5, 2025
This is a deeply emotional film in high concept clothing, coded to resonate with those of us well-versed in the instinct to betray ourselves in order to be accepted. Read full review
80
The GuardianPhil HoadApr 17, 2026
This is a memorable education in the laws of the tween jungle. Read full review
80
The RevealScott TobiasDec 30, 2025
Polinger tracks the escalation of danger and violence with startling intensity—the first third of Full Metal Jacket also appears to be an influence—but there’s nuance to the way Ben chooses to handle this situation. Read full review
80
ColliderNate RichardDec 27, 2025
The Plague, at times, can be too grueling a watch, especially in its graphic depiction of self-harm. It's also one of the most vital movies in recent memory in capturing what it's like to be 12 or 13 years old. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonDec 26, 2025
This is what The Plague does best: Its storytelling inhabits a world so heated and confusing to its characters — that is, burgeoning adolescence — that it’s sometimes unclear whether things are actually happening or just in Ben’s head. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlex SavelievDec 12, 2025
The stark contrast between the way-too-confident-for-his-age Jake and the introverted, insecure Ben underscores how identity at that age calcifies in opposition: one boy armoring himself with swagger, the other shrinking under its weight. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeNov 6, 2025
Charlie Polinger opens his thrilling and uneasy directorial debut feature The Plague with an arresting sequence that quickly establishes the haunting undertones of this adolescent psychological thriller. Read full review
80
Next Best PictureDavid CuevasNov 5, 2025
The film’s relentless narrative is expertly performed by a cast of newcomer talent who empathetically portray its heavy subject matter with deliberate psychological intensity. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleJan 2, 2026
Polinger’s film isn’t a comfortable watch and it’s not meant to be. It gets under the skin. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonDec 15, 2025
The Plague is vividly, terrifying attuned to the way children create a social order that resists sensible adult intrusion and influence. Read full review
70
VarietyJessica KiangNov 6, 2025
Drawn from experience and benefiting from some standout performances among its well-selected young cast, The Plague has a familiar coming-of-age narrative, but stranger, subtler undercurrents of creeping dismay at the men these boys will become when, at this formative age, cruelty chlorinates the water they swim in. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 6, 2025
The film has much to say about peer pressure and male rites of passage, although Polinger’s points can become repetitive and his insights not especially deep. Still, this uneven mixture of coming-of-age drama and psychological horror suggests a filmmaker with a flair for unsettling atmosphere. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerJan 2, 2026
Aside from these shallow moments of over-explanation and a kinetic ending that lifts whole cloth from the aforementioned Beau Travail, this exciting debut boasts some honest and cutting commentary around these angry, confused little boys. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezNov 5, 2025
The Plague is a movie-movie, rather than a genuinely searching or affecting film about that most awkward age when fitting in with a group can seem like the most important thing in the world. Read full review
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