This review originally ran on January 25, 2023, during the Sundance Film Festival.

Taking the plunge into the darkest depths of depravity, Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth star in writer-director Brandon Cronenberg’s shocking new film, the socially-conscious horror satire, Infinity Pool.

Here, Cronenberg imagines a world where the rich are able to indulge in all of their hedonistic pleasures without consequence. It’s a wildly graphic look at the wealthy elite and a perfect midnight movie. It should come with all sorts of warning labels on it: it’s what you get if you combined Eyes Wide Shut, The White Lotus, and a frightening LSD trip.

Premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Infinity Pool shocked audiences (who saw the uncut version). The film had to make edits to get an R rating for theaters, such as cutting the shot of Skarsgård’s–erm… “deposit” hitting the ground–after being unexpectedly pleasured by Goth from behind. I can only imagine that the film’s R-rated version did not include the entirety of the many strobe-filled orgy sequences. But don’t worry, as both versions show a naked Skarsgård pulled around on all fours in a leather dog collar.

Impressively, Skarsgård and Goth continue to use their star status to do categorically unhinged arthouse movies. The pair stars as uninspired writer James Foster (Skarsgård), vacationing at an all-inclusive resort, and the mysterious Gabi (Goth) who he meets there. After an accidental fatality leads James to be sentenced, Gabi introduces him to a loophole he can use to buy his way out of legality. Twistedly, It involves using the film’s title, which duplicates someone facing their punishment in the form of a twisted execution.

Harrowingly, witnessing their doubles (who also have their very real consciousnesses) horrifically executed wipes their slates clean. And so, with his new lease on life, James indulges Gabi and her socialite friends in running rampant. They hold people hostage, assault them, and have sex and drugs–lots of it.

However, all of this uninhibited hedonism quickly turns into hell for James, who becomes existentially conflicted, as if living a more depraved version of Groundhog’s Day. A life free from penalty and morality, he loses who he is altogether.

Clearly, the idea of American upper-class societies masking dark sub-cultures of violence underneath fascinates Brandon Cronenberg. His first feature film, 2020’s Possessor, showed how the wealthy could pay for contracted assassinations in the form of agents slipping into people’s minds. These themes of paranoia and conspiracies of truth, with a macabre but comic presentation, definitely continue in the line of his father’s famous filmography.

Cronenberg continues to claim visual auteur status by putting depraved, psychedelic pleasure on the big screen. And yet, taking the biggest risk here is the aforementioned Skarsgård and Goth. Supposedly, Skarsgård went from 2022’s epic outdoor adventure film The Northman to this under the allure that he would be able to enjoy a relaxing resort life. While that might have been true, he’s also reduced to an emotionally destroyed version of a person, so it wasn’t a total holiday in the sun.

Captivatingly, Mia Goth uses her allure and appeal to a dangerous degree here, playing full-on psychotically evil. With this and Pearl, she is asserting herself as a fearless horror queen. The arthouse and horror scene is lucky to have stars like this who make these movies.

Through and through, Infinity Pool is a midnight movie. Wildly and shockingly inventive with fearless performance, it should be appreciated and enjoyed for its vision. Indulge your senses and your curiosities that are the ecstasy of horror and psychedelic madness. You know you want to.

1h 57m. Rated R for graphic violence, disturbing material, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and some language.