Infinity Pool's 12 Most Disturbing Moments Ranked

Director Brandon Cronenberg, son of legendary body horror auteur David, is raising eyebrows with his feature film "Infinity Pool," which delivers mind-bending horrors and moments that leave viewers on-edge. 

The flick takes its audience into a wealthy resort set within the fictional country of Latoka, where struggling writer James (Alexander Skarsgard) finds himself in a terrible spot. After drunkenly running over a local farmer, James is facing the death penalty. Offered a life-saving alternative via a strange law, James can pay for a clone to take his place in the execution; he finds a way to freedom, but the choice takes James down a road of chaotic crime that threatens his sanity.

With a Cronenberg in the director's chair, it's no surprise that "Infinity Pool" delivers some intense body horror, as well as a disturbing story about human morality. James' descent into madness and chaos is unnerving, leading to jaw-dropping moments. It's an experience that is visually stunning, horrifying in its gut-wrenching displays of inhumane behavior, and unsettlingly one-of-a-kind. There are plenty of memorable moments in "Infinity Pool" that showcase the disturbing nature of its story and characters; here are the ones most likely to haunt you long after the credits roll.

James comes to realize that he's gone too far after he finds himself beating up his own clone, so he makes the choice to try and ditch the group. While his plan to covertly grab his passport and get on the bus to the airport seems to go smoothly at first, things soon go wrong. Gabi (Mia Goth) and her group catch up to him in no time and eventually pull the bus over by blocking the road. In a matter of seconds, Gabi starts making threats to James and the other passengers, and it's unnerving to watch. 

The way she calls James' name is a diabolic mix of playful and psychotic and will undoubtedly haunt your nightmares. It's legitimately chilling and only gets worse when she takes aim at the other innocent passengers. She threatens to kill all of them unless James gives himself up, which he reluctantly does. With how Gabi and her crew have shown no remorse in killing and humiliating their victims, she could easily act upon these threats, so it's good that innocents are spared. Yet, Goth's performance and the reality that James' world is crashing down give this sequence eerie undertones.  

With how quickly James is dealt the death penalty, it's no surprise that he takes the cloning option he's given by the police, but it's no easy process. There's basically no briefing for what James or the audience are meant to expect with this procedure, so everything that follows comes off shocking and strange. James is not only completely stripped down, but is also forced to place a device in his mouth that keeps it spread open, giving him an eerie grin. 

The sequence is only made weirder once James steps into a nearly empty room filled with some kind of liquid. Once the cloning process begins, viewers are taken into a scene fueled by hypnotic colors and trippy visuals. It's the kind of mind-melting sequence that could only come from a Cronenberg, and leaves you stunned by all the cryptic imagery displayed. It kicks off all the horror to come in "Infinity Pool" and before you know it, James is awake in a hospital bed. Although this process leaves its own terrifying mark, James' horrors have only just begun. 

After Gabi and her friends get James back in their clutches when they catch him trying to sneak home, they give him a brutal punishment. James is forced to walk back to the hotel while Gabi and company slowly follow him in their cars pointing guns in his direction, but Gabi starts to drop some truth bombs that change everything. It turns out that she lied about being a fan of James' writing and only wanted to get him involved in the group because he looked like easy prey. James has been a plaything, and they're far from finished with him. 

Gabi takes things a step further by pulling out one of James' worst reviews, reading it aloud to further torture and break him down mentally. It's an incredibly cold move by her that cuts at James' ego and has a palpable sting to it. "Infinity Pool" features plenty of physically grotesque moments that leave a gruesome mark, but Gabi tormenting James like this is a strong showing of the mental and emotional torture of which she is capable.

There's a point where James literally feels invincible, able to do whatever he wants courtesy of the power of this new drug the group uses. He's drunk with power, and when the group decides to kidnap the officer that's constantly busting them, he doesn't even hesitate to join in. When the group has the officer, James shows no mercy, and a really ugly side of him starts to come out. As he beats the hostage senselessly, it is chilling; the hostage is even peed upon. What he doesn't realize though is that he is actually hurting himself. 

James eventually pulls off the hostage's mask to see that it's actually another clone of him. This reveal adds a terrifying layer to the whole ordeal, and is so scary that it snaps James out of his newfound, distorted reality. Everything James did to the hostage was already enough to give this sequence an "ick factor, but this supposed "prank" by Gabi makes it even more haunting.  

Once James is able to escape Gabi and her cohorts, he's not exactly in the best condition. He's badly wounded by a bullet from Gabi and is completely lost in a country that outwardly hates tourists. James is a sitting duck, finding refuge in a farmhouse, where he wakes up after passing out. When he awakes, he sees the farmer's son — whose father was killed by James — walking towards him.

What follows is a terrifying sequence that delivers the Cronenberg body horror that fans treasure, as well as hypnotic visuals that bend reality. The film holds nothing back through all its skin-ripping, face-melting horror. It feels like the inevitable culmination of how dire the circumstances for James have become – and if this sequence was actually James going to hell for everything he'd done, it would be fitting. Luckily for James it's just a dream — albeit, an extremely unpleasant one. 

James quickly becomes initiated in Gabi's group of wealthy friends, and is eventually introduced to a local drug the group uses to lower their inhibitions. With James always down for whatever this group wants to do, he doesn't hesitate in using the drug, which unleashes the most erotic sequence of "Infinity Pool." As James and the group fall deeper into their pleasurable high, things get sexual fast — and before you can even blink, the group is having a wild, colorful orgy. 

It's quite the sight, as the group (still wearing their masks at times) gives this whole ordeal an "Eyes Wide Shut," cult-like feel that's just plain creepy. From start to finish, vivid details blurring the lines between eroticism and eeriness take a hard turn into hallucinatory horror. It all concludes with the group cooling off by taunting and terrorizing the hotel staff and guests; the wild hallucinations and imagery that from this sequence, however, are not easily forgotten.

Although James, Gabi, and the group seem to be quite capable at getting away with literally anything, even murder, there is a moment that makes it seem like their luck has run out. After being arrested for breaking into a local authority's house, the group is once again arrested and seemingly preparing for their cloning process. However, the police seem to have other ideas, as everyone is grabbed and brought to the killing floor to be executed. While there's a part of you that wonders if any of this is real, there's enough here to make you feel like James and his cohorts could finally be facing punishment. 

James is certainly fighting like his life depends on it and the screams of everyone else, especially Gabi, make their fear feel real. Then suddenly, James' throat gets slit open and everyone else is quickly executed afterwards. Just as quickly though, it is revealed that these were just the clones being killed and the group is cheering and laughing in the stands. Cronenberg crafted one hell of a fake-out with this sequence, showing how cruel and uncaring the group is as they're entertained by their clones being killed. They might as well have popcorn in-hand, because they are thrilled by the show.

After James leaves the farmhouse, he finds that Gabi and company were outside waiting for him, which is never good news. They're ready to give him one final test to prove his worth and it involves bringing back a familiar face. Gabi brings out the clone that James tortured, who has been reduced to a beast by Gabi and is led out on a leash. With this last test, James is tasked with defeating his clone or being torn apart by him. Although he tries to refuse the test at first, he isn't left with much choice after the clone starts attacking him. 

With all of his anger and frustration from his power being stripped away from him throughout the day, James absolutely demolishes his clone and brutally smashes his face in until nothing is left. It's a gruesome sight to behold and one of the biggest gut-punches of "Infinity Pool." James earns his freedom with this action, but it comes as the cost of his sanity and leads him to become a shell of the person he once was. 

With James earning his freedom (and, seemingly a place within the group) their time at the hotel comes to an end. Everyone is packing up before the dreaded monsoon season and heading back home to their more normal lives. James, however, struggles to act like everything is fine and is clearly distraught from the entire experience. The same can't be said about everyone, and they act as if they're just casually going home from an ordinary vacation. 

They chat about things they're going to do when they get home and the wealthy lives to which they are returning. Given that the audience has seen this group commit some unforgivably horrific acts, this sense of normalcy is disturbing. It shows how their sense of morality has been completely warped by the power of their greed — Gabi even says that she hopes to see James back next year — and the commonplace nature of such subtle comments invokes chills. It has a similar impact on James, who ultimately decides to stay and surrender himself to the torrential rainstorms. 

"Infinity Pool" features one twisted premise that gets under your skin, burrowing into the mind with its horror. It puts greed on full display, showing that someone could lose their entire sense of morality and care for others if afforded too much power. When you think about how Latoka values its tourists more than its locals, to the point where they'll basically allow the tourists to kill at will, it's hard not to be disgusted. 

Even the mean-spirited nature of Gabi, James, and the rest of their wealthy friends leaves the viewer uneasy. Cronenberg has shown himself to be adept at concocting disturbing worlds and stories that get under the skin of the viewers and leave them feeling hollow. But "Infinity Pool" feels like it hits a whole new plane of disturbance with its sheer concept alone. It hits at all kinds of depths of human depravity, making viewers unable to look away from the chaos and horror.

There's an entire sequence dedicated to showing James and the group going on a big mission to break into a wealthy Latoka official's home, and it's filled with tense moments. The group masking up with those creepy "local celebration" masks gives them monstrous faces to match their vile personalities. As soon as they arrive, they take over the house, tying everyone up and toying with them in cruel ways. 

The sequence feels like an homage to the infamous "Singing in the Rain" scene from "A Clockwork Orange," with how mean-spirited and horrifying it is; Gabi is especially shown to be a terror here. She gets James to point his gun towards one of the hostages and even acts playfully in trying to get him to pull the trigger. There's a pure nastiness to the moment that doesn't go unnoticed, and the way things break into an all-out gun fight with blood flying everywhere makes this sequence go from bad to worse. The home invasion sequence shows that Gabi and her cohorts are more than just common criminals; they have bigger, more vile plans.

While the participation of James in the cloning process means that he doesn't have to be executed, he's still forced to watch the execution take place; it's the most chilling scene in "Infinity Pool." James' clone is crudely tied up to a pole, waiting to be stabbed by the son of the farmer James killed, and he looks completely helpless. Skarsgard's performance is top-notch here, as the clone's screams towards James' wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are full of raw emotion and terror.

It's a moment that really sticks with the viewer; it feels real, and the sting of the clone's death can't be understated. Em serves as a horrified avatar for the viewer, as James cracks a slight smile, hinting at the darker side ready to burst out. The first execution sequence delivers some haunting bloody horrors, and perhaps some mental scars that won't easily be erased. It is the most disturbing moment of "Infinity Pool."