Acting Up: The Boys of ‘The Plague’

The Snapshot: A socially awkward 12-year-old endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, and his anxiety spirals out of control into psychological turmoil.

The Plague has a limited theatrical release December 24 and opens wide January 2.

Key Insights

The Plague features rare, standout performances from three young actors whose naturalism elevates an emotionally difficult story.

The film’s exploration of bullying and social hierarchies is intensified through subtle, chilling character work—especially from newcomer Kayo Martin.

Joel Edgerton’s supporting role and production input add emotional depth, grounding the boys’ performances with authentic adult perspective.

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The Performances: You never really know what you’re going to get with child actors. There’s usually something naturalistic about them and their performances, but it really depends. Some kids are better at not seeming like they’re acting than others, so when you’re making a film that features kids almost exclusively, you’re taking a pretty spectacular risk. It’s the cinematic version of herding cats.

So, when something like The Plague comes along, and you get not one, not two, but three tremendous performances by tweens in the same film, it’s something of a gift. Even if that same film makes for supremely uncomfortable viewing.

The movie is about a kid named Ben who goes to water polo camp and a boy named Eli who has been saddled with something called “the plague,” a sort of hazing tradition the boys at the camp use to single out one kid for torture. Eli is the victim in this particular session, victimized by the group of campers, led by Jake, the vicious ringleader.

There’s a Lord of the Flies feel to the whole thing, which is generally true whenever you have a group of tween and young teen boys creating their own hierarchy, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, nor does it feel derivative. On the contrary, the presence of a somewhat hapless coach, played by Joel Edgerton — who is also a producer on the film — gives it an extra layer of depth.

But it’s less the story that makes the film so worthwhile as it is the acting work of all the boys, those three specifically. Ben is played by Everett Blunck, Eli by Kenny Rasmussen, and Jake by Kayo Martin. Blunck’s Ben is the center of the film, around which everything revolves, which is a heck of a lot of responsibility to put on the slender shoulders of a 12-year-old boy.

Still, Blunck carries that weight with aplomb, and he possesses a sort of nervous charisma that makes him enormously easy to watch. He’s also a bit doe-eyed, which makes him easy to root for. Rasmussen’s charm comes from a different place.

Even though Eli is the target of the group of kids who have saddled him with the “plague” handle — at least partially because Eli is suffering from a skin condition that lends itself to that kind of epithet, but also because his iconoclasm makes him a pretty easy target for kids that age who don’t easily understand such things.

He has a remarkable self-confidence. He doesn’t seem to care in the slightest what anyone else does to him or says about him. He still does his own thing and is indifferent to anyone watching. This is never more evident than towards the end of the movie, when the boys are having a social with the girls’ synchronized swimmers sharing the pool at this camp, and Eli stands off by himself, dancing with a cardboard mannequin as if it was a real girl.

It’s not just that he makes it look so easy, it’s that he does so without the trace of self-consciousness, which is hard enough for an adult to pull off, much less an inexperienced kid. The targeting of Eli and the experience Ben has with it as a bystander and as someone who himself ends up in Jake’s crosshairs is part of what makes the movie so difficult to watch, especially if you have ever suffered any bullying or been ostracized.

But there’s also the insidious evil of Martin’s Jake, an undersized bully whose fierce intelligence and razor-sharp wit make him inordinately dangerous. Martin’s casual malevolence is at times frightening, and one scene in particular, in which he sees Ben throw Eli under the bus for something, and instantly and silently keens that this is a weakness of Ben’s that he can exploit, is particularly chilling. Especially so because of how little Martin shows in this realization. It’s subtle, which makes it frightening, and could trigger flashbacks to harder times for some audience members.

“Everett is an extraordinary kid who actually reminds me of the way I used to view Mia Wasikowska when she was a young actress,” Edgerton says, “just this very natural ability.” Meanwhile, in a scene in the movie’s second half, in which Edgerton’s coach is trying to talk to the boys about bullying and Martin’s Jake starts to needle him, the adult actor admits he wasn’t acting in his testy response. “He got so under my skin,” Edgerton admits with a laugh, “that I felt bullied.” Talk about natural acting.

The Careers: Everett Blunck is the most accomplished of this particular trio, but that’s not saying much. He has only seven credits that precede The Plague, and six of those are in relatively small roles, if the character even has a name.

For instance, in three of them, Bring on the Dancing Horses, Murder at Yellowstone City, and Outlaw Posse, he is known as “Young Boy,” “Churchgoer (uncredited),” and “Teen,” respectively. There’s also slightly larger roles in The Old Way, Blood for Dust, and the infamous Rust, with one starring role, the title character in 2024’s Griffin in Summer, opposite Melanie Lynsey and Owen Teague, and currently available to rent on Amazon.

Kenny Rasmussen has shown up in four projects before The Plague, and only one of them didn’t give him a name (he is “Young Boy” in 2022’s Night Sky). He showed up for a 2021 episode of Chicago Med, the entire eight episode first season of the 2019 Showtime series, Work in Progress, and played Wyatt in the 2021 Disney+ movie Christmas Again. The Plague is his first starring role, but will hardly be his last.

Then there’s Kayo Martin, a novice actor who made a name for himself as a professional skateboarder, amateur boxer, commercial spokesperson, and internet personality, all before he hit puberty. When he auditioned for The Plague, it was the first professional acting gig of his life, and impressive enough that Edgerton says, “For a first major outing in a film, to light up the screen in such a dynamic way, it’s a reminder that there’s as much to learn from young people as there is from older people.”

Key Takeaways

Breakout talents Everett Blunck, Kenny Rasmussen, and Kayo Martin position The Plague as a must-watch for acting showcases.

The film is especially resonant for anyone who has experienced bullying, offering both empathy and raw emotional realism.

With limited release December 24 and wide opening January 2, The Plague is poised to generate industry attention for its young cast.