January 6, 2024 – A man who is maybe asleep at a foreign resort, and maybe partly awake, says something to his wife in the morning. Disturbed, she asks him, “Did you just say you can't feed yourself with white sand brain death?” Later, some charming guests make some odd jokes about killing him. After that, things just keep getting stranger.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this deeply disturbing horror film directed by Brandon Cronenberg (“Possessor”) son of David Cronenberg, an originator of the “body horror” subgenre. This movie does indeed have some gruesome scenes of violent death, but overall, it is a more subtle approach to body horror.

The aforementioned couple on vacation, James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård of “The Legend of Tarzan”) and his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman of “Cobweb”) are on vacation at the Pa Qlqa Pearl Princess Resort on the island of Li Tolqa where a local festival is taking place, featuring face paint and hideous masks, resembling misshapen faces.

A local couple, Gabi Bauer (Mia Goth of “Pearl”) and her husband Alban (Jalil Lespert of “Beasts”) approach James who are fans of his book, and invite him and Em to dine with them. The couple and friendly and charming. They invite James and Em to join them for a trip to the beach the next day, outside the walls of the fortified compound where they are staying.

Generally, if one is vacationing in a compound surrounded by high fences topped with razor wire, and the resort advises you not to go outside that fence for your own safety, you probably should not go. That is what Em thinks, but James is adamant and persuades her to go along. What could possibly go wrong?

Something does go wrong, and James is accused of breaking one of Li Tolqa's impossibly strict laws. He is given a choice, be executed, or pay a lot of money to local authorities to have another man executed in his place under a law called the “Revised Process of Doubles Act for International Visitors and Diplomats.”

This turns out to be a kind of cloning process in which James is quickly and completely copied. An exact double of himself is created and then violently executed in front of him (he and Em are forced to watch the execution). Ordinarily, such an episode would be cause for an immediate retreat to get the hell out of Li Tolqa and never come back. That's what Em wants to do, but James wants to stay for some reason. She leaves. He stays.

James is drawn into a group of people, including Gabi and Alban, who have all gone through the same cloning and execution process as he has, a kind of cloning club as it were. Joining them, James engages in role playing games, criminal activities, including murder, sexual adventures and hallucinogenic drug use.

The people in the clone club return to Li Tolqa often in order to engage in behavior that would get them in trouble in other parts of the world, but in Li Tolqa, they have a get out of jail free card they can always play.

James has been deeply wounded by his experiences, and he can't go back to his normal life. He doesn't know who he is now, and maybe he never did know. He has become unstuck from reality in an existential no man's land.

I had a lot of trouble watching this because I found it very disturbing. I really don't like horror movies, and I would have avoided this one, except that it is awards season, and it is an awards submission. If you are a horror fan, you might like this. I am not, but I did find this movie well crafted and well acted, so it rates a B.

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