Where I Watched It: hulu

English Audio Description?: No

Well, it’s a horror film without audio description, so you can pretty much figure out what I’m going to say. It’s not that I have a problem with these films, it’s that I am not given enough information to determine if I have a problem. Last year, despite being offered two different options on how to watch Crimes of The Future, and having direct confirmation that audio description existed, neither the .99 cent rental I did on Apple or the eventual hulu drop offered AD for David Cronenberg’s well reviewed horror film. Now, his son Brandon is trapped in the same issue. Infinity Pool has no audio description, and it’s virtually impossible to follow.

I do two reviews. one for my YouTube, and one for the site. I did my YouTube review as cold as possible, with my initial reaction being “I know nothing, and went in just like I would have if i could still see.” Since then, curiosity struck, and I read a bit about the film, and let me tell you i got none of that.

My initial guess was that he was reliving the same day over and over, or he was a twin, or it was some kind of simulation. Not the case. It was easy to follow Alexander Skarsgard’s voice, but since Mia Goth typically goes for transformative performances like pearl, it became a bit harder to follow her. But there’s quite a bit of gory violence listed online, along with graphic sex, that we completely miss out on.

so rather than beat a dead horse, this is yet another case of a studio and a streaming service being apathetic about accessibility, and choosing to release this without audio description. With everything I know, it’s really easy to say that the experience I had makes this film 100% unwatchable for no other reason than you won’t figure out the plot without googling it.

And I shouldn’t have to read a spoiler review. That defeats the purpose of watching the film. When I was sighted, I didn’t have to do extensive research ahead of time to try and understand a film. I just got in my car, drove to the theatre, bought a ticket, and watched the damn thing.

Accessibility matters. There is no equity here.

Final Grade: unwatchable