James and Em Foster are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation in the fictional island of La Tolqa, when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence and surreal horrors.
While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror.—Official synopsis
After six slow years of inactivity, unsuccessful novelist James Foster now questions his talent. And at this point in life, James is willing to try everything to overcome the chronic writer's block--perhaps the sandy beaches and the picturesque serenity of a tropical paradise would do the trick. Instead, as the blocked author and his supportive publishing heiress wife, Em, look for inspiration in an exclusive resort overlooking the sea, a millisecond of inattention destroys the couple's tomorrows. Now, isolated from reality and bound by the draconian laws of a strange land, James and Em have some tough, life-altering decisions to make. But money buys everything. As things get out of hand, can those who can afford sin find a loophole to save their skin?—Nick Riganas
The writer James Foster and his wealthy wife Em Foster travel to a luxurious resort in Li Tolq. James is seeking inspiration to write a second book since his first one was a total failure with bad reviews. They meet the tourist Gabi Bauer, who is spending vacation in the resort with her husband Alban Bauer, and she tells James that she is her fan. James and Em are invited by Alban and Gabi to have dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant, and they invite the couple to go with them outside the resort on the next morning. Due to the stringent local laws, it is forbidden to the tourists to leave the compound, but Alban rents a car from one employee, and they spend the day drinking at a paradisiacal beach. When they return late night, Alban is drunken, and James offers to drive. However, he hits a farmer on the road and his friends says that he should not call the police since they are very violent. After the hit and run, they return to the resort, but on the next morning, James and Em are arrested. James learns that in accordance with the local law, the next of kin of the victim has the right to kill the murderer. However, he may use a duplicate to replace him since he is a tourist, provided he pays a large amount. James and Em are forced to watch the death of his clone and are released. Once in the resort, James does not find his passport and needs to stay in his room. Further, he is seduced by Gabi and uses drugs and sex with the woman and her friends, in an evil journey to hell.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Novelist James Foster and his wife Em spend time at a resort in the fictional seaside country of Li Tolqa,[3] where a local festival is underway. The couple's chronic marital strife is exacerbated when Gabi, a fan of the only novel James has published to date, invites them to spend time with her and her husband Alban. The four have dinner and decide to spend the next day driving in the countryside, even though they have been warned that tourists are to remain on the resort compound at all times.
At a beach, as James urinates behind a tree, Gabi unexpectedly grabs him from behind and proceeds to give him a handjob. After a long day of sunbathing and cooking, the tourists embark on a drunken drive back to their hotel. En route, James accidentally runs over a local man, killing him. Gabi insists that they cannot call the police, as the country is corrupt and they will not be safe.
The next day, James is arrested and is told that the penalty for his crime is death at the hand of the dead man's firstborn son. However, the country has a unique system of justice whereby the guilty, for a hefty fee, can be cloned and have their duplicates killed in their place. James, who married into money, pays the fee to have a double killed before his eyes. Em is horrified by the entire affair and wants to leave immediately, but James is titillated by the spectacle and wants to stay. He hides his passport, claiming that he has lost it, and encourages Em to return to the United States.
James extends his stay by a week and encounters Gabi and Alban again. They introduce him to a small group of Western tourists who all have been convicted of serious crimes and have paid to watch their doubles killed. These people return to the resort annually, commit heinous crimes, and pay to watch their doubles get slaughtered. Over the next several days, they encourage James to transform into a libertine criminal, encouraging him to kill locals, engage in intoxicated orgies, and abuse the resort staff.
James is rattled one night when he is tricked into brutalizing a clone of himself he had been led to believe was the police detective who initially arrested him. In a moment of clarity and panic, James retrieves his hidden passport and attempts to flee, but the tourist group accosts him and abducts him from the bus transporting him to the airport. Gabi reveals that she finds him pathetic and that the group is abusing him for their own amusement, hoping to turn him into a fellow murder tourist. He runs off into a nearby wilderness. Gabi shoots him in the leg as he flees.
After hours of wandering, James collapses at a farm, where a local family takes him in to recuperate. In his drugged state, he experiences a series of hallucinations. Once he has regained his strength, he is again confronted by Gabi's group, who orders him to kill a duplicate of himself to complete his transformation. He initially refuses, but when the clone attempts to kill him, James beats him to death. As a reward, Gabi exposes her bare breast to James, inviting him to breastfeed.
The next day, as they head back to the United States, the other tourists casually chat about upcoming errands, while James is visibly shaken from the events of the past few days. Waiting in the airport for his flight, he resolves to remain behind instead. He returns to the closed resort, where he sits alone amidst the downpour of the monsoon.
