“Night Swim” was released five days into 2024. As a glutton for punishment, I fully intended to make a winter trip to the theater to check it out. Thankfully I didn’t waste the $20 on it and caught it for free on Amazon. It lives up to the label of a dump month horror movie.
Filmmaker Bryce McGuire wrote and directed—and it represents his directorial debut. It’s based on his own short film from 2014. At 3 minutes, the short film is inarguably superior. The full-length picture takes some of the short’s flavor and waters it down enough to fill 90 minutes. Toss in Jason Blum and James Wan in production roles and there it is.
The Waller family is moving into a new house. Ray (Wyatt Russell) is a former MLB player suffering from multiple sclerosis. Eve (Kerry Condon) is the wife who has sacrificed her career for Ray’s baseball dreams. Elliot (Gavin Warren) and Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) are the kids. The Waller family is about as predictable and cliché as you’ll find in fiction.
Wyatt Russell is the son of Kurt Russell. He looks like his father which is a cool thing to witness. Kerry Condon is cute and fine as the mother. The acting overall isn’t what makes the movie fail. It’s the writing and plot of the story.
Haunted Pool?
Moving away from the traditional haunted house setting, “Night Swim” deals with a haunted swimming pool in the Waller’s backyard. Sure.
I did like the aerial shots of said pool, in particular the late-night scenes where the pool lights and blue water look naturally ominous. The best horror moments come from characters underwater seeing shadowy figures on the ground above. This facet was perfected in the short film as well.
The movie capitalizes on people’s natural fear of water. The pool is deeper and wider than any artificial swimming hole you’ve ever seen. Characters do stupid things like reach into dark drains and keep their eyes closed during a game of Marco Polo despite knowing something is amiss.
But it’s just a pool
At the end of the day, there’s not a lot of fuel for a haunted swimming pool. Eve goes on a quest to research the previous homeowners. All the family experience things but only Ray benefits. There are cheap and predictable jump scares. And some of the worst makeup you’ll find on a ghostly demon.
“Night Swim” is bad, boring, and not worth your time. I would suggest checking out the short film for a truncated version that is quite good.
