âNight Swimâ 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 didnât 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 directedâand it represents his directorial debut. Itâs 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 shortâs 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 Rayâs baseball dreams. Elliot (Gavin Warren) and Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) are the kids. The Waller family is about as predictable and cliché as youâll 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 isnât what makes the movie fail. Itâs the writing and plot of the story.
Haunted Pool?
Moving away from the traditional haunted house setting, âNight Swimâ deals with a haunted swimming pool in the Wallerâs 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 peopleâs natural fear of water. The pool is deeper and wider than any artificial swimming hole youâve 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 itâs just a pool
At the end of the day, thereâs 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 youâll find on a ghostly demon.
âNight Swimâ is bad, boring, and not worth your time. I would suggest checking out the short film for a truncated version that is quite good.
