Night Swim Review

      

Director: Bryce McGuire

Cast: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amelie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren

Screenplay: Bryce McGuire

Running Length: 1:38

MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Disturbing Images, Violence)

U.S Release Date: 1-05-24 (Wide)

Genre: Horror                                                                                     

            

              It wouldn’t be the new year without Hollywood starting things off with yet another horror movie. Last year, we had M3gan, this year that honor goes to Night Swim. Both films come from Blumhouse but while M3gan actually attempted to do some interesting things with its premise (even if it wasn’t entirely successful in the end) — the same cannot be said for Night Swim. This is about as generic of a horror movie as one is likely to find this time of year.

Taking a short film (in this case a 4-minute short that writer/director Bryce McGuire co-made with Rod Blackhurst back in 2014) and stretching it out into a feature-length film rarely works out well and sadly, Night Swim is just another example. That’s not to say the film is completely without merit. There are some decent scares and Mcguire manages to employ some interesting camerawork during some of the water-based scenes by using different lenses and angles - effectively making the pool feel like its own character. It’s a shame that same energy couldn’t be put into crafting a better story.

Night Swim opens on a high note with a prologue involving a young girl (Ayazhan Dalabayeva) and the haunted pool in question. After witnessing her unfortunate encounter with the pool, we jump to the present day where we’re introduced to the Wallers. Ray (Wyatt Russell) was once a major league baseball player whose career was derailed after being diagnosed with some sort of neuromuscular disease (maybe ALS? It’s never clear what it is). After being recommended with water therapy to help with his disease, he and his wife, Eve (Kerry Condon) and their two children, Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliott (Gavin Warren) move into a house with a backyard pool. Everything seems normal at first and, in Ray’s case, things are improving as his daily swims inexplicably seem to be almost curing his condition. The same can’t be said for the rest of the family as they each start having encounters with ghostly apparitions, and it doesn’t take long before they realize that there might be more sinister forces at play.

When Night Swim focuses on the horror elements and the mystery surrounding the pool itself — it’s on solid ground. As soon as everything shifts to Ray and his family, that’s when the film runs into trouble. There’s nothing compelling about any of the drama surrounding the characters — part of that has to do with the writing (it doesn’t help that these characters are practically paper-thin), but the bland performances from most of the cast don’t do the film any favors either. The only person worth mentioning is Kerry Condon, whose performance is strong enough that she manages to achieve some sort of depth. Wyatt Russell looks perpetually bored half of the time and while Amelie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren are fine, they fail to leave any sort of impression. 

             Had McGuire stuck the landing with the resolution, I would probably have been more forgiving of its flaws but the “truth” in regards to the mystery of why the pool is seemingly haunted was disappointing. Not to mention if the performances had been stronger all-around maybe the ending would have had more of an impact but the only thing it elicited from me was a shrug. As far as January horror films go, I’ve seen far worse and while it does have its moments, it’s not enough to justify seeking this out in theaters even for those looking for a few cheap thrills.