Night Swim (2024)

[Malcolm R]

Title: Night Swim (2024)

Tagline: Everything you fear is under the surface.

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Director: Bryce McGuire

Cast: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, Nancy Lenehan, Jodi Long, Preston Galli, Aivan Uttapa

Release: 2024-01-03

Plot: Ray Waller is a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness. He moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve and their two children. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.

New film produced by James Wan and Jason Blumhouse. Not sure how I feel about the "haunted swimming pool" sub-genre, but the trailer is suitably creepy.

 

[SD_Brian]

"Haunted swimming pool" sub-genre? Is that a thing? What are some other titles?

 

[Malcolm R]

That's kind of what I meant. I think this may be the first.

 

[SD_Brian]

That's kind of what I meant. I think this may be the first.

Oh good. For a second I was worried I might be missing out.

 

[TravisR]

That girl is VERY devoted to the rules of Marco Polo.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

That girl is VERY devoted to the rules of Marco Polo.

And also VERY terrible at it. I mean who in the world wouldn't immediately call 'Fish out of water' when receiving no reply???

 

[TravisR]

And also VERY terrible at it. I mean who in the world wouldn't immediately call 'Fish out of water' when receiving no reply???

Or, since she's clearly unnerved, open her eyes?

 

[Jason_V]

Low expectations are the name of the game for Night Swim. Maybe no expectations is better, since this is a January horror movie release. However you go into it, put your brain on hold and don't think about what's happening. It doesn't feel right to pick apart a January horror movie...this movie isn't designed to hold up under intense scrutiny.

That being said, the reveal takes far too long to be presented; there is no way for the audience to play along and figure out what's happening until a character explains it all. Sure, we can guess, but that betrays the how movies should be written, at least for me. Once we know what's happening, some cryptic items fit into that narrative.

One or two jump scare moments, but I don't think anyone is going to be kept up at night after watching this one.

One question:

Spoiler: Spoiler

We're told Ray has MS and he is shown walking with a cane for support. Why in the world would this family decide to get a sprawling, two-floor house? I get he said he doesn't want the disease to dictate this entire life, but there has to be some understanding of his condition and planning for it in the future. Sure, he doesn't want to admit it and without moving into this house, the movie doesn't happen with this family. Couldn't they find a single story house with a non-wishing, non-haunted pool?