Forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, former baseball player Ray Waller moves into a new house with his wife and two children. He hopes that the backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for himself. However, a dark secret from the home's past soon unleashes a malevolent force that drags the family into the depths of inescapable terror.
Director: Bryce McGuire
Cast: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, Nancy Lenehan, Jodi Long
Release Date: January 5, 2024
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated PG-13 for terror, some violent content and language.
Runtime: 1h 38m
Night Swim has a fun concept paired with strong performances, particularly Kerry Condon, but the execution is little more than a bland, uninspired Amityville Horror knock off with a sprinkle of Cocoon for some reason. Bryce McGuire's big screen debut, based on his short film, is initially intriguing as we are introduced to the general concept and central family. A series of well staged jump scares provide the sort of scares you'd expect from a film of this ilk. The issues start popping up fairly quickly there after as the script struggles to stretch the concept out for a full length feature. The reveals are fairly uninspired, mostly consisting of well worn horror tropes that we've seen countless times before. With few twist and turns there are telegraphed so loudly that you'd be hard pressed not to see them coming from a mile away. Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon play it deadly serious throughout which works better in the first half of the film before things get progressively more ridiculous as the family battles the evil pool. Condon brings a level of commitment to the role which speaks to the level of talent she brings to the production even as she confidentially utters some unintentionally funny lines in the film's final act. Russell is a solid screen partner early on but once he's overtaken by the evil his performance makes Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance look like a study in subtly. Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren play the pair's children with both bringing an authentic air of sibling chemistry together which the film would have been wise to use to greater effect especially since there are slivers of interesting character traits for each. As is, Night Swim will fall into the massive wasteland of utterly forgettable horror films dumped into January.
D+
