Night Swim
Written by Bryce McGuire and Rod Blackhurst
Directed by Bryce McGuire
Starring Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren
Running time 1 hour and 38 minutes
MPAA Rating PG-13 for language, terror, and some violent content
In theaters January 5

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport & Editor in Chief

“No pool is absolutely safe…”

Night Swim, may not be the type of movie that is going to win any awards but one thing is for sure it is not a complete nosedive.

In hopes of scoring a coveted Oscar nomination, studios have a rash of cinematic releases during the month of December. Inevitably, this leads to a major comedown and a cause for January to be a dry month in terms of new flicks. Pictures released at the start of the year are often lackluster and unlikely to make a big splash at the box office. However, in first seeing a trailer for Bryce McGuire’s Night Swim, I was damn well intrigued that an entire plot line could revolve around a haunted pool. A pool premise, how incredible…I could not resist taking a dip!

When a family of four purchases a home one of the major sales clinchers was the prospect of owning and operating a swimming pool. This is especially true for ailing father Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell), who finds himself struggling to cope with a recently diagnosed degenerative nerve disease. To say that Ray is down in the dumps would be a gross understatement. As a former professional third baseman, he now finds himself toting a cane rather than swinging a baseball bat. A glimpse into his eyes shows how much he is suffering with this new reality. Ray sees having access to take a plunge on a demand as an opportunity to take part in water therapy as recommended by his doctor and possibly help him cope with his illness.

Unfortunately, it does not take long for buyer’s remorse to set in, particularly for his wife Eve (Kerry Condon). Strange things start to happen involving the pool such as finding the family cat Cider’s collar floating in the deep end, with no trace of where they could be. Mysterious figures lurk inside and out of the pool and Ray experiences an unexplained improvement to his well-being. It is as if the water has healed him. In one scene reminiscent of The Natural (1984), he attends his son Elliot’s baseball practice and swings for the fences, cracks a cover off the ball, and hits one of the bulbs in the light tower. Ray is pleased as punch over his new found strength while his family has reservations.

Things really hit the fan when the Waller family decides to throw a pool party at their home in hopes to socialize with their new neighbors. From one of the guests, Eve learns that years prior a young girl had drowned in the pool which was cause for the family to abandon the home. Soon thereafter, uninvited guests of the spectral persuasion show up and cause the party to end abruptly. It is after this incident in which Eve decides to do some digging into previous owners of their home and the pool’s dark past. I do have issue with the way in which this part of the story plays out as I feel the script smothers one with details at the end of the second and third act. Much of this information could have been shown throughout the runtime rather than just being dumped into my lap all at once, giving the impression that the real goal was to set up an imminent prequel or sequel. In watching a Blumhouse or James Wan production, I can’t help but think they are more concerned with the future rather than the present film at hand, chasing the high that came from the success of a series such as The Conjuring. With that said, I am willing to look past this, given that I really was not expecting much out this picture and was pleasantly surprised by the actors’ abilities to keep me engaged, especially the performances from the young actors, Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren who play brother and sister, respectively.

Additionally, I must put this out there: I presently find myself in somewhat of a generous mood in terms of critiques (ie Wonka). Maybe it is the short run times, or possibly the lasting effects of holiday spirit. Even with that aside, I still found there was something quite captivating about this flick, especially in seeing it with other human beings. Night Swim serves as a reminder of the fun that can be had when viewing a silly little horror picture in the cinema. To hear the crowd exclaim at the various jump scares or remark aloud, “oh no, don’t do that…” filled my heart. Not all films need to be masterpieces, sometimes you just need to escape. Much like other cult horror pictures such as Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) - which Night Swim definitely seems to take some cues from - this is a film that has a wacky premise filled with kooky characters. I could not help but be charmed by them. The baseball and pool obsessed father (If I had a nickel for each time he brought up either of these as a topic, I’d be Scrooge McDuck!), a teen daughter (Amélie Hoeferle) that is clearly a scream queen in the making, the realtor/neighbor lady that has Better Off Dead mom vibes going on, and the over enthusiastic pool technician (Ben Sinclair) all manage to leave their mark. I could have done without some of the computer generated imagery (please see an example of a creature design below that I drew while watching the film), as I am old school and believe there is power to leaving things up to the viewer’s imagination.

There is something quite haunting about the pool being utilized as a character, the stillness and prospect of death being easily within reach. If nothing else, Bryce McGuire did manage to earn my respect as I believe this may have been (in some ways) an homage to Carnival of Souls, especially some of those pool shots with ghoulish hands reaching. I could be wrong (I often am). Regardless, I still think Night Swim is worth getting submerged in.