What’s It About
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 unleashes an evil force that drags the family into the depths of inescapable terror.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Although the horrors of dark water can be scary, this Night Swim fails to make a splash, and audiences would be wise to stay out of the water. The plot itself is stretched too thin. The Waller family is looking for a fresh start. Father Ray (Wyatt Russell) was once a star third-baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers but has been diagnosed with 2nd-stage MS, and now his body is constantly failing him. His wife Eve has been supportive, along with their two children, Izzy and Elliot, frustrated by the prospects of a new school. In their search, they find a beautiful home for sale with a pool in the backyard. The problem is that the pool might be haunted after repeated moments of the water nearly drowning someone or waterlogged demons appearing out of nowhere. Something’s up, but this new home has been good for everyone, especially Ray. As the family discovers their pool is haunted and bad stuff happens, Night Swim is often tedious. Oddly enough, the backstory of this cursed swimming pool may have been a better place to start. Like other bad horror films, the explanation and history of why was a couple of acts too late. When things build to the scary moments, such as the daughter playing Marco Polo in the pool or when the ghost of a girl speaks to the son, the result of terror is lacking. On top of it not being scary, many of the characters act moronic, unable to grab things in the pool and unable to talk about the awful things that happen in a script that has them continue to do dumb things. There have been plenty of films in the past that have worked with haunted homes or a place where dwellers are impacted by an evil presence. The Amityville Horror, Evil Dead, Poltergeist, and even Paranormal Activity got it right the first time. Night Swim, however, offers nothing. All they had to do was stay out of the pool. In the final act of Night Swim, some revelations would have made for a more exciting film, but by then, it was too late. The story, the jump scares, and the acting have all drowned. Some parts are unintentionally funny, and other parts are painfully boring.
OUR RATING – A DROWNING 3
MEDIA
- Genre – Thriller
- Street date
- Digital – January 23rd, 2024
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – April 9th, 2024
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English (DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 for Feature, Dolby Digital 2.0 for bonus content), French Canadian (DTS Digital Surround 5.1), and Latin American Spanish (DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 7.1)
- Subtitles – English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Canadian French
Extras
- MASTERS OF FEAR – Horror legends Jason Blum and James Wan discuss why they chose to collaborate on this project, what drew them to this story and why first-time director, Bryce McGuire, was the perfect man for the job.
- DEMONS FROM THE DEPTHS – Dive into the world of special effects and learn how the creatures in NIGHT SWIM were created to withstand the trials of filming underwater.
- INTO THE DEEP – Go beneath the surface and hear from cast and crew on the physical and technical work that went into creating a movie that contains so many underwater sequences.
- MARCO POLO – Director Bryce McGuire breaks down the pivotal scare scene and how the film took a simple children’s game and turned it into a nightmare.
- FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH CO-WRITER/DIRECTOR BRYCE MCGUIRE