Name: Night Swim
Director: Bryce McGuire
Released: 2024-01-05T17:48:59

Reviews for 2024 Blumhouse and Atomic Monster-produced Night Swim are divisive. A friend of mine loathes it. He’s offended, all the way from Canada that I liked it. Or maybe, I never told him I liked it, because I knew he would be. I saw the same film he did. I noticed the downright insulting show of trying to be like a similarly veined evil clown that likes to frequent drains as well as various other Blumhouse-stamped nonsense that is often inserted into their more recent productions. But I can’t help it, I like a horror film set in or around water, and a pool is as good as anything else.

Writer and director McGuire perhaps intended it that way and openly said various Blumhouse films inspired this story. He also said he got ideas from classic titles like Poltergeist (1982), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Jaws (1975), Christine (1983), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and The Abyss (1989.) His original short film Night Swim (co-written by Rod Blackhurst) has amassed a whopping 429 000 views since it made its way onto YouTube back in 2014. However, that number might be too low if the video was scattered over several channels. It’s no wonder the story got picked up.

Despite several cash-grabbing Blumhouse standard visuals that were not in the original idea, Night Swim was entertaining. The average score by reviewers of the horror movie sits on IMBd.com with a rating of 4.7/10 and Rotten Tomatoes around the same. Wiki cites Night Swim is recommended by about 30% of those who saw it. Better-than-average results mean this is a movie that most won’t love. And then the rest will loathe it like my friend.

Night Swim Plot

The story follows a family who naively purchases a home steeped in dark history. “Night Swim” eagerly embraces an obscene dose of classic horror movie clichés. It’s precisely this overzealous approach that undermines the film’s aesthetic. The narrative begins with a clear recount of the events from 1992: a toy boat ominously floats on the water’s surface in the backyard pool. Lovingly attached to this toy, the terminally ill brother watches as his younger sister reaches out to retrieve the boat, only to fall into the pool and disappear forever.

Night Swim 2024 strides into the present, introducing a family composed of a mom, dad, and their two children. Ray, the father, battles a debilitating injury sustained during his baseball career. Fortunately, their new home comes equipped with a therapeutic pool, perfect for his rehabilitation. The family’s setup seems impeccable: a stunning home with a pristine, self-sustaining pool. Eve, Ray’s wife, is determined to see him regain his former vitality. However, the moment they settle in, Ray’s personality begins to shift unsettlingly. Horror movie history tells us that nothing good comes from properties with underground springs… as the narrative of A Cure For Wellness reminds us.

Ray’s health begins to improve dramatically once he adopts the daily routine of swimming in his newly acquired pool. Meanwhile, some incidents involving near-drownings of children and a mysteriously vanished cat add layers of something not quite right. At a party, the Realtor discloses the home’s dark history, and all the pieces of the puzzle begin to put everything together.

Effects for the Night Swim movie are excellent thanks to a score fit for a soundtrack and underwater film techniques rolled out with plenty of tense moments. Performances are very good inclusive of the child actors which always helps.

Night Swim Explained

If you haven’t caught Night Swim yet, turn away now so I can tell you about the ending of the movie. The film navigates its supernatural elements with a brisk pace. If you overlooked the scene where Ray cleans the pool early in the movie, some details may escape you. The moment Ray cuts his hand during the cleanup, he unwittingly invites the supernatural entity into their lives. And indeed, it makes a bubbly return.

The pool’s history is filled with disappearances. When Eve tracks down the mother of the girl who drowned in her new pool the truth comes flooding out. They discuss how the pool dispenses its healing power and Rebecca’s mother admits to letting the pool have her daughter in exchange for healing her son.

Armed with new information, Eve sets out to protect her family. With her husband already under full control of the pool’s dark spirit, Eve knows that it will take one of her children as a sacrifice for her now-healed husband. A fight breaks out between the family and the pool entity that leaves her son Elliott pushed to the surface by it’s trapped water prisoner, Rebecca.

Because Eliott is near death, the hold on Ray is loosened long enough for him to regain his senses. In another cliched final act, Ray sacrifices himself to save everyone he loves and disappears into the depths of the water too. Closing the curtain with finality (unless a new family uses the local underground haunted spring) the story closes with talk of cementing the pool in so that it never happens again. But we all know anything is possible.