Night Swim (2024)

​“Night Swim” stars Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, and Gavin Warren. Released on January 5, 2024, the film has a family discovering an unknown presence in their backyard swimming pool.

The film is written and directed by Bryce McGuire in his feature directorial debut, and it is based on McGuire and Rod Blackhurst’s 2014 short film of the same name. It’s always a delight to swim or relax in a swimming pool, either at a hotel or in your own home's backyard. However, just because it’s a fun time, it doesn’t mean it doesn't have the fear that comes with it, whether it’s accidental drowning or something far worse. As expected, we’re kicking off the new year with a scare-your-pants-off horror movie, and I’m not talking about just any old scary film. I’m referring to the one produced by Jason Blum and “Saw” director James Wan, who both have a decent yet flawed track record, especially the latter with the “Aquaman” sequel. More importantly, it also has first-time director Bryce McGuire testing new waters (no pun intended) in feature filmmaking by bringing his viral short film to the big screen. Does it provide a splash big enough to kick off 2024 with a bang, or does it deserve to drown with the other low-quality January horror movies? Let’s dive in and find out.

The story follows the Waller family, consisting of father Ray (Russell), mother Eve (Condon), teenage daughter Izzy (Hoeferle), and young son Elliot (Warren). The Wallers move into a new house, hoping to start a new life together. They later discover that their new home has a backyard swimming pool that hasn’t been used in years, resulting in Ray fixing it up for them to use. Unfortunately, the Wallers failed to realize that they unintentionally released a dangerous presence with its eyes set on haunting the family, including Ray. The family then must find a way to dispel the pool’s curse before it drowns them.

January has a pretty bad rep regarding the horror genre, with most of the movies I’ve seen being either forgettable, crappy, or both. In fact, they appear on my top ten least favorite lists almost every year. However, there were also times when horror films turned out to be surprisingly good, a recent example being last year’s “M3GAN.” While far from terrifying, that movie showed how to combine its creepy concept with its campy, fun vibes and social commentary, something that most horror films struggled to do. While I wasn’t expecting “Night Swim” to reach the same heights as “M3GAN,” I was hoping that it wouldn’t fall in line with the other cheaply-made horror movies we got in previous years. It had promise regarding the people behind it, including McGuire and Wan, but were they enough to bypass its familiar supernatural tropes of yesteryear? Sadly, no. Despite being well-shot, this is another horror movie that lacks the effort needed to stay afloat.

If you’ve seen the short film, you’ll know that “Night Swim” offers the same plot as its source material but is extended to fit the feature-length criteria. So you might see some sequences you’re familiar with and some expanded scenes that'll appeal to those who haven’t. I was one of the people who hadn’t watched McGuire’s short movie, making it easier to review it with fresh eyes instead of comparing the two. Along with its concept, the movie also portrays the dangers of desires, mainly when they're from a supernatural curse. The film’s protagonist, Ray, is a former baseball player who’s retired due to a disease. He then gets a chance to relive those glory days thanks to the pool, which heals his disease. However, he and his family would eventually learn that every gift has a price.

Regarding its gothic fairytale-like story and message about the importance of family over desires, this could’ve been another surprise hit for producer Jason Blum. Then again, regarding his filmography, Blum has plenty of instances where he provides quantity over quality, which is why I always maintain my subtle expectations toward his films. In the case of “Night Swim,” it’s unfortunate that this is another degrading piece of horror quantity that’s also a bland copy-and-paste version of the previous supernatural-focused movies we’ve seen countless times. The only difference is that it has a haunted swimming pool that’ll make you even more afraid to enter the water. So, if you’re hoping for something beyond the film’s familiar genre tropes, you might as well keep yourself dry until the next scary movie arrives.  

Regarding the direction and screenplay, Bryce McGuire is ambitious in expanding his short film that caught everyone’s attention, including the mysterious pool and its themes. Sadly, his promising attempt failed to make a splash-worthy impression on me due to his lackluster script, forgettable scares, and mediocre characters. It even has an ending that lacked the emotional payoff it was going for regarding the characters’ arcs, making me wonder what point they’re trying to make with the Wallers. On the bright side, McGuire’s direction toward the cinematography was decent at best, especially the underwater sequences and the panning shots with some of James Wan’s fingerprints on them.

Along with the cinematography, the movie’s cast did all right with their performances. Whenever we have characters that are weakly developed or make dumb choices, we always rely on the actors playing them to pick up the slack. From my perspective, it’s the principle of reviewing horror movies. Wyatt Russell has a pretty good acting career so far, especially considering his recent roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even the latest "Monarch" series on Apple TV+. Now, he’s in a horror movie as the victim of the pool’s sinister curse. How lucky can this guy be? Unfortunately, his performance as Ray didn’t quite match the heights of his previous roles as I thought he would. While far from terrible, Russell struggles to provide enough "oomph" into the character struggling with his limitations. Kerry Condon and Amélie Hoeferle were also passable as Eve and Izzy, respectively. Like Russell, they’re not bad, but I wouldn’t call them special either.

Overall, “Night Swim” lacks the narrative frights to keep itself from sinking to the bottom of the horror ocean. It’ll likely impress a few people willing to dive into simplistic and familiar waters, mainly for Charlie Sarroff’s cinematography and the movie’s cast. Besides that, Bryce McGuire’s directorial debut squandered its promising potential and wound up being as irritating as getting chlorine in the eyes. With its formulaic screenplay, lackluster plot, and weak scares, the film failed to swim past its trope-heavy currents, resulting in it drowning in the sea of underwhelming horror movies. Of course, this also means it’s another film that fell victim to the “bad January horror movie" curse. January just can’t catch a break these days. But never fear, my friends, as 2024’s just getting started, with several more movies on the way that could wind up being better or worse than “Night Swim”. For our sake, let’s hope it’s the former.

D