Night Swim
Night Swim
Starring Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amelie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren
Directed by Bryce McGuire
After suffering an illness that stopped his baseball career, Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and his family - his wife Eve (Kerry Condon), daughter Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle), and son Elliot (Gavin Warren) - move to a new town closer to his doctor and finds a house on the cheap with a pool that could help in his recovery. Soon after using the pool his illness seems to dissipate, and he begins to think that he might be able to make a comeback. Yet the rest of the family isn't too fond of the pool, especially after both children are attacked by an entity that resides in the water. Eve believes her children and discovers that the water in the pool is the source of great power - but also requires a great sacrifice. She must find a way to save her family from the ghosts in the pool before they claim the life of one of her children, as her husband begins getting possessed by it.
The Good:
"Night Swim" is based off a three-minute short film that's tight, taunt, and terrifying. There's a lot of short horror films on YouTube like this, and anyone seeing this film would probably be incited to see the short its based off of - and realize they could've saved an additional 95 minutes of their time by watching the short instead of the elongated, watered-down (dangit) version.
The Bad:
The story is generic, over-the-top, and predictable all at the same time. A ghost haunts a pool because it's got healing powers that requires sacrifice for the healing to work, or something like that. While it seems convoluted, it really ultimately doesn't matter because we all know how it's going to end up. There's no real stakes and no real fear that supplies any exciting twists and turns, but instead treads water to keep its head above it.
The performances are lackluster, and it's clear that none of them really wanted to be there. Wyatt Russell breezes through his performance like he's sleepwalking, and Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon does give a valid attempt to show that she cares, but even she doesn't believe in the script and it shows with her bland performance. The kids don't fare much better, as the daughter is typecast to a hormonal angsty teen and the son is the typical weird loner kid who you wouldn't mind kicking the bucket - but since this is a PG-13 horror, you know that won't be the case.
The most lazy way to incite horror in audiences is the use of jump scares, and "Night Swim" is filled to the brim with them. I only jumped once because I was falling asleep and a loud sound happened that jolted me awake. Other than that the scares came predictably, and weren't at all scary.
The story is silly, as the spirits haunt the pool and nowhere else, so obviously the easy solution is to cement it up and build a volleyball court above it - but then I wonder if that court would then also be haunted, with its volleyball net coming off and wrapping around someone suffocating them. I've now put more thought into that than writing this review because there's literally nothing to write home about, so I'll stop now and not do a dive into the deep end of the film - because it's all kiddy pool, no Olympic-sized pool.
The Summary:
Relying on generic jump scares and a mystery that needs solved within a certain period of time, "Night Swim" will have you thinking twice about jumping in the pool again, because you'll wonder if you forgot to replace the chlorine and not because it could be haunted by spirits that want to drown your soul.
The Score: D
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