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Water, one of nature’s four elements, is not just a source of life for humanity, but also a powerful and, at times, lethal force. Bryce McGuire, the director of Night Swim, makes water a central theme in the new Blumhouse thriller, but the picture ultimately falls short. Despite the great depth of the pool in Night Swim, the storylines and the overall film’s writing could have been deeper.
Night Swim Review
Night Swim, based on the 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and McGuire, stars Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Ray Waller, a major league baseball player, who’s forced to retire early due to the MS diagnosis. Ray is determined to combat the sickness as he moves into a new home with his wife Eve (Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), and son Elliot (Gavin Warren, Fear the Walking Dead). His sanctuary takes the form of a beautiful, freshly cleaned swimming pool. Ray uses the enticing water as a source of physical therapy for himself and a fun place for the rest of the family. However, a dark secret hidden within the home’s history soon releases a malicious power that will slowly take the family down into the depths of unfathomable terror.
It would be a stretch to say that Night Swim is the worst of Blumhouse movies. After all, the horror film has Russell in its cast ensemble. The actor does his best and carries the film’s narrative on his shoulders, with Condon not falling far behind. The Oscar nominee does a solid job portraying a concerned wife who suspects issues with the pool not long after the kids report seeing strange figures around it. Night Swim also contains a couple of effective jump scares. One of them occurs when Condon’s Eve is swimming alone and the camera tracks her freestyle swim motions from side to side as she takes each breath. There are a few other jumpy moments in the film, but ultimately, that’s where the positives end.
Night Swim attempts to tell us the story of Ray, a baseball player who faces a serious illness. The new house, particularly the swimming therapy, appears to be helping him. Despite his children’s and wife’s worries, Ray has no plans to move out of the house. His desire to return to the game outweighs his family’s concern. Perhaps the creators wanted to spark a debate on how love equals sacrifice, as exemplified by Ray’s character. The message, however, isn’t fleshed out sufficiently; it barely scratches the surface of what could have been a multidimensional horror film.
A similar problem arises when it comes to the backstory of the swimming pool. Night Swim doesn’t expose anything immediately, but rather towards the conclusion of the movie. It almost seems like we won’t know why the place is haunted and what water has to do with it, but finally, in the third act, the creators bestow upon us a rather rushed, hasty explanation. It’s not illogical, it doesn’t have any holes, but it could have been more complex and, again, deeper.
Night Swim wants to be a film with more than one layer. And, in a way, it perhaps has that, but the layers aren’t multidimensional; they don’t contain the depth we’re looking for. That said, the film may be one of those that provide some enjoyment but are otherwise rather forgettable. Despite the strong performances, particularly from Russell and Condone, the audience is left with some nice jump scares but also shallow stories that might benefit from additional complexity.
Grade: C
Night Swim premieres in theaters on January 5th.
