Night Swim Review: Shallow Scares With a Decent Story

Can a horror movie survive on premise alone? You won’t need to ponder that question too much after watching Night Swim. Written and directed by Bryce McGuire, it’s a Blumhouse Productions / Atomic Monster movie that is based on a short McGuire and his collaborator Rod Blackhurst made. Night Swim follows the Waller family who move into a new house with a haunted swimming pool. Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) play the parents of the family, Ray and Eve, respectively. 

They move to a new town after Ray, a baseball player, is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Soon after arriving, Eve, Ray, and their two children Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren), begin to see things whenever they’re in the pool. While the premise of the film isn’t original – it’s essentially a copy of Poltergeist with a body of water – it avoids feeling dull or derivative. That’s because the story doesn’t just follow a random family moving into a house with a haunted pool. It’s just a little deeper than you might anticipate.

Night Swim Succeeds With Its Story

The film’s story might strike a chord with you if you know anyone with a disability. The plot doesn’t deeply explore the idea of living with someone who is suffering, but the extent to which it does tackle the subject is done well. Russell captured the feeling of wanting to go back to his former, healthier self quite well. Night Swim’s haunted pool has an effect similar to a fountain of youth, strengthening the people who use it. So, when Ray starts to break free from his MS, he has a direct motivation to continue using the pool. 

The story does falter in the third act, and while I won’t go into specifics, it doesn’t completely come apart at the seams. The movie wraps itself up fairly quickly – with a runtime of 98 minutes – and in classic horror movie fashion, it does leave room for a sequel. Thankfully, the third act isn’t much of an issue because the performances help sustain what the film is attempting to do. Russell’s longing is felt throughout the film, and Condon does play the part of the mother holding her family together well. But, she can be a little too over the top in parts. 

The children were fine for the most part; their slightly antagonistic relationship felt natural. They were a little wooden in certain spots, but not to an unbearable amount. It’s also worth noting that the story beats with anyone outside the family were a little boring. Izzy dating or Elliot’s social issues didn’t need to be focused on as much as they were. Even if we did get a scene reminiscent of an episode of The Simpsons with Elliot peering through the blinds on a window to see the pool party. 

Horror and Editing

Night Swim did an excellent job of maintaining the sustainability of horror, mainly through how the movie was edited. It’s a technique used in horror movies frequently, but they managed to put a twist on banal objects and activities to keep the eerie feeling going. Like when someone’s cutting up a watermelon it cuts between that and the pool, or when it cuts between a glass of water and a fountain. Cutting watermelon isn’t scary, but worrying that Eve might cut her hand keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

Yet, the actual scares aren’t too scary. There’s one scene towards the end of the film that did make me squirm, but after reusing the same few scares for an hour it does get bland. The sustained tension leading up to the horror is great, but when there isn’t much of a payoff, or when those bits overshadow the actual scare, scenes end on a flat note. The fountain scene is a great example of this. Once the horror is unearthed, it’s edited to match the pace of the scene rather than used as a jump scare.

While we’re talking about the editing, the film does a great job of putting the viewer in the pool. Night Swim wouldn’t have been nearly as good if it hadn’t been as atmospheric as it is. Point-of-view shots from the view of Eve freestyling in the pool, or from the inside of a skimmer – like Pennywise inside a drain – help contribute to the overall mood of the film, and they allow for some good jump scares. When the pool pulls the family into the depths, the atmospheric feeling is also done well, and at times it truly feels as if there’s no way out. 

Get a Towel

All in all, at times it’s a mediocre horror movie that feels like a copy of some great classics, but some story elements help it stand out from the crowd. If you usually like Blumhouse Productions movies, you’ll probably have a good time catching this one in the theater. If not, it should make for a good midnight viewing when it eventually comes to a streaming service. Or if you happen to have access to a theater with a pool, that might be the best way to see it. You can see Night Swim in theaters now.