Movie Review ~ Night Swim

The first movie I saw in theaters at the start of 2023 was M3EGAN, a surprise hit for horror factory Blumhouse Productions following a killer doll that was far more fashionable than Chucky from the Child’s Play series. Despite arriving with low expectations, this tiny terror became a viral sensation, getting the much-sought-after TikTok crowd on her side and inspiring countless recreations of her famous dance moves. It wasn’t high art but undeniably entertaining in the kind of popcorn-chomping way that recalled the “old days” when going to horror movies could be PG-13-level fun, no blood or boobies required.

With an 181 million haul off of a 12 million dollar budget, a sequel to M3EGAN is being assembled as I write this. Still, Blumhouse has kept the lights on throughout the year with television titles (Unseen, The Passenger, Totally Killer) and big-screen offerings (Insidious: The Red Door, The Exorcist: Believer, and another out of left field smash, Five Nights at Freddy’s) and is kicking off its 2024 slate with their first film in collaboration with the Atomic Monster team, led by director James Wan. While Night Swim may appear to be a shallow dip in silly waters, it is a decent attempt to bridge a gap for audiences graduating from kiddie pool scares to more adult plunges into the deep end of terror.

A brief ‘90s set prologue establishes a sinister presence in the backyard swimming pool of a Minnesota home before bringing us to the present day when the Waller family decides the unkempt pool is a major selling point when seeking a new place to live. Dad Ray (Wyatt Russell, Overlord) is a former professional baseball player diagnosed with MS, and his doctors have recommended physical activity in the water to ease his increasing discomfort. Unaware of the history of the house or its private oasis, Ray, his wife, Eve (Kerry Condon, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), and children Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Elliot (Gavin Warren, 12 Mighty Orphans) bring the pool (fed from a natural spring) back to its former glory and, in doing so, awaken a long-dormant evil.

You may be sitting there, reading this review, and thinking about all the ways that the Wallers could avoid trouble once they get some idea of the problems the pool is presenting. Staying out of the water, draining the pool, filling it in, buying one of those above-ground monoliths…all valid options if any of them genuinely thought the pool was haunted initially. And, let’s be honest, while the film was very clearly shot in California, it is strangely set in Minnesota for no real reason.  I have to wonder if director/writer Bryce McGuire and his co-writer Rob Blackhurst know how short our outdoor pool weather is.

At least for our screening, the litmus test for Night Swim was when Eve told her husband something akin to “There’s something evil in that pool,” and no one laughed. By then, McGuire and cinematographer Charlie Sarroff (Relic and Smile) had established a creepy mood, holding back on jump scares in favor of sequences that dialed up the unease. Who hasn’t been the only one in a pool and suddenly felt utterly exposed and vulnerable from all sides, including from below? While it starts to play loose with logic the more it reveals its mythology, McGuire and Blackhurst’s script (inspired by their original YouTube short, which attracted the attention of the Atomic Monster crew) at least feels like it is trying to connect its dots.

Last seen in her Oscar-nominated role in The Banshees of Inisherin, Condon is essential to smoothing out some of the rougher spots of McGuire and Blackhurst’s screenplay, a task she takes on like a champ. When good actors show up in these B-movies and take it as seriously as they can, it can’t help but elevate everything/everyone around them. That’s good news for Russell, who has always struggled to stand out as an actor and can’t quite make the case for himself as a Patrick Wilson-ish leading man here. Both kids are fine actors, but I must mention Jodi Long and Nancy Lenehan for two delightfully different performances. These character actresses have been working for decades, and their dependability shows.

Almost proudly wearing its PG-13 rating, Night Swim is mostly bloodless and carries teenager sleepover frights, yet I was surprised at how cozily I was entertained throughout. Perhaps it caught me in the right mood, or maybe I’m a forgiving enough horror fan that when a well-acted, nicely made film comes along, I’m eager to buoy it up for the small successes it can offer rather than sink it for what it lacks. I find it challenging to believe it will achieve the same high marks as M3GAN, but with audiences coming out of their holiday coma and looking for a slick ripple of thrills, this won’t belly-flop at the box office either.