Movie Review: ‘Night Swim’ an interesting concept, but falls flat
“Night Swim” has an interesting concept, but the execution of it falls flat, making for a typical January horror movie release.
The Waller family moves into a new house with hopes that the backyard swimming pool would be fun. But the Wallers quickly realize the pool holds a dark secret that drags the family into the depths of inescapable terror.
You can never expect too much when walking into a horror movie at the start of a new year, and going into “Night Swim,” I can promise you, I wasn’t expecting a genre-defining film. The only things that excited me about the film were it being produced by Blumhouse, and the main protagonist being played by Wyatt Russell. Despite not expecting much to begin with, I still found myself struggling to enjoy “Night Swim.”
The story is an interesting concept based on a short film with the same title, but they didn’t expand into a compelling story. They tried to add this weird lore to why the pool is “haunted,” but they explained it to you so fast towards the end of the film, it made me throw up my hands and laugh. The movie tries desperately to make you care for the complicated relationships in the Waller family, but a lack of explanation makes all the emotional moments fall flat. The rest of the film is filled with moments in the pool, and some are surprisingly entertaining.
I’d like to add that it’s one thing for a horror film to be campy and fun, but “Night Swim” seems to take itself a little too seriously. Multiple times I found myself laughing at actions and lines that I probably shouldn’t have been laughing at, and even though I was excited for Wyatt Russell, he had a line towards the end of the film that was so badly delivered it, made the entire theater laugh.
One good thing I will say about “Night Swim,” is they put together some interesting and innovative scares using situations in the pool. One in particular was a point-of-view shot of a character swimming that made me cover my ears (That’s what I do when I get scared).
“Night Swim” doesn’t redefine the horror genre, but it still has some entertaining moments. I feel like this film is one I would’ve begged my parents to let me go see when I was in middle school, just so I would feel cool for going to a horror movie.
I rate Night Swim 1.5/5.
“Night Swim” is rated PG-13 and hits theaters on Jan. 5, 2024. There are no post-credit scenes.
In The Parks
There are no specific “Night Swim” activations in the theme parks, but it is a Blumhouse film, which means at some point it will be rumored to be a haunted house at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights. After seeing the film I don’t think it would translate well without some insane creativity from the creative teams. And I hate to say it, but when it comes to Blumhouse Halloween Horror Nights houses, they usually fall flat anyway.
