When it comes to movies, January is notable for two things: the announcement of the Oscar nominations, and studios dumping their poorly screen-tested genre fare into theaters. Occasionally, the latter might mean you’ll get a hidden gem, but more often than not you get Night Swim.
The gimmick of Night Swim has the potential to be either so dumb it’s awesome, or so dumb it’s just dumb. Basically, pool’s haunted.
Co-writer and director Bryce McGuire got the chance to adapt his short film of the same name into a feature-length thriller via Universal Pictures and Blumhouse. With the aid of two talented leads and genuine competency behind the camera, he somehow, for better or worse, manages to save his silly premise from sinking to the depths of dumbness. Unfortunately, neither talent nor skill can elevate it beyond the very standard haunting flick.
When the Waller family buys a new house, they are excited to try out the new pool. Ray Waller (Russell) is a former MLB third baseman who had to retire early after being diagnosed with MS. The pool will surely help with his low-impact physical therapy. What the Wallers don’t know is that the pool has a long history of people drowning or disappearing in it. While the kids, Izzy and Elliot, start seeing pool ghouls in and around the pool, Ray starts to make a miraculous recovery, entertaining dreams of making a comeback in the big show. It’s then that Eve Waller (Condon) finally starts to suspect that something may be up with her kids, her husband, and the pool. But not before having a housewarming pool party!
If my synopsis sounds a little cynical, it’s because it’s difficult not to be when it comes to such a specific and stationary haunting. (Just stay away from the pool.) Surprisingly, Night Swim finds a graceful, if not lasting, solution. The ghost pool conjures objects that attract people to it, even against their better judgment (seriously people, just stay away from the pool). A toy boat, a baseball and a cat stranded on a float all provide sufficient catalysts for some effectively tense paranormal pool hijinks. It’s the second half of the film, in which people constantly return to “Death Pool: The Pool That Eats People,” which starts to become not only unbelievable but laborious, and the PG-13 rating assures you that it will stay firmly, disappointingly on the rails.
Whereas a short film can coast on vibes alone, a feature often needs to tell a story with a conclusion. Thus, the final act is bogged down with every boilerplate haunting trope in the book—Eve searching the address on the internet and finding the house has a history of murder, Eve visiting one of the previous owners of the house, Ray becoming a little too obsessed with the pool—in order to justify its runtime, all to get to an ending that makes about as much sense as a haunted pool does. Ultimately, Night Swim should’ve stayed a short film.
