“Night Swim” on Prime Video features a haunted pool with weak scares and poor execution.
“Night Swim“ (now streaming on Prime Video) is an original idea, being the first-ever movie about a haunted swimming pool. It taps into common fears about chlorine and pool skimmers filled with dead bugs. The movie started as a short film by Bryce McGuire, who turned it into a full-length film for his directorial debut. With horror experts Jason Blum and James Wan producing, McGuire cast Wyatt Russell and Oscar nominee Kerry Condon. They play spooky games and deal with a creepy pool-cover crank, which might sound really, really dumb—because it is.
To Stream or Skip: ‘Night Swim’—Is It a Must-Watch?
The Gist: A long time ago, a little girl fell into a pool while trying to get her brother’s toy boat and was never seen again. It seems the pool swallowed her up.
Fast forward thirty years: a family is looking for a new home. Ray (Wyatt Russell), a former baseball player with multiple sclerosis, his wife Eve (Kerry Condon), their teenage daughter Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle), and their younger son Elliot (Gavin Warren) find a house with a pool. Ray is excited because the pool is perfect for his physical therapy and the kids will enjoy it.
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However, the house with the pool is the same one where the little girl disappeared. During their tour, Ray accidentally falls into the pool and almost gets hurt, but he brushes it off. They buy the house and move in.
At first, things seem fine, but soon Ray has a strange experience during Pool Clean-up Day. The pool’s drain bites his hand and spits out black sludge. A pool technician explains that the pool is fed by a rare underground spring.
Ray starts his therapy in the pool, and his condition appears to improve. It seems like the pool might be magical.
Then things start going wrong. Eve experiences weird stuff like flickering lights and strange noises. The family cat goes missing, and they find its collar in the pool, but they think the cat just ran away. The pool also starts messing with the kids, suggesting a creepy creature might be living in it.
Despite these problems, the family throws a pool party for the neighbors and Elliot’s baseball team. The party goes badly, not because of spilled food, but because Ray starts acting strangely, possibly under the pool’s influence. The movie has way too many shots of the haunted drain, and the spooky things keep piling up.
Night Swim: A Haunted Pool Movie That Sinks Under Its Own Weight
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s like the Baby Ruth scene from Caddyshack.
Performance Worth Watching: Kerry Condon was great in Banshees, so it’s a letdown to see her in a silly movie about a haunted pool.
Memorable Dialogue: “You’re SUPPOSED to say POLO!” – Ray
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Here’s a tip: Always check your pool for creepy things lurking in the drain. If you don’t, you might end up like the people in this movie. As for Night Swim, it doesn’t offer much. It’s a weak horror idea stretched too thin. The plot is nonsensical, the jump scares are tired, the characters are empty, and the performances feel like they’re just going through the motions.
The movie doesn’t have any real humor, camp, or scares. It’s just boring, with only a hint that we shouldn’t take it seriously. Even though Ray’s story about losing his baseball career seems like it should have some emotional depth, it doesn’t connect. The film sticks to basic horror clichés and fails to deliver anything new or engaging. Night Swim might have a fresh idea with a haunted pool, but it’s poorly executed. Good luck sitting through it—Night Swim really does put the “poo” in the pool.
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