Night Swim (2024) - Review
/
© 2023 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Directed by: Bryce McGuire
Written by: Bryce McGuire
Starring: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren
Runtime: 98 min
Synopsis: Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve, teenage daughter Izzy, and young son Elliot. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home's shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home's past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.
© 2023 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Editor's Note: Original review was written for FandomWire. Full article can be found below.
REVIEW SUMMARY
Night Swim fails to rise above the limitations of its generic horror foundation. Despite commendable performances from Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, and the emerging Amélie Hoeferle, Bryce McGuire's reliance on exhausted tropes, predictable jumpscares - even if well-executed - and underdeveloped themes and characters ultimately sink the movie under the weight of its own uninspired narrative choices, namely the rushed ending with frustrating messaging. Sadly, it's not the film I wish I could use to counterargue the idea that January can't have memorable horror.
