Night Swim [Review]
Night Swim is The Shining but in a suburban pool, with an added dash of Poltergeist.
Wyatt Russell as Ray Waller in Night Swim, directed by Bryce McGuire. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Night Swim, produced by Jason Blum (Blumhouse Productions) and James Wan (Atomic Monster), was adapted by director Bryce McGuire from the original 2014 short film, which he co-directed with Rod Blackhurst. Some movies based on shorts can feel padded and much longer than they need to be (I’m looking at you, Cargo). Night Swim isn’t one of those movies. Clocking in at a relatively lean 98 minutes, Night Swim builds something substantial out of the bare bones idea of the original 4 minute short as it turns a luxurious symbol of middle class success into a source of nightmare fuel.
Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is a major league baseball player forced to retire by the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS). He and his family, wife Eve (Kerry Condon), daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle), and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren), are looking for a new home to start a new life as they deal with Ray’s worsening illness.
(from lower left) Izzy Waller (Amélie Hoeferle), Elliot Waller (Gavin Warren), Kay (Nancy Lenehan), Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and Eve Waller (Kerry Condon) in Night Swim. Image Credit: Anne Marie Fox/Universal Pictures
They find a house with a feature that’s very attractive to Ray: a large swimming pool. He convinces Eve that they should move in; the pool will provide water therapy for him and fun for the kids. As Ray becomes increasingly more obsessed with the pool because it seems to be healing him, one by one the rest of the family discovers the pool’s sinister nature, building up to a thrilling finale.
Russell and Condon deliver grounded performances of characters written with unexpected emotional depth. Condon stands out, playing a mother and wife dealing with emotionally taxing circumstances that nonetheless grant her the relief of stability and realize her dream of planting roots with her family. Condon skillfully balances Eve’s happiness about her husband’s improving health with a growing apprehension that it will again disrupt their lives because he secretly wants to return to baseball. He chips away at her dream with magical thinking that becomes increasingly real thanks to the pool, with Russell displaying just the right amount of narcissistic self interest as things evolve.
Gavin Warren as Elliot Waller in Night Swim. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Obvious parallels exist between Night Swim and The Shining. Like The Shining’s Overlook Hotel, the pool is a character in the film with its own desires, here depicted with unnerving point of view shots coming from its depths. Ray, like Jack, is increasingly driven by the pool’s promise of bringing out his better self. In both films, that influence leads to the father figure becoming obsessed and dangerous. Both films’ entities seduce and seek to consume their inhabitants.
The film’s tone and pacing are closer to Poltergeist than The Shining; the kinetic style of the family’s experiences with the pool is also more similar to the former. Being reminded of either of those movies isn’t a bad thing.
There are a few sequences that rely a little too heavily on jump scares and jarring sound cues. Fortunately these aren’t the only source of horror and dread in the film, which still has a lot of the quiet tension of the original short. The direction and editing of the film are assured, creating a great balance that drives the movie forward.
Kerry Condon as Eve Waller in Night Swim. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
The movie was filmed on location at a house with a 9 foot deep pool near Pasadena, outside Los Angeles, with some scenes shot in a 13 foot deep Olympic pool. Blue screen was used for some shots, but most of the underwater scenes were shot practically. It makes the movie feel much more real; getting confirmation of this made me appreciate the film even more. It also makes it feel a little creepier knowing that the pool exists somewhere.
I have two gripes with the film. The first is that it relies on an expository monologue late in the film to explain the pool’s backstory, an unfortunate trope that I think wasn’t necessary and serves as kind of a weak excuse to move Eve away from the house. The second is the film’s last few minutes, which end the story in a way that reeks of studio meddling.
Despite those issues, Night Swim was a wonderful way to kick off the new year with some horror. Catch this one on the big screen if you can.
Night Swim premieres exclusively in theaters on January 5.
