Night Swim (15)

Major league baseball player Ray Waller is devastated when a degenerative illness forces him into early retirement. He secretly hopes to return to the sport he loves, which concerns his wife Eve. The couple move into a new home with their children Izzy and Elliot and Ray persuades Eve that the property's neglected pool will aid his physical therapy. A malevolent force lurks out of sight and when one member of the family takes a cooling dip, the entire Waller clan risks being pulled under.

LondonNet Film Review

Night Swim (15) Film Review from LondonNet

In certain cultures, water is considered sacred or magical and centuries of folkloric tradition commemorate the act of dropping coins into water to connect with spirits or gods that grant wishes. Writer-director Bryce McGuire’s horror thriller tosses several silver coins into a swimming pool during one pivotal sequence and wishes for a deeper dive into the four-minute short film he released with Rod Blackhurst in 2014 about a ghostly encounter in a suburban backyard. Night Swim expands a simple premise into a full-blooded 98-minute battle for one family’s survival, emboldened with neat camerawork above and below the waterline to milk discomfort from ominous ripples and reflections…

There are only so many ways McGuire’s script can creatively drown cast members before the thrashing becomes repetitive and the supernatural hokum noticeably treads water once the accursed clan deduces the central feature of their garden is a death trap in every sense. Pacing reduces to a (front) crawl before a lacklustre final reckoning. An unsettling prologue soaked in the night-time humidity of summer 1992 teases what might be lurking in the shimmering aqua but most of the film’s gentle scares take place in broad daylight so the nondescript title could be hosed down with something like gH2Osts or Ghouls By The Pool.

Professional baseball player Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is devastated when a degenerative neurological condition forces him into early retirement. He secretly hopes to return to the sport that gave him purpose but concerned wife Eve (Kerry Condon) urges him to be realistic for the sake of their two children, Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren), as the couple seek a forever home to put down roots and meet Ray’s accessibility needs. A conveniently vacant property with a neglected swimming pool catches their eye. “We’ll have water therapy in our own backyard,” chirrups Ray, still clinging to his dream of a comeback.

An ancient spring feeds the pool and Ray experiences an extraordinary turnaround in physical health by taking twice daily dips. However, medical miracles come at a price and his loved ones experience disturbing visions that seem to be luring them to the deep end. “What makes more sense? That the pool’s helping us or it’s haunted?” Izzy asks her terrified brother, summarising the madness swirling around them. “What if it’s both,” wisely replies Elliot.

Night Swim is an efficient and mildly unsettling paddle in troubled waters, anchored by a strong performance from Condon as a fiercely protective matriarch determined to shield her broken brood from further harm. Assured direction keeps the film afloat through preposterous plot twists. Horror films sink or swim by their scares and McGuire’s picture never makes a big splash in that regard, telegraphing water-logged misfortune far in advance.

– Kim Hu