Backyard swimming pools are not inherently scary. They are well-illuminated, with crystal clear water when they are appropriately maintained, so it is almost impossible for something unknown or dangerous to hide there. This is a far cry from a creaky old house or an abandoned theme park, and yet the new horror film Night Swim wants us to find terror in them, sort of like what the original Poltergeist did for the generic suburban home. Writer and director Bryce McGuire does not exactly have an original concept, but he has an eye for off-kilter imagery, and he always remembers the old adage about artists stealing from the best.
After a prologue in 1992 where a backyard pool seems to swallow a little girl whole, we see the Waller family stumble upon the same home while house-hunting. Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell), a former major league baseball player, has special needs after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. He does want not a home that’s designed to function like a hospital – an admission of his deteriorating health – and so a house with a pool is attractive because aquatic therapy is low-impact. In fact, Ray sees an immediate improvement: his strength and coordination improve, although he does not see how the pool – seemingly with a mind of its own – terrorizes the rest of his family.
When Ray’s wife Eve (Kerry Condon) goes for a swim and sees a figure from below the surface, she goes back up for air and nothing is there. Their children Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren) have even more disturbing encounters, with one seeing a grotesque Swamp Thing figure, and another being dropped into depths that recall the “sunken place” from Get Out. After a disastrous pool party where Ray nearly drowns a child, Eve realizes there is something supernatural at play. She takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of the pool before it is too late and it sinks her entire family (pun intended).
Like many other January horror films, Night Swim is PG-13 and does not attempt extreme scares. McGuire telegraphs the scary moments, and his editing grammar opts for enough pauses so that each surprise comes with ample notice. Rather than pulverizing the audience with gore or sudden noises, McGuire attempts something trickier: he wants to make a wide, inviting space seems creepy. Of course, he gets a lot of mileage by how someone underwater looks upward and cannot see clearly (provided they are not wearing goggles). And since a pool skimmer operates like an open mouth, one that collects leaves and other debris, Night Swim imagines the skimmer “talking” to Elliot, sort of like how Pennywise talks to poor Georgie from the sewer in IT.
McGuire would probably be the first to admit his film gets zero points for originality, and yet the family dynamics – coupled with a psychological drama – help elevate the whole thing. None of the characters in Night Swim make stupid decisions for the sake of the plot, and the family all seems to care about one another, aside from an obligatory ribbing among the siblings. Russell is well-cast as Ray, a man who feels emasculated by a body that betrays him, and grows more selfish as his health returns. When a monster possesses Ray and turns him against his family, not unlike The Shining, Russell curdles his all-American sensibility into something more sadistic and frightening. The other three performances are much more reactive, with Condon slumming it after a recent Oscar nomination, since they do not require much else, but to his credit, Night Swim has the patience to develop the Wallers as a family.
One major reason the film develops its characters is that the reveal of the pool’s nature – the supernatural force behind it, and what it wants – is a letdown. At once simple and convoluted, the explanation does not provide a satisfying explanation for what ultimately befalls this family. The muddled ending welcomes disbelief, like wondering why a backyard pool can be found in the suburbs of the Twin Cities, a place with abundant lakes and a short warm season. Despite all that, Night Swim is mostly a success because it has strong performances, as well as genuinely creepy moments, and good horror films have been built on less. This is the sort of scary movie that confidently swims laps for a while, then treads water once it loses its energy.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
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