I had low expectations of Night Swim before I even watched the film. I felt it was going to be the type of film where the trailer showed how the story would go and end. Sadly, the trailer did exactly that which made Night Swim a rather dry experience where I wasn’t feeling scared at all. Instead, it felt like a version of the 2006 flick Lady in the Water because of how the place of peril is a swimming pool. While the evil spirits may seem creative in Night Swim, the film attempts to go to dark places to try to give its audience shocks and terrors. However, it fails miserably making Night Swim is a catastrophe. I left the movie with mixed emotions due to the blur of water terror that is challenged to find much meaning.

The film’s plot recaps a horror event in a neighborhood in the early 1990s. After the tragedy, a new family moves into the same home. The husband and wife are Ray (played by Wyatt Russell) and Eve (played by Kerry Condon). Their two kids are Izzy (played by Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliot (played by GavenWarren). The family is looking for a fresh start after Ray, a former baseball player, has sustained injuries. They choose to live in the home because of its swimming pool where they believe Ray can heal his injuries through his physical therapy. The home is also chosen because they feel it is a start to community life for Izzy and Elliot. Unfortunately, they do not realize that the pool is cursed.

Night Swim’s brand of horror felt like an odd version of the 1954 classic Creature from the Black Lagoon, but without thesymbolism and layers of terror that shocked and entertained viewers in that era. Night Swim tries to replicate this formula without success. The layout of events before a terror emerges is not based on much evidence. It doesn’t work to simply throw an invisible monster in a swimming pool to terrorize a family that is looking for a new beginning. Their new life is negatively impacted because the creature in the pool has the power to do mental damage to whoever it possesses in the water. These moments of “possession” is where this writing is a hot disaster. The targeted characters are chosen too easily. In horror, there has to be more calculation to create shock value. In Night Swim, the only shocking aspect is the awful unexpected water scares.

The film does have a structured foundation in terms of the family setup—new home, new life, and new beginnings. The film lacks in that there is no analysis of why the pool is cursed. There are simply creepy scenarios that happen out of the blue. Instead of scaring me, they caused me to laugh at the ridiculousness of the writing. Even the title did not appeal muchto me and gave me a feeling this was going to be a mediocre experience.

Overall, the terror itself does not do the film justice. The only scary parts are when weird terrors emerge as characters enter the pool. The backstory is rushed and out-of-focus. Night Swim does not have a blockbuster vibe to start off the 2024 year in movies. It is a ninety-minute waste of time.

Night Swim is sadly one of the worst horror movie experiences I have had in a while. The line, “It’ll be over soon,” used in this film and many others gave me hope that this film would end soon. Two out of four stars for Night Swim.