Movie Review: Night Swim

Few movies have utilized the swimming pool in a horror movie as a fear tool. Burnt Offerings did it well, but few have since. A dry spell in the horror movie genre, pun intended.

Night Swim follows a retired baseball player (Wyatt Russell) with MS who moves his family to a house with a large pool. After they move in, each of the family members have a scary experience with the pool, but it isn’t until a neighborhood pool party goes awry that they realize something is horribly wrong. The father has been getting better and believes the pool is helping him even as it is obvious that the pool requires a sacrifice to keep him well. He must choose between his family and his healing body.

There is a moment near the end of the film where Wyatt Russell turns toward the camera and for a moment, it’s like looking at his dad, Kurt. He is convincing in this as a father, but not as an athlete. He doesn’t have the physique even for a guy with MS to have been a high profile professional baseball player.

The story is watchable, but it takes too long for the family to really realize that something is really wrong with the pool. It’s like watching the Lutz family stay in the Amityville house after they found the doorway to hell under their basement stairs. I get real estate is a commitment, but not that much of a commitment.

Three out of five stars for me. Watchable movie and props to the evil swimming pool, but falls just short of great for me.