I went into this film with expectations at an exceptionally low tide, having seen many critic and user reviews laughing about the "haunted swimming pool" idea. As I sat down to watch, beer in hand (a must for this film, honestly), I expected it to be downright awful, and to find myself yelling to many a character, "JUST DONT GO IN THE POOL!?!?" To my honest surprise, while this movie is absolutely kooky (I can only assume its writers were high AF when they came up with the idea), and not at all scary, everyone did the best with the material they had, and when the story went *deeper* to add more to the haunted pool idea, I actually was pretty pleased with how everything eventually came to the surface. I'm a horror fan-and a comedy fan-and this is kind of in the middle of both. It's a mindless way to pass the evening (as I said, drinks are highly recommended), but while it may not float your boat, it's not the worst way to spend your time. Go in it with no to low expectations, and maybe you'll be surprised.

I wanted to be more scared than I was when I watched the film. The pool or better yet a body of water is an excellent setting for a horror film. I guess the idea of it is greater than the execution of an actual film that takes place in a pool. I immediately think of The Creature from the Black Lagoon or Jaws or The Abyss when there's anything to do with water and horror. I thought maybe this would add onto that pantheon of films as an addition. I was definitely scared at moments but it felt like the filmmakers dropped the ball and couldn't keep the tension going as the film went on. A great cast and they did their part. I just think the overall film didn't hit as it could have.

It was a very intriguing concept. I remember as a kid I would always have an irrational fear of an unlit pool at night. I would swim at my grandparents all summer long and can remember freaking out when I let the intrusive thoughts come up while the lights were out. This movie seemed to have a good foundation for something new. It started out decent but as the movie went on and the "monster" actually had some screen time I became unamused. The acting was good and I would recommend this for a Redbox night, but I wouldn't spend movie money on it. In conclusion....a great idea spoiled by mismanaged directing.

The story is bland, predictable and often boring. They rely too heavily on cheap jumpscares. Almost walked out of the theatre midway through to go do something more exciting like cleaning the bathroom. Pacing was fine, I guess, but everything was rather boring overall. The characters all have extremely convenient backstory's and skills and they aren't very complex.

The soundtrack was fine and there were some interesting shots. Acting was okay as well but nothing spectacular.

This movie falls into the type of horror movie that sits in purgatory in my "continue watching" list on Netflix.

Overall 3/10.

You can tell when a scary scene's coming, which made it suck for me because the build ups weren't great. The actors seemed to put effort into making it engaging, but their efforts only went so far.

This horror movie revolves around a swimming pool. After the first frightful event occurred, everything felt like a stretch. It feels more suited to being a short film, but even then it could've been drawn out better. The concept seems derivative, reminiscent of horror movies that have already been done before. A supernatural entity grants wishes but at a cost, a trope seen not only in horror but in other film genres. The only deviation here is that instead of a magical bean or demonic entity, it's a swimming pool.

They should have trimmed down the family-focused moments and delved deeper into the pool's eldritch origins. I anticipated an exploration of its history, envisioning a showcase of people worshipping it, perhaps rooted in Native American mythology and folklore. And the monsters sucked, looked like copses from a cop show, there could have been more imaginative entities. For instance, a tale about an evil witch who once granted wishes, was drowned in the springs, and now her soul resides there. Something. Anything!

It's frustrating when horror movies fail to be scary, that's bare minimum expectation. Dictionary definition of the genre. This story should have been crafted to instill genuine fear of swimming pools. There was immense potential left untapped.

The monsters weren't scary. The ending wasn't all that. 'something has you, you need to fight it' is so overused, it's fine if the movie is decent but when the movies boring, it doesn't work. This movie is 90min but like a never-ending 3-hour ordeal. It's more of a family drama than a horror movie. It's like the director crafted a drama centered around a family coping with a superstar dad grappling with an MS diagnosis, but then studio said no, make it a horror. And it's terrible at that.

A concept centered around a haunted pool would always be a challenging task for a movie, and 'Nightswim' is proof of that. While it's made competently enough, it's so tepid and mundane that you almost zone out many times. There are hardly any real scares or thrills, and the movie struggles to maintain any kind of tension, despite the cast trying their best to keep some interest alive. It has a very direct-to-video feel as well, as the movie does the bare minimum without going for the jugular and providing an unhinged, bonkers experience. This is the same complaint I had from last year's 'The Boogeyman' and 'Insidious: The Red Door'-all these movies, including 'Nightswim,' feel so restrained, something a horror movie should never be.

The reviews make this movie look like a disappointment, however, it's par for the course for a horror movie. The acting is pretty good, the plot is very intriguing, and the only failure is the effects. The monster is not consistent, it looks different literally every time we see it, and the effects are Ghostbusters level, or maybe worse actually. Like, clearly animated. But otherwise it's a pretty good movie and actually gave me the heebie jeebies once or twice. The script is intriguing enough with one scene that is a little cringey (feat. Old woman) but what else can we expect from a horror movie? Worth the watch.

If you want to see a movie, this is certainly one. If you want to see an even remotely good movie, see anything else. It's not scary, it doesn't have a coherent plot, nor are the characters interesting or engaging. The actors try and that's something. I've seen worse looking movies, so there's something else. There was one jump scare pretty early on that got everyone in the theater jumping, but the few that followed were telegraphed from a mile away so as to ruin the jump-scariness. It wasn't even one of those so bad it's good kind of movies. That would have been okay. It was astoundingly unremarkable in every way. The end credits had about 6 consecutive title cards with the writer/director's name on them. That made me embarrassed for him at first, but then I thought: well, he wanted to make a movie and he did. That's a pretty big accomplishment. I mean, I've never made a movie. I'd like to think that, if I did, I could make one as good as this. So, in that way, it was inspirational.

This isn't a great horror film, but it outranks the majority of PG-13 horror films released over the past few years.

A family buys a home with a huge unused pool. HUGE. It looks like it belongs at a resort, not in a backyard. But I overlooked that and watched as strange things begin to happen in it. Curiously, the family continues to swim despite this fact. I would have drained that thing within the first half hour.

Reminder to anyone playing Marco Polo. You can open your eyes if the person you are playing with seems to have disappeared.

The acting is solid, especially by the members of the family. The dad was played by Wyatt Russell who my friend told me is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Oscar nominee Kerry Condon plays the mom.

The film creates some tension throughout and the eventual explanation for what's happening felt fresh compared to the mostly recycled garbage the horror studios feed us. I refuse to see one more Exorcism film or Conjuring spin off.

The under water cinematography was surprisingly good with the exception of one scene at the end that looked quite fake and had me rolling my eyes.

The ending was satisfying without the added annoyance of trying hard to set up a sequel.

Worth a look if you're in the mood for a mindless horror flick. Just leave your high expectations at the door before you dive in.

This film was bland. Can't say it was bad, can only say it was not worth it.

I like Wyatt Russell, what's not to like, he's the son of Kurt Russell, that's a lot to like. He heads up a movie with a long subplot about an ex-baseball player, for whom baseball is everything until an illness takes him out of the game forcing him to get to know his family better.

It would have been a nice family drama if the (lack of) horror did not get in the way.

This was not scary, not frightening, nothing got me excited, not enough star power in the film to look at to make it worth looking at.

I'm very surprised this made it into theatres instead of premiering on Hulu or Shudder.

I can only say wait for it to come out on one of these streaming channels cause it's a waste of money otherwise.

I thoroughly enjoyed going to the theater for this movie. It's an original premise. I've never heard of a scary movie about a pool before! This movie evokes all the childhood fearful feelings of swimming in a pool at night. What's that noise in the drain? How does the deep end seem endless? When you reach the edge, you're safe! Marco... polo!

I would recommend! It's refreshing to see a movie that has scares but isn't gory.

Thoughtful character development. Good acting. Good jump scares. My sister lost all of her popcorn during one jump scare!

Go support something original and see it in theaters!

Night Swim is getting so much hate. I don't really understand why. Is it high art? No. Is it innovative or groundbreaking? Definitely not. Could it have been better? Sure. But I still had a fun time with this horror flick and found myself smiling for much of it.

The premise is simple: haunted pool. But they find creative ways to execute different types of scares. I'm far from a horror novice but I jumped at nearly every jump scare attempt. I enjoyed most of the horror elements, creepy imagery and a few really cool shots.

A few downsides: the story and characters are fairly surface-level. And there was one line delivery that made me laugh, although it might not have been the actor's fault.

Also, they barely go into the background of the hauntedness or the why of the matter. But I personally don't consider that a negative. Trying to explain the supernatural frequently makes it worse.

If you're looking for a horror flick and don't mind if it's more shallow than deep (corny), you might enjoy Night Swim.

(1 viewing, opening Thursday XQ premium screen 1/4/2024)

Baseball legend Ray Waller is forced into early retirement, diagnosed with a major illness, he and his family move into a new house, one with a fabulous swimming pool. Unfortunately for The Wallers, The Pool hides a deadly entity.

We've had many films about haunted houses, houses that hold evil spirits, and torment new residents, but this one changes things up a bit, this time it's a killer swimming pool, and I fear that's where the film's major limitation comes from, there's only so much you bobbing up and down in a pool with the lights flickering that you can deal with.

When I saw the trailer, I thought it was an M Night Shyamalan movie, I got Lady in The Water vibes, as I started watching, it became clear that he had nothing to do with it.

There are a couple of scares early on, but when you see 'the thing,' it is pretty laughable. Sometimes less is more, it worked better when you weren't sure what was under there, I burst out laughing when I saw it.

I really wanted that Estate Agent to get into the pool with it, she was one irritating character, her and that rum pudding.

No issues with the acting, and I never mind seeing Wyatt Russell in anything, but he's better than this.

I truly thought this was going to be good, sadly it just ordered so little, for a so called horror it's just very dull, but it's watchable.

5/10.

Plot

A family moves into a new home, unaware that a dark secret from the house's past will unleash a malevolent force in the backyard pool.

Cast

Wyatt Russell (Who does not have his fathers talent) and a bunch of folk I'm unfamiliar and unimpressed with. And a director I know only from a surprisingly enjoyable short film (Pig).

Verdict

This is a prime example of Hollywood losing their way when it comes to horror, it's so incredibly formulaic down to the letter of predictability.

Yes there is only so much you can do with a movie about a haunted pool, but still being an interesting premise I assumed they had a decent idea behind it and a screenplay that would pan out into something enjoyable.

In reality the concept is passable but that's pretty much all they had, no real content and a very meh ending. And the journey? Every trope, every cliche, everything you expect from a big budget horror feature and I'm so very very tired of them.

If you like The Conjuring, Annabelle, Insidious, Talk to Me and other trite horror films this is for you. If you like substance, skip it.

Rants

I want a pool, you see the the US it appears it's a very middle class thing whereas in the UK it's pretty much the top 1% and therefore extremely rare. Any day now I'll win the lottery and get myself an olympic sized one, outdoors but with the facility for it to be covered at anytime! Right next to my mansion, and multiple acres of land, my zoo and my unicorn paddock.

Breakdown

Interesting concept Weak leading man Couldn't be executed any more generically.

The film is terribly clichéd. Take any other horror film and compare it with this one and you won't see any difference. Quite a good story with water, but when you see the monster you start laughing.

The heroes are like some kind of Aquamen, they spend SOOO long under water that you start to think who will kill them first, a monster or lack of oxygen?

The acting is pretty good. I believe them, although at some points they underplay very much.

The editing of the film is just weird. Scenes are cut short and at some points we don't even see who is speaking or what is happening.

P. S. The ending of the film is very fast and choppy. They just closed their pool but this raises a question. Do other residents have water that doesn't come from this source? And where is this source located? Was it really only one family that lived here and why don't they talk about the others?

Bad reviews on here baffle me. Yeah you gotta suspend disbelief,characters are thinly drawn,some of the dialogue unintentionally funny. Was it a classic?not close. Was it unique entertaining-yes. I just gave myself over too it and moderately enjoyed it. You could kind of feel for the people not knowing what's real afraid too speak up. I liked the way the creature/s looked. Just don't expect too much. Few jump scares made me jump. Kind of like that movie way back when where the senior citizens swam in pool made them feel young/healthy except here he's a baseball player with MS. Then a touch of the shining thrown in. Not bad.

January used to be known as the month when studios send movies that they don't believe in. Over the last few years, I feel that has drastically changed and no month seems that way anymore. Well, Blumhouse's latest release in Night Swim made me feel like it was one of those January's again. I had no expectations for this one, as the trailers didn't even really do it form, but I decided to give it a watch. After viewing it, I can say that this will likely be one of my least favourite movies of 2024. There's just no substance here. Let's dive in (pun intended).

Night Swim follows the Waller family as they move into a new home with a swimming pool and then realize that the pool is haunted. The mother Eve (Kerry Condon) is first to be terrorized, followed by her daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and her son Elliot (Gavin Warren). The catch is that the father Ray (Wyatt Russell) has an illness, due to his professional baseball career, and the pool chooses to heal him instead of haunt him. The "explanation" for it all is terrible and there is no real story here either. Night Swim is just about a family's drama and things just happen to them. You do get a backstory of the pool itself, but it doesn't progress the story and it felt pointless.

The most frustrating thing about this film is that both Condon and Russell knew the film they were acting in and they gave it their all. They deserved a much better script to work with here. I will also give props to Charlie Sarroff for the camerawork. His unique style in recent horror films like Relic and Smile elevated the material on-screen, at least in my opinion, and it also did so with Night Swim. There are some cleverly shot sequences that I won't deny are a positive toward the film, but the look of these scenes and the adult performances are all I can grasp at here.

Night Swim has a very weak screenplay and an overall story that is far too thin, and for being a film with the title that it has, I'd say only about 30 minutes revolves around the pool. It also has an ending that you can pretty much predict because of some information that is told to you earlier on. I don't like to be overly negative when reviewing a movie, but other than a couple of minor saving graces, this is quite a bad film. I left this screening wondering what the point of the movie even was and that's not a good thing. I also releaized that it was based on a short film from a few years ago, which makes a lot of sense because I can see a few moments working as a tight little 5-minute thriller, but that's it. Unlike films like Whiplash, Lights Out or even Saw, some stories just don't translate. Night Swim is now playing in theatres.

This film was weird. It wasn't good but not bad. The good thing is effort is definitely put into this film, but the output just isn't there. This should have stayed a short because it works out like that, not a feature film. Because of that, this film has a lot of filler that really have nothing to do with the story/very unnecessary. It's only 90 minutes, but it feels like 2 hours. The premise was ok but didn't work for this film. If they really wanted to expand on a short, they needed to execute the premise perfectly, which as I said didn't happen. Also the monster design YEESH. Not scary at all and very poor cgi. The musical score was good though, and it does offer a few surprises. Might be good but overall just meh. Also it won't leave you permanently scared of pools as you won't remember this film.

Not sure why many low ratings on this one. I am a horror movie critic and to me, this movie fit every requirements for it to be a good horror / supernatural movie.

If I have to edit this movie, I'd remove the intro part where it shows Rebecca taken by the demon. It would build much more suspense.

This isn't a typical monster in the water movie either. There is twist revealed at the middle of the movie which is on point.

Without revealing spoilers, I'd say this movie is on par with Sinister. Acting is on point for most of the main characters, except maybe Amélie Hoeferle, who played Izzy, could improve her acting circa the sharp glasses injury scene. Her total disconnection with pain after she heard something is unnatural to any human beings.

As a conclusion, a good and enjoyable supernatural movie. There aren't much jump scares but storyline and twist are on par. Highly recommended for a good movie night.

A lot of people have been ragging on Night Swim, criticising it for lacking originality, but how could I hate on this too much when The Exorcist Believer exists? Admittedly, Night Swim might not be the most innovative horror film of recent years, but at least it is well made, undemanding entertainment that is, most importantly, not directed by David Gordon Green.

The film plays on one's fear of what possible horrors lurk beneath the surface of a body of water, in this case, the swimming pool in the back yard of the Waller family, who bought the property unaware of its sinister past. It turns out that the pool has the ability to grant one's desire, but requires a life as payment in return.

As someone who is not comfortable in water, especially when I can't see the bottom, I found it to be an effectively creepy tale that makes inventive use of its commonplace location, the film delivering plenty of atmosphere, likeable performances, and a satisfying resolution, although it must be noted that the film is strictly PG, so the scares are relatively tame (no gory death scenes to upset the kids).

6/10. An enjoyable, unpretentious popcorn flick that doesn't deserve the hate.

I genuinely, typically enjoy these first of the year horror releases in the theater. I have for the last several years.

So, what better way to start 2024 on a chilly and wet early January day than to venture into the warm darkness of my local cinema for this annual occurrence?

This is usually a rather satisfying trip.

Not this time.

My fingers are all pruny, I smell like chlorine but this movie is not a horror film.

Far from it.

Night Swim?

More like daytime drama.

Yes, it's PG-13, but that means nothing when it comes to scares.

The best mess with your mind.

Nope. Not here. It keeps you safe on the shallow end.

With floaties on.

The dad doesn't even look like a former athlete, much less a major leaguer.

Stuff like that bugs me.

I know he's sick but he looks more like a banjo player than one of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Jam band maybe but not a ball player.

Not believable.

But none of this is.

Why is this happening? How is this happening? What makes this water so wicked?

The explanations given make your eyes hurt more from rolling than anything chlorine could ever do.

It's hard to believe this early, but sink or swim and this sucker sinks like a stone right to the bottom.

One of the Worst Films Released in Theaters in 2024.

There's no lifeguard on duty. You assume your own risk going to see this one.

Oh! There is a killer song on the soundtrack by a band called Harmonica Lewinski. So, at least there's that.

It's a real shame then that between the opening and the hook reveal, Night Swim fails to entice or unnerve with far too much filler and empty scares. And it's not as if McGuire has the worst idea to emotionally ground his story either, with the Waller family at the film's heart proving a likeable collective, and Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon as the head of the clan delivering fine work. Russell's Ray Waller is a pro baseballer seemingly on the verge of a resurgence when he is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, bringing his playing days and the family's itinerant lifestyle to an end. Nothing some water therapy won't potentially mitigate though, so it's wonderfully coincidental when Ray and his wife Eve (Condon) spot an expansive house in the suburbs for far too good a price; the chipper realtor (Nancy Lenehan) smart enough to know to bank the sale she'll conveniently leave out the house happened to have a habit of children going missing in the pool in the backyard. IN CONCLUSION: Night Swim is unable to muster up much of the alternative - that being atmospheric jump scares - that you almost wish it had splashed on unnecessary blood just to keep us cheaply entertained. Sadly, it drowns across most of the board, resulting in a tepid scarer that doesn't do justice to its intriguing premise and McGuire's evident enthusiasm for the genre.

With a script that plays out like it was written using ChatGPT, we have a family looking for a fresh start by moving into a new house. Dad's sick but gets better when he swims in the pool. The rest is generic horror at its best. I'm sure you can predict every scene without having seen a single frame of this movie. From the husband's mysterious health improvement (he's possessed. Mystery solved) to the kids knowing there's something wrong but keeping secrets, to the wife *sigh* Googling the history of the residence to locate previous occupants. It's all Amityville but without a shirtless Ryan Reynolds on screen keeping your attention. Speaking of a lack of charisma.

Wyatt Russell is bland as hell. He's Kurt Russel without the energy and charisma that made his dad an icon of the 80's. Yes, I've seen him in other stuff too and my statement stands. His character is supposed to be a big part of the plot here and there were moments when I genuinely forgot about him! Say what you will about the Amityville remake, but Ryan Reynolds is genuinely chilling as the stepdad who slowly loses himself to evil of that house. I honestly felt like his family was in danger during the final act whereas Wyatt runs around with a grimace on his face and chases his daughter with all the energy of a zombie that needs to go to the bathroom and the lame CGI makeup effects doesn't do him any favors either. I honestly don't know what the deal is with Blumhouse productions. One minute they give us gold, the next we get uninspired nonsense like Night Swim. I would say they're the Nic Cage of horror studios except no matter how bad the movie is Nicolas Cage never fails to delight me. This movie on the other hand isn't even worth showing to that one friend who scares easily because you would have to watch it with them, and no one deserves to suffer that much boredom in their life.