Blumhouse never had a pattern of quality, sometimes the movie is great, sometimes it’s mid and other times it’s just extremely terrible. Well, what’s the case here? Night Swim is solid, not bad, not great, but I can’t believe the fact that this movie is PG-13, it really goes very near to the limit of its rating, which of course is a good thing for horror fans.
Night Swim is an upcoming American horror film that’s both written and directed by Bryce McGuire. It’s his first feature film, and it’s based on a short film from 2014 with the same name. The movie stars Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, and Gavin Warren. It’s about a family who moves into a new house and discovers that their backyard swimming pool is haunted by a supernatural presence.
The movie has some great horror beats, it has some intense jumpscares, bloody scenes, and some incredibly disgusting one, which is totally surprising for its PG-13 rating. Night Swim has a lot of positive aspects, the cast is great, Wyatt Russell delivered a great (and sometimes terrifying) performance, he really carried this movie alongside Kerry Condon, they both really delivered a character that are willing to do anything for their kids and you can feel the impact that they cause everytime they show up on screen.
To be completely honest with you, Night Swim is worth a watch, but not for everyone. The plot is sometimes bland and generic when is trying to bring some suspense to the story, bringing predictable scenes alongside some bad character development. If you’re a big fan of horror films, then you’ll like this one just for its bloody, gory and creepy moments. But if you’re not a fan of horror, well this won’t work very well for you at all, because there’s really nothing very interesting on its plot.
Even though the movie had an average passing, they couldn’t manage to deliver unique and different scenes from what we usually see in horror movies, it’s still more of the same, but now we have a haunted pool. I wished the movie explained and explored more about this pool, and more of its backstory, it’s important to give more context to the story before presenting something totally new.
For the good and for the bad, Night Swim was an average way to start the year. An intriguing, terrifying yet uninspired horror that surprises with its gory scenes even with its PG-13 rating. A treat for horror fans, but not for every audience. I might forget about this one by next month.
Night Swim releases in theaters on January 5.
