If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Poltergeist, The Shape of Water, and a busted jacuzzi manual got tossed into a blender, Night Swim is your answer—except somehow less coherent and significantly less fun.
Directed by Bryce McGuire in his feature debut (hey, we all start somewhere), and powered by the combined production muscle of Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, this film is allegedly a supernatural horror thriller.
But let’s be honest:
It’s more like a pool safety video directed by someone who hasn’t slept in three days and once had a traumatic encounter with a kiddie floatie.
The most terrifying thing in Night Swim?
That it cost real humans real money to see it.
THE OPENING: THE BEST PART… TRAGICALLY
Let’s give credit where credit is due:
The opening scene is good. Shockingly good. Like, “Did I wander into the wrong theater?” good.
Rebecca Summers, a sweet child with terrible parents, gets yoinked underwater by something spooky. It’s tense, well-shot, and genuinely unsettling.
And then…
The movie immediately cannonballs into mediocrity.
If only we too could’ve drowned in the first five minutes and been spared the remaining 90.
THE WALLER FAMILY: WHO MOVES INTO A HOUSE WITH A FLOOD DEMON?
Enter the Waller family—the cinematic equivalent of those people who find a mysterious locked door in a basement and say, “Let’s open it at midnight.”
Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is a former baseball player benched by multiple sclerosis. His wife Eve (Kerry Condon) says supportive lines like she’s auditioning to be in the Wish.com version of a Hallmark movie. Their kids, Izzy and Elliot, have the classic horror traits: annoying, trusting, and deeply snackable to demons.
They buy a new house with a pool.
A self-sustaining pool.
Filled from an ancient underground spring.
And not one person says:
“Hey, that sounds like a cursed murder hole, maybe we shouldn’t.”
Nope. They say:
“This is perfect for aquatic therapy!”
Which is like saying “This haunted doll will help me work on my trust issues.”
THE POOL: A REALLY ANGRY BIRD BATH
The pool is the villain.
Not a ghost.
Not a demon.
The pool.
Okay, technically the pool is possessed by a malevolent pagan fairy-like water entity, but honestly, after an hour, you’ll just call it “wet nonsense.”
The pool attacks:
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children
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adults
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cats
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the audience’s patience
The pool also heals Ray’s MS, but with a catch:
Someone has to die so daddy can walk again.
It’s basically a supernatural version of American healthcare:
If you want treatment, someone else must suffer.
RAY’S TRANSFORMATION: FROM BASEBALL DAD TO WET DEMON HOST
Ray starts feeling better thanks to his haunted pool therapy.
His MS goes into remission!
His strength returns!
His mood improves!
Too bad he’s also becoming:
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pale
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aggressive
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obsessed with swimming
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allergic to sunlight
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basically a chlorine-scented version of Gollum
At one point, he nearly drowns a child at a pool party, but everyone just shrugs and says,
“Sports injuries are rough.”
Sure. Let’s blame the MS instead of the literal haunted waterhole in the backyard.
THE SUPPORTING CAST: EVEN THE CAT DESERVED BETTER
The family cat, Cider, disappears early on.
This is Horror Movie Code for
“The cat has been sacrificed to the plot gods.”
Everyone pretends to care for 20 seconds.
Then the movie forgets the cat existed.
Honestly? I’m with Cider.
If I lived in that house, I’d run away too.
Kay the Realtor shows up to dump some exposition, but the real showstopper is Lucy Summers, mother of the drowned girl. Her job is to deliver 5,000 years of mythological backstory in a five-minute monologue that feels like reading a Wikipedia summary out loud.
Lucy explains the entity is a guardian spirit that heals one person by killing another.
The pool is basically a supernatural MLM.
“Sacrifice one friend, get healing FREE!”
THE WATER FAIRY DEMON STORYLINE: A MYTHOLOGY HELD TOGETHER BY DUCT TAPE
Lucy, after years of therapy and probably several exorcisms, admits she sacrificed her daughter Rebecca to the pool demon so her son Tommy could live.
Rebecca’s ghost now helps people from the afterlife because even in death this girl can’t catch a break.
If the villain had been, say, a vengeful mermaid or a demon lifeguard, this could’ve been cool.
But no.
It’s a fairy-like entity from ancient lore that looks like:
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A wet cryptid
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A rejected Pokémon
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A creature built from leftover CGI models of water ripples
THE CLIMAX: THE POOL TRIES TO KILL EVERYONE (AGAIN)
When Ray becomes fully possessed, he tries to drown Elliot and maim Izzy. Eve fights the pool demon like a stressed suburban mom battling a malfunctioning hot tub.
Rebecca’s ghost drags Elliot to safety, proving once again that the dead are more helpful than 90% of the living characters.
Elliot becomes possessed next, Ray snaps out of it, and—realizing he’s the problem—sacrifices himself to save his kids.
Congrats, Ray, you finally did something useful in the last 20 minutes.
THE FINAL MESSAGE: JUST FILL IN YOUR DAMN POOL
The film ends with Eve and the kids deciding to stay in the house but fill in the pool.
Which raises a few questions:
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Why stay in the house at all?
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Why not sell it to someone you hate?
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Why not burn it down and salt the earth?
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Why not fill in the pool with cement and holy water?
But sure. Stay. What could go wrong.
Sequel title prediction:
Night Swim 2: Above-Ground Revenge Pool
FINAL VERDICT: 3/10 HAUNTED POOL FLOATS
Night Swim is a film where:
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the opening scene is great
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the mythology is messy
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the scares are shallow
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the plot is soggy
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the monster is confusing
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and the ending is the cinematic equivalent of shrugging
You’ll leave the theater feeling like you inhaled too much chlorine.
Would I recommend it?
Only if:
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you love dumb fun
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you enjoy screaming “DON’T GET IN THE POOL” at fictional characters
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your brain is fully waterproof
Or if you really, really hate swimming.
