Night Swim is a 2024 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Bryce McGuire (in his feature directorial debut) and based on the 2014 short film of the same name by McGuire and Rod Blackhurst. The film stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon. Its plot follows a suburban family who discover that their backyard swimming pool is haunted.
Jason Blum and James Wan produced the film under their Blumhouse Productions and Atomic Monster banners respectively, and this marks the first film from the two companies to be released following their merger on January 2, 2024.
Night Swim was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on January 5, 2024. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $17.7 million worldwide.
Plot[]
In 1992, a young girl goes out to her family pool one night to retrieve a boat belonging to her terminally ill brother. While trying to get the boat, something in the pool pulls her underwater.
In the present day, the Waller family are seeking a new, permanent residence after patriarch Ray Waller has been forced to retire from his baseball career due to illness. They purchase the former residence of the Fuller family, but Ray scratches his hand while working to clear out the pool in the back yard. When the pool maintenance come to inspect it, they reveal that the pool is essentially self-sustaining, taking its water from an underground spring in the area. As he spends more time in the pool as part of his therapy, Ray's illness seems to go into remission. However, his wife Eve becomes concerned at the changes she sees in her husband. Izzy and Elliot each get attacked by something in the pool, and the family cat goes missing. During a pool party, their realtor tells Eve about the Fuller's daughter Rebecca drowning in the pool shortly before Ray seemingly forces a child underwater and almost drowns himself, although this is attributed to a side-effect of his illness.
Tracking down the Fuller family after learning that there is a long history of disappearances in the house, Eve meets with Kay, Rebecca's mother. Kay explains that the water that now sustains the pool was once part of a healing spring, but to use the water someone else must be sacrificed to it; Kay was compelled to sacrifice Rebecca to the pool's entity to heal her son Tommy's illness. Eve is horrified to realize that Ray is now being healed by the pool via possession, but it will take one of the children as a sacrifice.
Cast[]
- Wyatt Russell as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player and the father of Izzy and Elliot
- Kerry Condon as Eve Waller, Ray's wife and the mother of Izzy and Elliot
- Amélie Hoeferle as Izzy Waller, Ray and Eve's teenage daughter
- Gavin Warren as Elliot Waller, Ray and Eve's young son
- Judy Greer as Kay Fuller, Rebecca and Tommy's mother and the previous owner of the house
- Jacob Tremblay as Tommy Fuller, Rebecca's brother and a survivor of the pool
- Evan Peters as Sam, the pool maintenance worker
- Sarah Paulson as Diane, the realtor who sold the house to the Wallers
- Patrick Wilson as the voice of the pool's entity
Production[]
In January 2020, it was announced that Jason Blum and James Wan would produce a feature film adaptation of the 2014 short film Night Swim, which was written and directed by Bryce McGuire and Rod Blackhurst. McGuire was set to write and direct the feature version, while Blackhurst served as an executive producer. In September 2020, Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon were cast as the lead roles of Ray and Eve Waller. The rest of the cast joined in October and November 2020. Filming began in October 2020 in Los Angeles, California, and ended in December 2020.
Release[]
Night Swim was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on January 5, 2024. It was previously scheduled for December 17, 2021, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Night Swim has grossed $12 million in the United States and Canada, and $5.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $17.7 million.
In the United States and Canada, Night Swim was projected to gross $9–11 million from 3,250 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $5.2 million on its first day, including $1.45 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut at $12 million, finishing second behind holdover Wonka.
Critical response[]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 121 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 45% of filmgoers gave it a positive score, with 26% saying they would recommend the film.