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Night Swim is a new horror movie which felt more like ‘Light Swim’ for reasons I’ll explain later on, but first up, the plot…
In the summer 1992, a young girl is taken from her mother in their swimming pool, because the pool is evil, or something.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell – Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters) is a former baseball star, who’s had an injury so needs water therapy, hence while looking for a new house, one with a pool seems a must, for him and his family, including wife, Eve – played by Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) who, for the entire duration, I assumed was Rebecca Ferguson from the Mission: Impossible movies, as she looks identical.
Soon after moving in, daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle – The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes) starts seeing weird things in the pool, as if the young girl is somehow trapped inside the filtration system, then Ray sees weird things, too. Is the pool not evil, but haunted? Yes, that makes much more sense(!)
Cue people going mad, and we have a script that’s such a pile of lazy ‘seen it all before’ tosh.
It’s also an insanely deep pool, making them have to dive deeper and deeper to find stuff, even though anyone sane would just not venture down so far, for their own safety.
Overall, we have a film that’s like a mish-mash of copying a number of terrible J-horror movies.
Plus, Night Swim was more “Light Swim”, since screen 3 at the Trafford Centre found its light still left on once the film had begun. I saw someone go out soon after it started (to tell someone?), then came back… but it was still on. Hmm… so, after the opening bit (I figured something would happen, then we get the titles, then some dull blurb for 10 mins as it introduces new characters etc), and what I figured was correct, so after it said “Night Swim” and the main cast babbled for a few mins, I went to ask someone… turns out, the stair lights are defective on one side, so they HAVE to leave the light on during films in there at the moment…
…Yep, on a film the relies on being in the dark. Bravo (slow hand clap). They could at least have put a note on the door about it, so you’re aware when you go in – or, hey, update the website?!
Night Swim is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: January 12th 2024
Studio: Universal Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 3/10
Director: Bryce McGuire
Producers: Jason Blum, James Wan
Music: Mark Korven
Screenplay: Bryce McGuire
Producers: Jason Blum, James Wan
Music: Mark Korven
Cast:
Ray Waller: Wyatt Russell
Eve Waller: Kerry Condon
Izzy Waller: Amélie Hoeferle
Elliot Waller: Gavin Warren
Kay: Jodi Long
Coach: Eddie Martinez
Ronin: Elijah Roberts
Dr. Sridhar: Rahnuma Panthaky
Pool Tech: Ben Sinclair
Angel: Ellie Araiza
Rebecca: Ayazhan Dalabayeva
Tommy: Joziah Lagonoy
Ty: Aivan Uttapa
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.