After a debilitating illness, former major league baseball player, Rich Waller moves his family into a small suburban town with the hopes of reclaiming his former glory. Cut from his team, with a few good years left to play, Waller is desperate for a new start. As luck would have it, Waller finds a beautiful affordable home, where his family can thrive and he can heal. It’s in a great neighborhood, there are good schools, plenty of space and a beautiful but haunted pool in the backyard. Shortly after moving in things seem to be looking up for the family as his health improves his wife is thriving in her new career and the children are settling in nicely. Things are running smoothly until one by one the Wallers each experience, a supernatural event, courtesy of the family pool. Will the Wallers survive the dark forces surrounding their pool or be engulfed and drowned by evil?
Swim Night is a predictable, supernatural thriller. Though the premise is somewhat unique it relies heavily on the familiar tropes that plague this type of film. For instance, whenever a family of four is haunted by supernatural forces, it is almost always, the father, who receives the brunt of it. Think, the shining Or Amityville. Similar to those films, the pressures of family life weigh down on the father, and he eventually snaps and becomes one with whatever entity is haunting the family. As he makes his descent into madness the rest of the family suffers in silence as each encounter forces them to distance themselves from the pool. By the time ever Is aware of the danger it’s too late, Daddy has gone off the deep end.
In addition to the formulaic predictability, character development is almost nonexistent. We learn very little about the family and their dynamic before the move. Even when the individual traits are mentioned there’s little to no supporting evidence. For instance, the father is sick but it’s not clear why. The daughter is charismatic like her dad and the son shy and withdrawn yet we never see them interact with peers in a meaningful way. In all fairness it’s a movie about a haunted pool, we weren’t expecting Oscar-worthy anything however something is missing from the film. It was entertaining and at times mildly scary. The plot is intriguing, the acting decent, and the ending plausible, yet something about it feels unfinished.
If you’ve seen the trailer and any horror movie ever, you no doubt have 80% of this film figured out. The remaining 20% of this movie are the minor details that make it unique and not a remake. Don’t go expecting to be surprised, go expecting to enjoy a suspenseful ride through familiar territory. It’s winter what else have you got to do? Besides, It’s a presidential election year there won’t be anything scarier than that for at least the next two years.
Night Swim is in theaters now!