It has become a tradition for production companies to look for fresh ideas in the field of horror short films – and that can turn out well: the shorts “Lights Out” and “Mamá” only rely on a single scary gimmick – and yet they are The feature-length versions ended up with two effective cinematic shockers. But in the case of the short film “Night Swim,” which was released in 2014, the task was admittedly particularly difficult: after all, the four-minute short only shows a young woman taking a dip in the pool at night and, as she dives down, sees a man coming towards the edge of the pool, but he disappears is as soon as she shows up again.
But hey – such a vague template can of course also mean a lot of freedom. And the idea of really shaking the foundations of the idea of the pool as an oasis of prosperity and well-being could really put you in a good mood. But Bryce McGuire fails to turn this little piece of watery bliss into a place of terror. Instead of making its audience really excited about the next summer, “Night Swim” just blabs along boringly for long stretches – and that’s not just because of the studio’s requirement of a shocker suitable for young people without too much blood and to stage violence.
Universal Pictures Germany The house with a pool is supposed to bring new happiness to the illness-stricken family.
Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) used to be someone. His career as a professional baseball player ended prematurely due to multiple sclerosis. Even walking is now difficult for him and unfortunately none of the usual therapies seem to be working for him. If he didn’t have his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) and his children Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren) by his side – life would probably be even more hopeless than it already seems. And maybe a change of scenery from the big city to the suburbs will help.
In order to get back on his feet, Ray should exercise regularly. The house with its own pool seems like a real stroke of luck. And indeed: after just a few swimming lessons, the ex-baseball professional feels like a new person – not only is his pain gone, he even feels stronger than ever before. Even his treating doctor cannot find an explanation for this spontaneous healing. But at the same time, the children are increasingly noticing strange occurrences, all of which seem to be connected to the swimming pool…
Anyone can murder in horror films! So why not a pool too?
A pool that threatens the life and limb of a model American family. Sounds stupid? But if there is one genre that can deal with such boozy ideas, it is the horror film. Here even sloths (“Slotherhouse”), jeans (“Slaxx”) or car tires (“Rubber”) can mutate into murderous killing machines. However, most of these films only take themselves partially seriously. Meta jokes, exaggerated kills and lots of blood can turn even the stupidest horror film idea into an entertaining and sometimes extremely clever pleasure. However, things are different with “Night Swim” – because the film takes its horror pool (and everything around it) very seriously!
Then he would at least get into the full pool and fill the pool to the brim with blood. But “Night Swim” is a tame entry-level scarer according to the formula. No kills, easily digestible jump scares and shallow horror. Nobody should expect a greater horror than a swollen corpse appearing in the pool in a eerie blur. In the USA, the film was deliberately produced for a younger teen audience with a PG-13 rating. Why it still has an age restriction of 16 years in this country remains a mystery to us – and as a result, the actual target audience is not allowed to watch the film in the cinema in this country.
Universal Pictures Germany No, there actually seems to be something very wrong with this pool.
The idea of an animated water that grants wishes in return for human sacrifice also doesn’t really take off. The effects on the characters only become apparent much too late. The toxic liquid that gradually clouds the father’s mind brings back memories of “Amityville Horror” – but before things get really exciting, this episode is over again after a short escalation phase. The transformation of the loving family man into a selfish monster who is even prepared to sacrifice one of his children for his healing and career would have had some nasty potential.
In particular, the scene in which it is almost casually shown that Ray has copied a video cassette containing private recordings in order to record a training video of himself instead is one of the strongest moments in the film. Especially since “Night Swim” has a surprisingly top-class cast with Wyatt Russell and even more so Kerry Condon, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for “The Banshees Of Inisherin”. But unfortunately “Night Swim” doesn’t follow this path to a consistent ending – and instead of a memorable, evil final act, we get a morally boring resolution.
Universal Pictures Germany The horror lurks beneath the surface.
There are still a few interesting staging ideas. In addition to a nice “ES” homage and an actually quite atmospheric “Marco Polo” sequence in which daughter Izzy blindly stumbles through the water while a scary figure plays a nasty game with her, the pool afterlife is one of the few reasonably exciting images: In the seemingly limitless nothingness, the victims of the murderous water live out their sad existence and are just waiting to pull new arrivals into the murderous depths. But that’s not nearly enough to create a real sense of doom. Especially since the film sometimes has an unintentionally comic touch with its constant dialogue about bad water.
Conclusion: After “Night Swim” you really feel like lying down at the nearest pool with a well-chilled drink. As a horror film, however, it failed completely.
2024-02-03 23:15:33
#Review #Night #Swim #Pool #Boredom
