Night Swim Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Night Swim Blu-ray Movie Review

Marco...

Reviewed by Justin Dekker April 26, 2024

Aiming to do for swimming pools what 'Jaws' did for the ocean, 'Night Swim' arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. Producing the film are James Wan and Jason Blum, names that should be very familiar to genre fans. 'Night Swim' benefits from an unsettling atmosphere and some genuine scares, but of particular note are the volume of underwater shots and the reliance on practical creature effects. This release of 'Night Swim' includes a slipcover, a DVD, and a Digital Code.

It's a well-known joke among pool owners that a pool is just a hole that first you fill with water and then you fill with money. There's the need for added insurance, energy costs, chemicals to buy, and various elements to repair, maintain, or replace on a routine basis. But aside from the price tag of operating the pool in Night Swim in terms of dollars, with this pool, there's also a debt to be paid that can only be settled with souls. Former pro-baller Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell), his wife Eve (Kerry Condon), and their two children Izzy and Elliot (Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren) move to a new town to focus on finally setting down roots and caring for Ray's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. His career as a professional baseball player always injected an amount of instability into the family's life, and the family sees the new home, complete with a large in-ground swimming pool, as a dream come true. After being disused for many years, upon moving in the family wastes no time draining the pool so it can be properly cleaned and repaired. While doing so, Ray seriously cuts his hand trying to clear a blockage from the pool's main drain. But in no time, the pool is up and running. Ray is religious about his water therapy regimen to deal with his MS, and a massive pool party is planned to meet neighbors, people from Eve's work, and children from Izzy and Elliot's school. But after Eve and the kids have some uncanny and frightening moments in the pool, and Ray's hand and MS inexplicably and radically improve, it becomes clear the pool may be a bit more than they bargained for.

The concept of a haunted swimming pool is patently silly, and Director and Co-Writer Bryce McGuire admits as much in the disc's supplemental features. Be that as it may, McGuire does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere of dread from the start. The film opens at night, as we see a young girl named Rebecca (Ayazhan Dalabayeva) lured down to the pool. As she attempts to retrieve a toy boat for her seriously ill brother, despite being cautious, in an instant, she's in the pool, bunny slippers and all, fighting for her life. It's immediately clear there's more to the pool than can be seen from the surface, and as the viewer assumes she drowns, the film cuts to the Waller family some years later. Full-on horror elements then take a backseat as the film allows us time to get to know the family and become emotionally invested in them before placing their lives in legitimate danger. Elliot is a boy struggling to fit in and make friends only to find himself more alone and isolated after his former Milwaukee Brewer father shows up at his baseball practice and steals the spotlight. High school-aged Izzy rebels and flouts authority as she seeks to win friends and attention. Eve is a put-upon wife who has always had to put her needs second to everyone else in an effort to keep the family together and running due to the frequent relocations necessitated by her husband's career. Sadly, Ray is as self-centered as ever, first focused on his career, now on his recovery, and as improvements start to materialize, he wants to return to baseball. While we're learning this information, drips of horror begin to seep in, some of which could be easily explained away as a trick of the light from someone looking up from the bottom of the pool's deep end or imagination run amok. Cleverly, near the halfway point, as disturbing incidents increase in frequency and intensity, McGuire does something rather unexpected; he confronts every question that most people watching would be asking by this point in the film. The ones that most quickly come to mind are: "Why are you swimming at night?", "Why are you swimming alone?", "Why don't you just leave?". Whether subtly or directly, McGuire provides reasons why none of these or other questions will receive an easy answer. It's too late to do anything and the water will have its due.

The significant volume of underwater shots in the film adds greatly to Night Swim's tension and atmosphere. The water distorts both visual and auditory perception making it difficult to gauge distances and locate objects or people, creating an almost otherworldly environment. Movement is not only slowed, it's also more tiring. The water is also an environment where people cannot survive without assistance, and even those who can hold their breath underwater for a minute or more will eventually need to surface. In the Waller's spring-fed pool that's no easy feat. The water sometimes functions as a portal to something referred to as the "deep water" allowing swimmers to journey far lower than the pool's ten-foot depth. It's here that Night Swim is at its most visually arresting with swimmers surrounded by the inky aquatic depths with the surface of the pool itself nothing but a small rectangle of light far above. The deep water makes the pool even more disorienting as viewers can no longer be certain what the boundaries and parameters of this environment or world are in addition to the normal distortions associated with being submerged. Time also moves at a different speed there. It's slower below the surface thereby allowing for substantive amounts of time to be spent with the denizens of this realm while mere seconds pass above.

The reliance on practical creature effects to populate the deep water is another strength of the film. The two primary entities that inhabit the deep water, the Bloated Man and the Bony Woman, generate greater menace by being able to physically interact with the human members of the cast. Especially with the younger actors, having an actual monster present with them in the pool allows them to better experience and emote convincing amounts of terror. The suits look fantastic in the water, but also as they emerge from it, with rivulets of water running down taut, glistening skin, and dripping from matted hair and rotten clothing. In the tradition of the best horror films, Night Swim doesn't always show the monsters, or all of them when it decides to, but after the first glimpse, the viewer is always certain they're there, lurking just outside the edges of the visual field.

Night Swim Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot with the Arri Alexa 35, there's nothing murky, soft, or distorted about Night Swim unless it's intended to be. Several shots below the surface of the water feature intentionally warped and distorted edges of the frame that are used to generate greater confusion and disorientation, while above the surface of the water, a sense of being underwater is generated; both through the use of older lenses. Detail levels are high with facial particulars like Ray's scruffy beard and fine lines and wrinkles being available for inspection. Likewise, though their screen time is limited, the creepy suits of the Bony Woman and Bloated Man reveal excellent levels of detail, color, and texture. Skin tones generally look healthy unless specific lighting choices, by the pool at night, for instance, impact them. While blacks can occasionally absorb detail, I did not notice the presence of blocking, noise, or banding.

Night Swim Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Night Swim is outfitted with an excellent English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tack. Frequently immersive, the viewer is often surrounded by water, music, and various sound effects. It's the aquatic sounds that are the most impressive and impactful, with the rushing and gurgling water engulfing and swirling around the sound field. Directionality is precise for both dialogue and sound effects with both fronts and rears being used effectively as sounds move smoothly through. The bass is sufficient to add needed weight to the sound of the water, footsteps, and the rare physical blows. Mundane sound effects such as windshield wipers and the clicking of the telescopic legs of a camera tripod are realistically presented. Dialogue is properly prioritized and is typically centered. Music is cleanly rendered, with much of it being more ambient, adding to the atmosphere, and only very rarely, such as at the beginning of the pool party, being allowed to dominate, and then only briefly. Dialogue and sounds of the water are of greatest importance here. No distortions or flaws were detected. English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

Night Swim Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Nigt Swim comes outfitted with a number of special features as detailed below.

• Masters of Fear (6.45) - Bryce McGuire (Director, Co-Writer), Producers James Wan and Jason Blum, Executive Producers Ryan Turek and Judson Scott, and stars Kerry Condon (Eve) and Wyatt Russell (Ray), discuss the origins of the project and the "haunted" pool party.

• Demon From the Depths (7.16) - Bryce McGuire (Director, Co-Writer), Judson Scott (Executive Producer), and Producers James Wan go into a fair amount of detail about the entities that inhabit the pool and haunt the family, and creating practical creature effects that would work well in the water.

• Into the Deep (5.50) - Bryce McGuire (Director, Co-Writer), Wyatt Russell (Ray), Kerry Condon (Eve) and others share their enthusiasm for taking something typically associated with fun and family and turning it into something terrifying. They also discuss the complexity of doing so much underwater shooting and acting, and the incredible amounts of planning required.

• Marco Polo (4.04) - Bryce McGuire (Director, Co-Writer), Judson Scott (Executive Producer), and Producer James Wan talk about their enjoyment of putting a decidedly sinister spin on a classic children's pool game (which happens to be one of the film's creepiest moments), as well as the cinematic tricks involved in filming the scene.

• Feature Commentary - Bryce McGuire (Director, Co-Writer) goes solo for this commentary track. Rarely falling silent, he provides a wealth of information about the origin of the project, the cast, the challenges of filming so much of the film under or in the water, the physical requirements for the cast, and a variety of other topics. He doesn't have a script or a specific agenda here. Instead, he reacts and provides comments based on what's occurring on the screen. His excitement for the film is evident as he provides a wealth of information about the shoot and the myriad films that in some way influenced Night Swim. It's a very entertaining listen.

Night Swim Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Creating PG-13 horror movies is a difficult task, with many such films resorting to cheap jump-scares to generate their meager thrills. Not so with Night Swim. A carefully constructed atmosphere, an unusual watery environment, and solid practical effects provide the fear, panic, and dread here. The excellent cast anchored by the strong yet sympathetic Kerry Condon is complimented by the increasingly disturbing Wyatt Russell and a pivotal and genuinely creepy performance by Jodi Long, adding teeth and seriousness to a somewhat goofy premise. All of these elements result in a very enjoyable horror film that may just make the viewer think twice about playing their next round of Marco Polo. Night Swim comes Recommended.