Night Swim

I went into this film with expectations at an exceptionally low tide, having seen many critic and user reviews laughing about the "haunted swimming pool" idea. As I sat down to watch, beer in hand (a must for this film, honestly), I expected it to be downright awful, and to find myself yelling to many a character, "JUST DONT GO IN THE POOL!?!?" To my honest surprise, while this movie is absolutely kooky (I can only assume its writers were high AF when they came up with the idea), and not at all scary, everyone did the best with the material they had, and when the story went *deeper* to add more to the haunted pool idea, I actually was pretty pleased with how everything eventually came to the surface. I'm a horror fan-and a comedy fan-and this is kind of in the middle of both. It's a mindless way to pass the evening (as I said, drinks are highly recommended), but while it may not float your boat, it's not the worst way to spend your time. Go in it with no to low expectations, and maybe you'll be surprised.

Baseball legend Ray Waller is forced into early retirement, diagnosed with a major illness, he and his family move into a new house, one with a fabulous swimming pool. Unfortunately for The Wallers, The Pool hides a deadly entity.

We've had many films about haunted houses, houses that hold evil spirits, and torment new residents, but this one changes things up a bit, this time it's a killer swimming pool, and I fear that's where the film's major limitation comes from, there's only so much you bobbing up and down in a pool with the lights flickering that you can deal with.

When I saw the trailer, I thought it was an M Night Shyamalan movie, I got Lady in The Water vibes, as I started watching, it became clear that he had nothing to do with it.

There are a couple of scares early on, but when you see 'the thing,' it is pretty laughable. Sometimes less is more, it worked better when you weren't sure what was under there, I burst out laughing when I saw it.

I really wanted that Estate Agent to get into the pool with it, she was one irritating character, her and that rum pudding.

No issues with the acting, and I never mind seeing Wyatt Russell in anything, but he's better than this.

I truly thought this was going to be good, sadly it just ordered so little, for a so called horror it's just very dull, but it's watchable.

5/10.

This isn't a great horror film, but it outranks the majority of PG-13 horror films released over the past few years.

A family buys a home with a huge unused pool. HUGE. It looks like it belongs at a resort, not in a backyard. But I overlooked that and watched as strange things begin to happen in it. Curiously, the family continues to swim despite this fact. I would have drained that thing within the first half hour.

Reminder to anyone playing Marco Polo. You can open your eyes if the person you are playing with seems to have disappeared.

The acting is solid, especially by the members of the family. The dad was played by Wyatt Russell who my friend told me is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Oscar nominee Kerry Condon plays the mom.

The film creates some tension throughout and the eventual explanation for what's happening felt fresh compared to the mostly recycled garbage the horror studios feed us. I refuse to see one more Exorcism film or Conjuring spin off.

The under water cinematography was surprisingly good with the exception of one scene at the end that looked quite fake and had me rolling my eyes.

The ending was satisfying without the added annoyance of trying hard to set up a sequel.

Worth a look if you're in the mood for a mindless horror flick. Just leave your high expectations at the door before you dive in.

It was a very intriguing concept. I remember as a kid I would always have an irrational fear of an unlit pool at night. I would swim at my grandparents all summer long and can remember freaking out when I let the intrusive thoughts come up while the lights were out. This movie seemed to have a good foundation for something new. It started out decent but as the movie went on and the "monster" actually had some screen time I became unamused. The acting was good and I would recommend this for a Redbox night, but I wouldn't spend movie money on it. In conclusion....a great idea spoiled by mismanaged directing.

I wanted to be more scared than I was when I watched the film. The pool or better yet a body of water is an excellent setting for a horror film. I guess the idea of it is greater than the execution of an actual film that takes place in a pool. I immediately think of The Creature from the Black Lagoon or Jaws or The Abyss when there's anything to do with water and horror. I thought maybe this would add onto that pantheon of films as an addition. I was definitely scared at moments but it felt like the filmmakers dropped the ball and couldn't keep the tension going as the film went on. A great cast and they did their part. I just think the overall film didn't hit as it could have.