Brandon Reviews a Movie for You: Night Swim

First, I am no expert on criticizing or reviewing a movie. I typically watch them with two things on my mind. Did I like it? Did I not?

I recently had a couple hours to spare and with that time, I went on the streaming service Peacock, and found Night Swim , directed by Bryce McGuire and starring Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon.

Night Swim hit theatres on January 5, 2024, and was the first horror movie of this year to come out on the big screen. I am a fan of all genres, but a good scare every now and then almost always outweighs the others. I wanted to see Night Swim at Lewisburg Cinema 8, but could never find the time to get there, but movies now typically release to our homes a lot sooner than they used to and I heard a couple of weeks ago that this one would debut exclusively on Peacock on April 5. I was excited to see it, but it pains me a little to say that I was pretty disappointed overall with the film.

If you read this, go watch the trailer for Night Swim . It makes it seem like it’s a fun time, kind of one of those old school Friday nights where you would order pizza, go pick up a thing of soft drinks and kick back and relax for an hour and a half for a good scare. However, it just felt like there was no point to what I watched. In all honesty, I dozed off over the final 20 minutes and had to rewatch that part the next day.

I won’t get in to all the expert movie lingo, but I will tell you really quick why I didn’t like it.

The premise of the story is good. A family is house shopping and the dad of the family, and ex-baseball player, has an illness. They come across this nice house with a lot of space and a pool that has been drained for 15 years in the back yard. With no spoilers, the dad gets almost 100 percent healthy after several swims in the newly remodeled pool, but every other family member, a wife and their two children, experience scary visions in the water. Sounds cool, right?

But once the movie moves forward and you find out why the pool was weird, how it got that way, and where it came from, it just really didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Basically, a lot of unanswered questions. The movie felt rushed and was a total mess. Russell, Kurt Russell’s son, is the dad I mentioned, and I like him as an actor, and he was ok in this, and their little son (Gavin Warren) had his relatable moments.

Overall, though, it just isn’t that good, but I don’t want to speak for you if you are interested in watching. Everyone is different and maybe you can find some more parts that are memorable. I did get the idea for a garage gym and a solar light on my outbuilding though. So, maybe there was more to come from it than I thought. Then again, maybe not.

THE BAKE’S SCORE (1-10 scale: 1=I would rather get a massage from Freddy Kruger than watch this, 10= Would watch alone from an insane asylum on Halloween just to see it again)

4.5 out of 10.

Why:

Wyatt Russell is a likeable guy and there were some decent visuals throughout, but the story was weird, and it was a letdown in the end.

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