Night Swim: Review

"Night Swim," 2024's first theatrical release, has already earned the year's most beige horror film distinction. The inconsequential film barely registers a pulse, floating across well-treaded waters before drowning in the depths of overwhelming mediocrity. 

"Night Swim" follows a checklist of modern horror contrivances. Favoring tension-free jump scares over nightmarish imagery? Check. Misguided attempts at reckoning with social conditions (in this case, addiction)? Yup. A total lack of tension and imagination? "Night Swim" jumps into each horror pitfall with the force of an emphatic cannonball. 

Between these struggles, "Night Swim" showcases some promising glimmers. Stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon elevate standard-issue material through their sheer gravitas, keeping the family drama somewhat afloat between macabre setpieces. First-time director Bryce McGuire also flashes potential. Even as the experience sinks to the bottom of the pool, McGuire executes a few eerie long-takes and unnerving moments that interest me in seeing more from him. Hopefully, next time, he will award himself a better script (the film is an adaptation of his 2014 short film). 

While rarely painful, "Night Swim" seldom generates interest. This film will only be remembered for furthering the "January, the Home for Bad Horror Movie" trend.