Watched in the cinema (24th visit in 2024)

Evil lurks everywhere. At least in horror films, the most impossible creatures and places can become a threat to the protagonists. Whether it's possessed dolls, crazy lifts, encroaching trees, cruise ships or even biting tomatoes, there's nothing that doesn't exist. With "Night Swim" comes another example of the fact that more or less anything is possible in this genre. Of course, there have been previous films in which water has played a role in one way or another. But the idea that water itself is the source of evil and that a swimming pool becomes a death trap and claims numerous human victims is something you have to come up with first.

The structure of the story is all the more conventional for that. The film begins with us seeing the pool at work for the first time and it swallows a little girl before the actual characters appear. And director and screenwriter Bryce McGuire sticks to the preconceived path with these too. Something strange here, something more threatening there, while we delve deeper into the backstory and are asked questions of people who have had similar experiences themselves in the past. There always are, someone has to reveal what is being played. And of course in "Night Swim" nobody believes the children who are the first to realise what is being played. Children are like old people, they can easily be ignored. Until all hell breaks loose and it's actually already too late.

But it's not so much the formulaic nature of the film that hurts, even if some scenes have become quite boring. What's worse is that nobody thought about telling a coherent story here. Of course, horror films don't have to make sense or be realistic. On the contrary: they often thrive on unpacking insane things. But that doesn't mean it should be arbitrary. In "Night Swim", for example, something always happens that has nothing to do with the actual scenario. For example, the water in any other place can develop powers, although in another scene it is important that the character does not move too far away from the pool. Furthermore, it was not possible to decide whether the evil is an independent, physical being or whether it prefers to work with a form of possession. The regular hallucinations don't work either.

In the end, you realise that this was originally a short film that was somehow supposed to be extended to feature length. "Night Swim" is such a hodgepodge of ideas that don't fit together at all and only follow the motto: The main thing is something with water. That's a shame because there are some decent scenes in between that know how to utilise the setting. In Kerry Condon and Wyatt Russell, the film also features outstanding leading actors who have already proven their versatility. But that's not enough to compensate for the script's weaknesses. As strange as the scenario is, the result is just as unsatisfying; the mixture of boredom and irritation makes you want to pack your bathing suit and leave.