NEW YORK (OSV News) – Long ago, when the world was young, B-52s frontman Fred Schneider warned his listeners to stay away from “a pool fraught with danger.” The virtually bloodless but uneven horror yarn “Night Swim” (Universal) – which is possibly acceptable for older teens as well as grown-ups – offers a similar caution.
In this case, the potential victims of the problematic amenity are the members of a close-knit family already facing more down-to-earth challenges. Dad Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is a celebrated major league baseball player recently forced off the field by multiple sclerosis.
Supporting Ray in his battle with the disease are caring wife Eve (Kerry Condon) and their two kids, adolescent Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and preteen Elliot (Gavin Warren). Though Eve initially favors moving into an assisted living facility, Ray convinces her that buying a nearby suburban home they happened to pass will enable the clan to lead a more normal life.
Ray also hopes that the pool with which their new house comes equipped will provide him with a venue for helpful aquatic therapy. And so at first it seems – after a few dips, he starts to make a remarkable, almost inexplicable recovery.
At the same time, however, Izzy and Elliot are gradually discovering that theirs is a cement pond with a spirit all its own. A backstory concerning the mystical spring by which the pool is fed leads to a potentially intriguing but not especially well-handled exploration of the nature of propitiation and the many varieties of sacrifice that can be made, from the self-serving to the altruistic.
In expanding to feature length the eponymous 2014 short he helmed with Rod Blackhurst, writer-director Bryce McGuire serves up some suspenseful sequences. They culminate in a frightening game of Marco Polo Eve plays with Ronin (Elijah Roberts), the schoolmate she would like to make her boyfriend.
Yet the briefly glimpsed personification of the pool’s evil genius is out of a low-budget 1950s monster movie while over-the-top moments, especially toward the end, lend a daft feel to the proceedings as a whole. In fact, as soon as black liquid starts running out of the eyes of possessed characters, it’s a pretty sure sign that this gothic pool party has gone out of bounds.
The film contains some harsh physical violence, slight gore, a few mild oaths and about a half-dozen crude terms. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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