Night Swim

Swimming pools, is there anything more beautilful than a swimming pool in the summer? Of course i don´t mind seeing women in swimsuits or in bikinis, but there is just something special about swimming inside a swimming pool, hugging the ladder afterwards thanking the swimming pool because i love it there. I would like to hug the whole swimming pool if possible, unfortunately that is not possible so at least hugging the ladder works for now. I remember the very first time i tried a very excotic swimming pool in Gran Canaria, Las Palmas back in 1990. I was 12 years old and experienced the Las Palmas heat wave so the exotic swimming pool we went to was my absolute favourite place. Since then i have tried several swimming pools in Spain, Turkey, Greece, Thailand and in other countries. I do visit public swimming pools here in Sweden as well especially during summer but i prefer the ocean on a very white beach. Either way, it´s nice to at least experience exotic swimming pools in different countries. Unfortunately not everyone staying at the pool don´t want to hear my Slovakian saxophone folk rock music. Either they must have terrible taste in music or i have excellent taste in music, i believe the answer is the last option that i mentioned. Let´s change the subject and talk about somthething completely different. Let´s talk about short films for a while and i personally believe that short films can be really good. Some might be ok while others turn out to be better than expected. One short film that have actually been talked about for a number of years is a short film called Night Swim released in 2014. Directed by Bryan McGuire the short film tells the story of a young woman swimming in a swimming pool and dives, as she sees a strange figure standing on the side of the swimming pool. She swims to the surface and see no one. She goes underneath the water again and see a strange figure again. Who is this person? An interesting idea for a short film and i did enjoy it. I did not expect to see this short film made into a full feature film but here we are with the same director of the short film returning to this film as well. Is this a surprisingly good horror film or is Night Swim just as exciting as going on a bird watching trip to Bristol, England on a rainy day?

Former baseball pro Ray Waller ( Ryatt Russell ) moves in to a new house with his wife Izzy Waller ( Amelié Hoeferle ) and their 2 children. Ray is trying to get back to living a normal life since his body is still struggling through an illness. The house is included with a swimming pool and this could be a perfect moment for Ray to get back into better shape. What the family doesn´t know is that this swimming pool is carrying a dark secret from the past.

When you make a full feature film based on a short film there are so many things you have to think about. First of all you are supposed to capture the right tone of the short film that people appreciated, and you should also be creative and still make it work as a full feature film. I also feel that you have to have a clear vision of what you want the full feature film to deliver to the audience. In the case of Night Swim i can sense that they at least tried to do something similar to the 2014 short film. Just because they tried to make a full feature film doesn´t mean they managed to pull this off completely. Before i start giving you my personal opinion regarding this film let me mention at least something positive. Since i feel horror films have a hard times these days finding a different kind of story you could say that Night Swim is not a typical horror release when it comes to the plot. We have not seen a full feature horror film in recent years that´s especially connected to a swimming pool so i do appreciate someone trying a different path. Does it make this film original? I suppose not but at least it´s different in the typical horror genre release so that is positive. I do like the side story regarding the father being a professional baseball player trying to get back through rehabilitation, especially when he´s really weak and you can sense he is struggling. It makes the character feel realistic and it could happen to anyone. Ok so let´s get to my negative thoughts. Being a horror film you would think that Night Swim would use the swimming pool effective to scare the audience. Unfortunately it feels like they didn´t really use this idea in a effective way. In the short film it worked because the mystery surrounding an unknown person showing up out of nowhere near the pool, it made you question what is going on. In the full feature film Night Swim they try and do something similar but it is difficult to feel scared when it just doesn´t feel that effective. The acting is for the most part not that good and this film would have been better with stronger characters. The ugly silly looking dead person in the pool is hillariously bad, this was supposed to be scary? Director Bryce McGuire made a good short film with Night Swim, unfortunately he can´t make it work as good when he makes a full feature film. It is like he just put in too many scenes without making any bigger effort. Night Swim might please some horror fans, but if you want to be scared don´t expect much of this film. Not a terrible film but a film i will most likely not remember.

Rating: DD