Night Swim Blu Ray Review (Universal/Blumhouse)

Night Swim is a 2024 horror film written and directed by Bryce McGuire (Horror Anthology – Volume 1, Every House is Haunted, Jesus Fish, and The Whistler) in his full length feature directorial debut. It’s based on a short film from 2014. It was produced by Jason Blum (The Purge franchise, Insidious franchise, The Invisible Man, Get Out, Split/Glass, Happy Death Day 1/2, Halloween, The Black Phone, Freaky, The Hunt, MA, The Craft: Legacy, and Upgrade) and James Wan (Saw franchise, Insidious franchise, The Conjuring universe, Aquaman franchise, Swamp Thing, M3gan, Malignant, and Mortal Kombat). The budget was $15 million and it grossed $54,075,969 worldwide at the box office. In 1992, Rebecca (played by: Ayazhan Dalabayeva from Miracle Workers) Summers goes out to her family pool one night and something in the pool pulls her underwater. Many years later, the Waller family which includes Ray (played by: Wyatt Russell from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Thunderbolts, Monarch, Overlord, Ingrid Goes West, We are What We Are, Cold in July, and 22 Jump Street), Eve (played by: Kerry Condon from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Better Call Saul, Ray Donovan, Dreamland, Ned Kelly, Unleashed, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Rome), Izzy (played by: Amélie Hoeferle from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), and Elliot (played by: Gavin Warren from Fear the Walking Dead and First Man) are seeking a new home after Ray has been forced to retire from his baseball career due to illness. They are sold when they see a swimming pool in the backyard. The pool is recommended for Ray’s recovery. As he spends more time in the pool as part of his therapy, Ray’s illness seems to go into remission. However, Eve becomes concerned at the changes she sees in her husband. Weird stuff starts happening when it comes to the pool and the kids both had some dangerous situations in it. During a pool party, their realtor Kay (played by: Nancy Lenehan from Jack Ryan, Self Reliance, Veep, and My Name is Earl) confesses to Eve on what really happened here and why it was vacated. The family investigates the previous owners to find out what really happened and how they were now. The Waller family continues have unexpected things occur in their swimming pool. Ray is becoming a completely different person and the rest of them are starting to get worried. Is it all in their head? or Is their something evil about their swimming pool????Night Swim is a very controversial modern horror feature. I haven’t seen something get so many mixed reactions in a long time. I wasn’t sure what to expect before going into this. It’s honestly better than what I thought it would be. It’s a wild concept and you don’t see any haunted pool horror movies when it comes to cinema. The script was solid for the most part especially for what it was trying to do here. The Wishing Well tale is classic and this is a unique take on it. I will say that I enjoyed the whole baseball subplot. It kinda felt like a mini sports feature with a crazy supernatural story mixed in. I do feel like it was about 8 minutes too long overall and Night Swim dragged at times. That would helped with the flow, the suspense and thrills would have hit harder with a slight edit to this. I think Night Swim would have been better with a R Rating rather than it’s watered down PG-13 presentation. It had more potential to it and it felt restrained because of it. I still enjoyed the darker characters and villains when the unholy body of water strikes on it’s victims. Wyatt Russell keeps getting better with each role. He reminds me of his iconic father so much as time goes on. He has the best performance in Night Swim. His character has a Jack Torrance vibe especially towards the end. Kerry Condon is a great counterpart to Wyatt’s madness. She is fantastic in Night Swim and she’s the main force trying to save her desperate family. They both have a strong chemistry and it elevates the production. Both of the kids were really solid here. Personally, I think Night Swim is definitely better than it’s reputation. I’m not saying it’s one of Blumhouse’s best but it’s still worth checking out at least once. It’s currently streaming on Peacock. Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Universal Pictures! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks amazing on blu ray. The cinematography, production design, and locations shine here. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French: DTS 5.1, and Spanish: DTS-HD 7.1 on the disc. Night Swim sounds fantastic. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with writer and director Bryce McGuire. The filmmaker gets real personal here. He brings up inspirations like Jaws and the honor of doing a horror movie with Universal considering their history with the sub-genre. He shares all kinds of information about the production and it’s history. He chats about the cast and their characters. He gets very detailed during scenes. You can tell that he was very passionate about this project. “Masters of Fear” is almost 7 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. They chat about the origins of the project. They talk about Blumhouse and Atomic Monster with their impact on horror these days. “Demons from the Depths” is a little over 7 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. They cover some of the supernatural elements. It takes you behind the scenes for the special fx. They focus on the villains and monsters from Night Swim. “Into the Deep” is almost 6 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. It’s a nice behind the scenes look into the horror movie. They focus on the swimming pool and it’s haunted atmosphere. “Marco Polo” is a little over 4 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. They go over the iconic pool game. It also has a slipcover, a digital code, and a DVD copy of the release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!