The random word generator came in handy for this film, hitting the button in the pitch meeting about a…haunted…swimming pool. Based on the short by director Bryce McGuire, this film takes the concept and absolutely rings the story out of it for all its got. With a little bit more creativity, I think this could have worked as a feature length film, adjusting some plot points and actually figuring out the lore of this haunted pool, however, it completely (belly) flops it, only being saved by a competent cast and a handful of effective scares.
The plot begins with a classic inciting event, where a young girl. Rebecca is outside by the pool, trying to fish out the toy boat that her sick brother left in earlier. Through some sort of demonic demony, she slips in and disappears, leaving us to time jump to the present day. This is where we join Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and his family as they search for a new home. Ray is an Ex-baseball star, recently diagnosed with MS, he is out of action until his condition stabilises. On their house hunt, they come across the famed house from the beginning of the film, with the famed pool, coincidentally also from the beginning of the film. It's a done deal and they move in, doing up the pool and house to fit the American Dream.
Once they move in, Ray’s wife, Eve (Kerry Condon) goes for the titular night swim. This is where the beginning of the haunted pool events occur, flashing the lights and phantom figures standing on the outskirts of the water, with a narrow escape from evil.
From then on, we have more and more concerningly haunting events happening at the pool. Yet, they have absolutely no aversion to the pool, and the family just keep on jumping in like they haven’t just seen a demon lady in there, or been sucked under into an abyss of nothingness.
I think this is where the film in particular loses a lot of steam, seemingly running out of ideas of how to continue and tie up the story it's created. We get some very left field lore additions to the story in order to try and tie things together or explain why the pool is doing whatever it’s doing.
I feel like this second half shows why not all shorts need to be pushed into a feature length. With horror shorts, nobody needs an explanation of why things are haunted, but in a film, there is an expectation of explanation. If there isn’t a good enough reasoning, it does make it seem very forced.
As I said, some of the scares do work well in a vacuum, with good setup and tension. They pay off with a good jump but really are just cheap scares that don’t really lead into anything interesting. I appreciate that the film doesn’t rely on the grotesque or gory to push the horror. Keeping it a lot more accessible for the “goraphobic” folks in the seats.
It does have some interesting build up of tension too, combining the music and visuals to add some good lead ups. Although some of these seem to be suggestive in ways that never pay off, giving you expectations for something to happen, only for it to fizzle away into obscurity as we’re diverted to the next scene or another incident that has no relation to the build up that was happening. I can see that this was may a tension build up with hopes to divert the tension into another avenue, but it just feels like blowing up a balloon with the expectation of a pop, only to let all the air out in a really anticlimactic way.
The camera work was done by Charlie Sarroff, who also filmed Smile from 2022. I think you can see the style coming from that to this, with some interesting perspectives and unique angles that just throw you off a little bit, adding to the suspense. This, coupled with th editing of the film does have a promising technical approach.
Even with the lack of creativity in the story and the dialogue being a bit patchy, they cast are really strong, in particular, Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon playing the parents. They bring an intensity and show up for what was on the page. Kerry, particularly has to carry a lot of the context through her conversations, filling in the leaps in tone that the film does.
Even though the story is lacklustre, i can see that there is a message that they seem to be telling, one of the father being self interested and harmful to the family. He takes out his recent diagnosis on the youngest child, making him feel inferior to his older sister. This isn’t done through direct wording but the subtext suggests this narrative. I think it plays well as a concept and with a bit more care, could have been an impactful payoff.
Overall, it is disappointing to start my year of horror off with a dud, especially considering how much good horror came out last year. Hoping this isn’t a omen for what’s to come in 2024 horror and just the expectation to the scares and screams to come.
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