Night Swim, a PG-13 haunted swimming pool film collaboration from James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, is now out on Blu-ray and Digital VOD. Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film stars Wyatt Russell as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve, teenage daughter Izzy and young son Elliot. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment sent Cherry the Geek TV a copy of the Blu-ray for review. It’s a mixed bag–the film is so-so but the extras are fairly decent.
The film itself suffers from trying to stretch the short film into feature length. The result is a bit underwhelming. While there are some legit jumps and a sense of creepiness at times, the characters aren’t very fleshed out or likeable, and the story isn’t engrossing enough to make this a repeat view. Russel and Condon’s talents are wasted here. Writer/Director McGuire has skills as evidenced by his short film, and he comes across as a likeable guy in the commentary track and featurettes, so I’d be interested to see how his career develops moving forward. The video and audio quality on the disc are strong.
Where the disc shines are the bonus features. As mentioned, McGuire talks about making the film in a feature-length commentary and it is better than most. He is likeable and shares some fun and interesting stories covering the film’s production.
There are also 4 featurettes totaling about 20 minutes.
*MASTERS OF FEAR– Horror legends Jason Blum and James Wan discuss why they chose to collaborate on this project, what drew them to the story, and why first-time director Bryce McGuire was the perfect man for the job.
*DEMONS FROM THE DEPTHS– Dive into the world of special effects and learn how the creatures in NIGHT SWIM were created to withstand the trials of filming underwater.
*INTO THE DEEP– Go beneath the surface and hear from the cast and crew on the physical and technical work that went into creating a movie that contains so many underwater sequences.
*MARCO POLO– Director Bryce McGuire breaks down the pivotal scare scene and how the film took a simple children’s game and turned it into a nightmare.
The bonus feature that is missing and should have been included is the original short film upon which Night Swim is based.
Night Swim is worth a watch if you’re looking for a tamer entry-level horror film for younger teens, but this is not a film that is going to have a lot of replay value.
NIGHT SWIM BLU-RAY
The Film: C-
VIDEO QUALITY: A
AUDIO QUALITY: A+
BONUS FEATURES: B
OVERALL VALUE: B-
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