Horror classics such as Poltergeist, Christine, Burnt Offerings, and Jaws inspired Night Swim—well, these and a touch of aquaphobia.
“I’ve always had water on the brain,” director Bryce McGuire says. “Growing up in Florida, surrounded by the ocean on three sides, in a climate that can only really be survived by partaking in water rituals, knowing friends who drowned, hurricanes that flooded homes, boating accidents, shark attacks, you come to have a kind of fear and reverence for the water.”
As a kid, McGuire loved movies, and as he became increasingly interested in the medium, his wary regard for the water flowed naturally into an interest in seaside thrillers. “I saw Jaws when I was 10 years old. We had a swimming pool at the time, and I remember treading water by myself at night when my younger brother turned the lights out. And even though I knew the pool was only 9 feet deep and 18 feet wide, I was certain beyond any doubt that the water was an abyss and something horrible was rising toward me from the depths.”
In Night Swim, based on McGuire’s acclaimed 2014 short film of the same name, Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades his wife, Eve (Kerry Condon), that their new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids (Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren) 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 into the depths of inescapable terror.
All of McGuire’s terrors and tastes find potent and poignant expression in Night Swim. “The pool represents status, diversion, fun,” McGuire says. “It’s sexy; it’s seductive, and that’s what makes it deadly.”
“It was abundantly clear from watching the short that Bryce was a gifted filmmaker with a command of craft and tone,” producer James Wan says. “The story it told was so mysterious and evocative, and Bryce had a compelling vision for how it could be turned into something bigger, stranger and scarier while also being emotionally resonant.”
Adds Jason Blum, also a producer, “What I liked about Bryce’s script was how it fleshed out the premise of a ‘spooky swimming pool’ in a credible, relatable, emotional way that felt contemporary and relatable yet classical at the same time. It’s scary; it’s emotional; it keeps you engaged by constantly begging the question: ‘What would you do if this happened to you?’”
Starting February 21, high dive into the deep end of horror with Night Swim, distributed by Universal Pictures International. #NightSwimMovie
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