In 2014, Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire launched Night Swim on YouTube, an effective short film lasting less than four minutes. While bathing in the presence of her cat, a woman (Megalyn Echikunwoke) is terrorized by an evil presence. Four years later, the two directors sold to James Wan (Decadence, Insidious, The Conjuring) a feature film adaptation of Night Swim (Baignade nuit in French version).
Written and directed by Bryce McGuire, the new version features Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell), a baseball player suffering from a degenerative disease, who moves in with his wife, Eve (Kerry Condon), and his children, Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle). ) and Elliott (Gavin Warren), in a new home, despite a strange incident that occurred at the edge of the in-ground swimming pool before purchasing the house. Shortly after, Elliott’s cat disappears under mysterious circumstances.
While Ray regenerates on contact with water, Eve, Izzy and Elliott witness increasingly frightening phenomena with each swim. They are still unaware that a few decades earlier, a little girl drowned in the same swimming pool which seemed haunted by a malevolent entity.
If Night Bathing has the qualities of the original short film, that is to say well-packaged aquatic scenes, a palpable climate of tension and a few shock effects that will make more than one person jump, the whole thing suffers from a plot so diluted and predictable that it struggles to maintain the viewer’s interest until the last act. However, thanks to the talent of the actors, who convincingly play the members of a seemingly perfect family on the verge of exploding, and the furtive appearances of a sea creature, the whole thing initially turns out to be very captivating.
Too soon, Night Bathing becomes a festival of references to horror film classics, from The Creature from the Swamp (1982), by Wes Craven, to Poltergeist (1982), by Tobe Hooper, via The Abyss (1989). ), by James Cameron. Alas! with its monster of the depths which seems to be made of rubber, the absence of truly frightening scenes and the rather tasteless and disappointing revelation of the source of Evil, Night Bathing is no match for its inspirations.
