By James Carter
For many, achieving the American Dream is the pinnacle of success, attainable through determination and hard work. In the new horror film, NIGHT SWIM, Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and his family once cradled that dream in their hands, only to see it slip away due to circumstance beyond their control. Now, in a new home they’re poised for a fresh start in hopes of reclaiming that dream once again. However, not all is as it seems with their new home as they start to notice unexplainable occurrences in the unlikeliest of settings: the pool.
For the upcoming release of NIGHT SWIM, Creepy Kingdom’s James H. Carter II spoke with Director Bryce McGuire and Producer Ryan Turek. During the interview, they discussed everything from how films such as Jaws and The Creature from the Black Lagoon served as inspiration, the challenges of filming in water, and the evolution from short film to a full feature movie.
Synopsis: Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film stars Wyatt Russell (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”) 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 (Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren, "Fear the Walking Dead").
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.
NIGHT SWIM is written and directed by Bryce McGuire (writer of the upcoming film Baghead) and is produced by James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Jason Blum, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man.
The film is executive produced by Michael Clear and Judson Scott for Wan’s Atomic Monster and by Ryan Turek for Blum’s Blumhouse.
NIGHT SWIM arrives in theaters January 5, 2024.