Proof-of-concept origins

External videos
The original 2014 short film which served as the proof-of-concept for the feature version via YouTube

The film's origins go back to 2014, when Bryce McGuire wrote and directed his low-budget five-minute 2014 short film of the same name in collaboration with his friend Rod Blackhurst, which he filmed in the backyard of musician Michelle Branch. It starred Megalyn Echikunwoke in the lead role, which would inspire the character of Izzy Waller in the feature version. McGuire cited Blumhouse's own films, as well as other films such as Poltergeist (1982), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Jaws (1975), Christine (1983), The Night of the Hunter (1955) and The Abyss (1989) as the film's sources of inspiration. He also described the film's story as semi-autobiographical in connection to his childhood and adolescence, saying "Growing up in Florida, surrounded by ocean on three sides, in a climate that can only really be survived by partaking in water ritual, 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 ... I saw that movie [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". The short film was released on YouTube on October 12, 2014, and went viral, allowing McGuire to break into the film industry as a screenwriter. Judson Scott, executive vice president at Atomic Monster, recommended the short to James Wan, who agreed to purchase the rights for a feature film adaptation.^[8]

Development of feature version

Producers Jason Blum (left) and James Wan (right)

The feature version of Night Swim was reported to be in pre-production in January 2023, following the success of the film M3GAN.^[10] McGuire returned to direct from his own screenplay, in which he expanded the plot to add a layer of drama that would drive the story and an emotional layer to the terror that occurs to the characters. This involved adding "an epic, supernatural mythology with a gothic fairytale undercurrent for the story's sinister swimming pool". Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon were announced to star, with James Wan and Jason Blum producing under their banners, Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Productions, respectively.^[10] In April, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, Nancy Lenehan and Jodi Long were added to the cast.^[9]

Filming

Principal photography began on April 11, 2023, in Altadena, California and the Los Angeles region, and lasted 34 days.^[11][8]

Track listing

^[12]

Box office

As of January 11, 2024, Night Swim has grossed $14.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.8 million.^[3][4]

In the United States and Canada, Night Swim was projected to gross $9–11 million from 3,250 theaters in its opening weekend.^[2] The film made $5.2 million on its first day, including $1.45 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $12 million, finishing second behind holdover Wonka.^[14]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 24% of 135 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Night Swim has a few creepy scenes, but overall, this suburban horror story is too bland and predictable to really be scary."^[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[16] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 45% of filmgoers gave it a positive score, with 26% saying they would definitely recommend the film.^[14]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety said audiences are never "immersed in the movie's terror" and wrote "But now, opening in the same junkyard weekend slot, we have another Blumhouse production, Night Swim, which restores a certain order to the cinematic universe by being as tepid and unscary as a proper early-in-January movie should be".^[17] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "the shallow end of the horror-film pool" and said "despite the filmmaker's best efforts to drum up suspense via the usual jump scares, Night Swim turns out to be just as silly as it sounds".^[18] Toronto Star's Peter Howell gave a score of two out of four, saying the short story was superior: "For the most part, though, this feature version of Night Swim further demonstrates the truism that longer is rarely better when it comes to movies. The original was short, sharp and shocking".^[19]

Matthew Monagle, writing for The Austin Chronicle, gave the film a score of three out of five: "It may be damning with faint praise to describe Night Swim as a solid movie, but horror fans know just how dark and deep the bottoms of their genre can be. We'll take what McGuire has to offer every day of the week".^[20] Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times gave a positive review. She wrote that the third act's goofiness undermined the "emotional resonance it's going for", but ended the review with, "For a winter horror release — typically a great time to go to the movie theater, munch popcorn and get your pants scared off — it does the job".^[21]