10 Recent Horror Movies Ruined By Their Third Act

3. Night Swim

Trap Josh Hartnett
Universal

Much like fellow Blumhouse release Afraid, Night Swim was a film that took itself far too seriously considering the aggressive silliness of its premise, centered around a haunted swimming pool as it is.

And like Afraid, there was at least the hope that its finale would deliver on the absurd spectacle implied by its premise, but alas, no dice.

Rather than going all-in on the central family seeking out a way to destroy the cursed swimming pool once and for all, Night Swim instead sticks the tediously self-serious course, with haunted father Ray (Wyatt Russell) ultimately sacrificing himself to the pool to stop it terrorising the rest of the family. Yawn.

It's all dull enough that even vastly overqualified actors like Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon seem totally lost, a result of a potentially fun B-movie misguidedly trying to be a "real" horror film.

As a four-minute short film, Night Swim was a great sit, but evidently struggled to make the transition to a fully engaging feature.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.