10 Worst Horror Movies Of 2024
9. Night Swim
Night Swim had an uphill battle from the beginning, considering its selling point is an evil swimming pool. However, a silly premise doesn't necessarily lead to a bad movie. For example, Oculus was awesome, and its pitch was "haunted mirror".
Sadly, Night Swim is drowning in cliches and non-compelling characters. And thanks to the PG-rating, it doesn't have any grisly kills to satiate gorehounds. Instead, Night Swim contains multiple scenes of swimmers splashing around while being attacked by seemingly nothing. The actors try their best, especially Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, but their one-note characters give them nothing to work with.
Instead of embracing its campiness, Night Swim takes the ridiculous concept dead seriously. Considering the pool summons ghosts, plays Marco Polo with a child, and cures a swimmer's physical ailments, it's obvious Night Swim would've benefited by playing up how goofy it is. And when it's revealed the pool can grant wishes, viewers will wonder if the film was meant to be a parody.
Interestingly, Night Swim started life as a four-minute short which was released ten years prior. Based on how bereft of ideas this feature-length version is, it should've stayed that way.