Stephen King Compares This 22%-Rated Flopped Disaster of a Horror Movie to Spielberg’s Works

As a cinephile who probably rivals Quentin Tarantino in the number of movies he has seen, Stephen King often draws attention to unnoticed but noteworthy films.

This time, however, his review confused fans – he praised one of the most unsuccessful horror films of the year:

“I loved the Night Swim […]. It's like a lost, low-budget Steven Spielberg film from Spielberg's early period...say, after Duel but before Jaws. Simple story, but...the cat on the diving board! And those creepy bunny slippers!”

What is Night Swim About

The plot of the movie revolves around the Waller family – they are looking for a new place to live after their father Ray, a famous baseball player, retires due to being diagnosed with sclerosis.

Ray's wife, Eve, as well as his two children, have a hard time dealing with the changes. As a result, the Wallers decide to move into a beautiful house with a luxurious swimming pool that no one has used in over fifteen years.

It turns out that the pool was built on the site of a rare natural spring: according to legend, it has some magical powers and can even heal. Initially skeptical, Ray notices that he begins to feel better after swimming, and then the doctors notice a remission.

The kids, however, are convinced that something terrible lives in the pool and is hunting them.

Night Swim’s Director Was Clearly Inspired by King’s Works

Night Swim is based on the short film of the same name by feature film director Bryce McGuire, whose main idea was that the water was not only a life-giving force, but also a deadly one.

The pool in Night Swim is a familiar element, where one doesn't usually expect anything supernatural. Stephen King himself have explored the topic of giving everyday objects, be it a typewriter or flowerbeds, uncanny qualities, and McGuire follows in his footsteps, but like any novice director, he occasionally slips into imitation.

A voice from the depths of a swimming pool, the ghosts of dead children, an obsessed father, a frighteningly sweet old woman – all of these images have already become a recognizable part of King's legacy, embodied in the adaptations of It, The Shining, and Pet Sematary.

Perhaps this is why King liked Night Swim – he noted the clear influence of his work on the film.

However, audiences were not impressed by the project and did not see the spirit of Spielberg's work in it – its rating on Rotten Tomatoes is only 22%.

Night Swim’s Plot Is Too Cliched

The haunted house plot, which has given us countless horror films and shows, from The Amityville Horror to The Haunting of Hill House, is used too often and is rarely able to offer the audience anything new.

Night Swim had a complex, unusual premise that might have been impressive in the original four-minute short, but didn't work in the two-hour running time.

The second act, about the main characters' contact with the otherworldly, uses rather banal techniques to increase the suspense – jump scares, which have long since fallen out of favor with experienced directors.

So if you are a fan of Stephen King, Night Swim, which is available for purchase on Apple TV, might be worth a look.

Source: Stephen King on X