Based on his own acclaimed 2014 short film, Night Swim high dives into the deep end of horror as it takes the most banal pleasure of suburban life and transforms it into a wellspring of demonic evil in a movie that combines the style, impishness and wicked world-building that audiences have come to expect from horror film powerhouses Jason Blum and James Wan, with the eerie vibes and emotional resonance of classic eighties-era chillers like Poltergeist and Pet Sematary.
Furthering our coverage of the forthcoming release of Night Swim (you can read our interview with the film’s executive producer, Ryan Turek, here) Peter Gray spoke with the film’s writer and director, Bryce McGuire, about expanding his short to feature length and if he’d personally survive the rules he has put into play.
Congratulations on the film. Looking at your background in writing and directing in short films, predominantly, was there anything specific about Night Swim that made it the one to expand into a feature?
No, that’s just the one that got expanded to a feature, homie (laughs). You keep making short films because you hope that one of them gets across that impossible gauntlet of turning into a feature with James Wan and Jason Blum and Universal Studios. And then the strongest species survive, right? Yeah, you just have to keep making stuff and get better at your job. But then, ultimately, it’s the idea that wants to get made is the one that’s gonna get made – If you have enough persistence and patience to let that habit run its course. It was just that Night Swim was that idea that had a gravitational pull to it, and it brought in the people that saw the potential of the concept and was excited by it the way that I was excited by it. James Wan was the first person who saw that and was like, “Fuck yeah, let’s go! Let’s do it!”
I imagine a lot of people assume with a short film it’s just about adding extra content here and there for a feature. But do you almost have to go back to the beginning and build the story back up from the base level?
Yeah, for sure. There’s no story in the short film. There’s a woman in a pool and then she goes missing. There’s a scary pool. There’s an atmosphere. And then there’s an environment. But there’s no story. I literally had to just throw that all away and ask “What is this pool?” What can it do? What does it want? Who are the people that need it? What can it give them? What can it take from them? What’s going to ask all those big questions?”
I think I always feel like premise and character have to be connected. So, who are the characters going to go through the gauntlet of this premise? Which is a pool that can give and take and can do certain things for you. Who’s the family that can gain the most from that, and that need it the most? And then, how is it going to test their loyalties and test what they want and where they find meaning and happiness? What are they willing to sacrifice? It’s all those things.
I loved the lore created in this, and one of things I liked about the film was that Kerry Condon’s character, Eve, was smart. She was smart enough to start leaving when shit hit the fan. Obviously, she can’t through circumstances, but the intent is there. And I was wondering, if this was happening to you, would you personally investigate further? Or would you just be out? Like, I see white people die in movies all the time, I’m done!
(Laughs) I know, those white people really have it coming. Yeah, it’s interesting. If a kid comes to you and says, “I saw this thing in the pool and it tried to grab me”, it’s hard to know what to do with that. Because if you go out there and look, and there’s nothing there, and you have a young and imaginative kid, like I have a kid, and I would really want to take them seriously. And I would investigate that, but at a certain point, do you really move your whole family from a house because your youngest child said they saw something and you have no other evidence to confirm that? And, for this family (in Night Swim), think about that. All they’ve done is move, move, move. And finally, there’s somewhere with the stability, and I think there’s an aspect of, like, these characters aren’t stupid at all, but there’s an element of ‘you just don’t want to believe some bullshit like that’. The implications for what it means for your family, people are going to resist accepting that for as long as they can.
At a certain point, she knows there’s something wrong with the pool, and she’s getting out of there. And, as you said, the pool has more up its sleeve, there’s more powers it has than we realise. I don’t know, I think I would do what she’s doing. I think I’d go talk to someone, I’d investigate, I’d figure out what else went on here, and as soon as I know that I’m trying to leave and, you know, just hope it’s not too late.
Well if people were smart we wouldn’t have horror movies, so just keep doing what you’re doing. I’m such a fan of the genre, so I’m excited to see what you come up with next.
Awesome, I appreciate that. Thank you.
Night Swim is screening in Australian theatres from January 4th, 2024.
