News
‘Night Swim’ Makes a Modest Ripple: Box Office Projections and Mixed Reviews
“Night Swim”, the 2024 horror-thriller directed by Bryce McGuire, has made a tepid splash in the cinematic pool with its recent release. Despite a projected domestic opening of $12.5 million from 3,250 theaters, trailing only behind “Wonka,” the film has struggled to make a significant impact. It led the Friday box office race with $5.2 million, including $1.5 million from previews, but its performance has not matched the expectations set by Universal and Blumhouse’s previous hit ‘M3GAN‘, which had an opening weekend of around $30 million.
The film, adapted from McGuire’s 2014 short film in collaboration with Rod Blackhurst, explores the story of the Waller family, who encounter a malevolent force in their new home’s swimming pool. While the premise is intriguing, critics have noted the film’s inability to fully capitalize on its potential.
Roger Ebert’s review points out that while “Night Swim” effectively uses distorted underwater perspectives to build tension, it overly relies on jump scares and eventually falls flat when it explains the mystery behind the pool’s menace. The entity’s reveal was described as laughably unconvincing, a departure from the film’s initially serious tone.
Digital Trends echoes these sentiments, highlighting the film’s “tense, terrifying sequences” and “self-aware humor”. However, it criticizes the film for its “tonally uneven climax” and “overlong, unnecessarily bloated screenplay”. The review describes “Night Swim” as a film caught between its campier elements and aspirations of serious horror, likening it to a pool that can’t conceal its underlying grime.
Looper’s review also notes the film’s lack of depth, observing that the feature-length adaptation doesn’t expand much beyond its original premise of a haunted pool. The additional elements, like the pool curing multiple sclerosis and enhancing baseball skills, are seen as weak attempts to add substance to a limited narrative.
ComicBook.com acknowledges that while “Night Swim” is not the worst feature film debut, it ultimately delivers a shallow horror experience. The review credits McGuire for his directorial skill and the convincing performances of the actors, particularly noting the chemistry between Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon. However, it points out the film’s biggest drawback as its failure to creatively explore its premise.
These reviews suggest ‘Night Swim’ stands as a film with unmet potential. Review after review mentions that the film is hindered by its limited scope and inability to balance horror with humor. Many outlets seem to agree that while the film boasts a competent cast and a few memorable sequences, it ultimately fails to leave a lasting impression.
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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