Although it's quite normal for horror movies to be based on real-life events, the upcoming Night Swim movie is quite different. Unlike The Exorcist franchise's origins, the story of Night Swim follows the success of M3GAN and is based on something entirely different. So, is the Night Swim movie based on a true story?
What is the Story of Night Swim About?
What could be better than starting the new year with an upcoming horror film? From the producers of M3GAN and The Nun, the story of Night Swim centers on a family of four moving into their new home that unexpectedly leads to a horrifying underwater incident.
The official synopsis for Night Swim reads:
Night Swim stars Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Oscar® nominee Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin), the teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren, Fear the Walking Dead).
Considering that The Nun producers did not base their story on a true story, there's a chance that Night Swim might be, especially if it involves a new house where the swimming pool has not been used for 15 years.
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Is Night Swim Based on a Book or a True Story?
As the official trailer states for its synopsis, the Night Swim movie is not based on a true story but instead takes inspiration from 'the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire.'
The four-minute short film had the same name, but its rights were sold to James Wan's Atomic Monster back in 2018. Although Wan gained the rights to its story, Bryce McGuire is still the one manning behind the wheel of the movie.
McGuire recently told The AU Review how Night Swim had more story upon transforming into a full-length film, compared to its origins as a short film:
"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?”
Eventually, this bloomed into the upcoming Night Swim horror flick, which will make its theatrical debut on January 5, 2024.
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