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‘Night Swim’ – Watch the Original Short That Inspired the High Concept Horror Movie

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Night Swim short

The high concept supernatural thriller Night Swim is out in theaters now, plunging a family into an aquatic nightmare thanks to a haunted swimming pool. It also happens to be based on a 2014 short film of the same name by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, and you can watch it right now.

When speaking with McGuire ahead of Night Swim‘s theatrical release, the filmmaker said of the short’s inspiration, “The short was really just Rod Blackhurst and I hanging out in a pool one night and being like, ‘Remember when you were a kid, and you got freaked out because you couldn’t see the bottom anymore?’ And you thought that something was beneath you. It was like, ‘Yeah, I still feel that.’ Then, ‘Let’s see if we can capture that in a short amount of time, in a short format.’”

The 2014 short stars Megalyn Echikunwoke (Emily the Criminal, “Damien”) as Eve, a woman who finds herself stalked by a dark presence when she decides to take a leisurely night swim.

Clocking in at just under four minutes, the short film cuts right to the terror. No mythology, no narrative, or explanations; just pure aquatic scares. Watch below.

Writer/Director Bryce McGuire’s feature expansion stars Wyatt Russell (Overlord, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”) 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 CondonThe Banshees of Inisherin), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie HoeferleThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and young son Elliot (Gavin WarrenFear the Walking Dead).

Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.

Night Swim is written and directed by Bryce McGuire (writer of the upcoming film Baghead) and is produced by James Wan, the filmmaker behind the SawInsidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Jason Blum, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man. The film is executive produced by Michael Clear and Judson Scott for Wan’s Atomic Monster and by Ryan Turek for Blum’s Blumhouse.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Home Video

Dark Sky Bringing Entire ‘Hatchet’ Franchise to SteelBook Blu-ray

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Dark Sky Films has announced Dark Sky Selects, a new label “committed to delivering a meticulously curated selection of high-quality, limited edition film releases and exclusive merchandise to the collector’s market.” First up? Hatchet: The Complete Collection SteelBook.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray set collects together all four of creator Adam Green’s Hatchet films for the very first time on Blu-ray, and it’s set to be released on June 25, 2024.

Here’s the full rundown…

  • Disc 1: Hatchet
  • Disc 2: Hatchet II
  • Disc 3: Hatchet III
  • Disc 4: Victor Crowley
  • Disc 5: Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus Disc with nearly 2 hours of brand-new bonus features
    • Hatchet: Swamp Tales
    • Production Journals

You can pre-order your copy from Dark Sky Films today.

“Old-school American horror is back as Adam Green’s iconic Hatchet series returns in a blood-soaked, fully Unrated collection, uniting all four films for the first time.

“Unleashed at a time when the fun of 80s slashers had all but disappeared from the cinematic landscape, Hatchet ushered in a new era of terror with its unapologetic brutality and introduction of Victor Crowley, the modern bogeyman, who ruthlessly hunts those who dare tread into his swamp. With each installment, the stakes escalate, delivering bigger, bloodier scares and a relentless barrage of inventive kills. So gather all your pieces, because it’s time to return to his swamp and learn once and for all that some legends truly never die.”

Other films coming soon from Dark Sky Selects include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, and Faces of Death. Stay tuned for updates.

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