Blumhouse's latest horror flick Night Swim has arrived – and while the supernatural thriller has a pretty simple (but terrifying) premise, the ending might leave you with more questions than answers.
You might have missed some details while you were hiding behind your popcorn, but that's where we come in. We've broken down the pool's creepy origins, the fate of the Waller family, and whether or not the final act sets us up for a sequel - with comments from director Bryce McGuire.
Warning: there are massive spoilers ahead for Night Swim! Turn back now if you haven't seen the movie yet! And if you're caught up, head to the below for all you need to know.
Night Swim ending explained *spoilers*
Elliot is lured to the pool with the promise of finding his missing cat. When he reaches for the floatie, he falls into the water and is immediately dragged underneath. Now that Eve understands that the pool requires a sacrifice, she quickly realizes that if she doesn't save her son in time, he'll join the other ghosts that are doomed to haunt the pool forevermore. While Eve jumps into the pool, Izzy runs to call 911, but is quickly intercepted by Ray, who is now fully possessed by the pool's malevolent spirit.
While swimming towards the bottom of the pool, Eve encounters the bloated and grotesque bodies of the many others who were "chosen" by it – and they immediately rush towards her. Luckily, the ghost of Rebecca – the daughter of the family who lived in the house before them – comes to Eve's aid and helps her grab Elliot. Meanwhile, a violent and enraged Ray attacks Izzy, but she manages to beat him with a baseball bat. Suddenly coming back into his own body, Ray realizes that even though Elliot was rescued, he isn't breathing, and that the pool still intends to sacrifice his son so that in turn Ray can stay healthy and healed from his incurable illness. He bids a final goodbye to his family and walks into the pool, becoming the sacrifice instead. The waters become calm and Elliot wakes up.
The film ends with an emotional montage of recorded clips from Ray in which he addresses his family directly, speaking warmly and optimistically about their future. Eve, Elliot, and Izzy stand around the pool as yard workers fill it up with dirt, wondering if they should move out of the house. But, upon remembering that another family will move in only for the pool to claim another life, they decide to stay – with Izzy telling her family that it's what her dad would want.
Who or what is possessing the pool?
It's a little bit complicated – but the water has a life of its own, in addition to all the dead people who are chilling down there.
After researching the various people who went missing after living in the house throughout the years, Eve goes to visit the mother of Rebecca, a young girl who disappeared when her family lived in the home - they also were the last ones to inhabit it. Rebecca's mother explains to Eve that her son was once very sick, but suddenly got better when they moved to the house. The water started to heal him, but it came with a price. In exchange for her son's permanent health, the water took Rebecca's life. Eve then realizes that the water is doing the same to her own husband, who started mysteriously healing from his incurable illness once they moved in. During one particular scene, the Waller family tries to flee the house by car, but Ray suddenly starts convulsing in the front seat. Now that the water's malevolent spirit has tethered itself to Ray, he can't leave.
At the core, the water itself is possessed by some kind of evil, supernatural spirit. The physical pool is inhabited by the many people who were 'sacrificed' throughout the house's history. We don't know what the spirit is or exactly how long it's been in the water, we just know that it chooses a new sacrifice every time a new family moves in.
In an interview with 12DOVE, director Bryce McGuire explained why he chose to give the pool a sacrificial, wish-fulfillment element, rather than keep the haunting at a more surface level.
"Every time I would see a pool in a movie, it was always like the most like, photogenic environment – whether it's like The Graduate or Rushmore or A Bigger Splash or Sunset Boulevard or the Francois Ozon film Swimming Pool. The pool always steals the show. But I always kind of felt that the pool was weighted with this Jungian value where it becomes this dreamscape for our own desires," McGuire says. "Even the Greek myth of Narcissus – someone looking into the reflection of the water and the water shows them back the way they want to be seen or what they desire, right? So, there's all these things in like world mythology that the water is a source of healing or giving or wish fulfillment."
Continued McGuire: "I always kind of saw the water as something that reflected and then gives back your dreams to you. There's a subconscious element to that. It became about like, well look, whatever your dream is, whether that's to be a journalist or a filmmaker, or a mother or a father, or a sports star or a scientist, whatever your dream is, there are costs to that dream. There are sacrifices to achieve that dream. There is a price to pay for whatever your dream is. What are you willing to give up to achieve this thing that you think that you need to be happy? "
What happens to Ray?
Throughout the film, Ray, who initially seemed defeated about his worsening illness, suddenly finds himself becoming stronger. The more time he spends in the water, the more his body starts to heal. Unfortunately, with his newfound strength comes a new violent streak – where he goes so far as to harm a neighborhood child, nearly drowning him during a game of chicken. When the Waller family tries to flee the house, Ray starts convulsing and it becomes clear that he will become gravely ill, if not die, if he isn't near the water.
Ray becomes fully possessed by the spirit towards the end of the film and tries to stop Izzy from interfering with the pool's decision to sacrifice Elliot. After Izzy manages to subdue him with a baseball bat, he comes to and realizes that it's either him or his son. In exchange for Elliot's life, Ray enters the pool where he quickly disappears into the water – becoming the pool's newest sacrifice. It's likely that Ray has joined the other ghosts that inhabit the pool and swim forever among them, but the water is drained and the pool itself is sealed with dirt – putting an end (for now) to the reign of terror.
Does the ending set up a sequel?
We think so. The film ends without any explanation of the water's true origins, and there is no post-credits scene. The pool may be drained and sealed with dirt, but the evil lies within the water...which has now been forced to move elsewhere. In an interview with SFX Magazine, McGuire revealed that "there's a little Easter egg in one of the early scenes that, to me, points a path to where I'd like to go" and that it would be "fun to explore and expand the mythology".
Our bet, though we're not sure, is that the scene in question might be the one where the pool cleaner explains to the Wallers that the water in the pool comes from an outside source – which is, as he says, abnormal for swimming pools. So...where is the water coming from? And where did it go? We see the pool water enter into a storm drain – which could technically spread it throughout the entire town. But what about Ray, who has joined the fleet of waterlogged corpses that haunt the swimming pool? Either way, McGuire says there's much more to the story.
"Well, for anyone that's been a homeowner or worked around water, we know one thing: water will always find the weakest opening. You plug one hole, what's water gonna do? Move to the next. So, we know there's a bigger history to this water. It's not just about this pool, right? This pool is one part of a bigger ecosystem that exists," McGuire explained to 12DOVE. "That hasn't gone anywhere. It still exists there. And that character is still a part of that realm, but there's also just like more to explore in the history of the pool as well."
Night Swim is in theaters now. For more, check out our chats with director Bryce McGuire on the film's origins, star Kerry Condon on acting in her first-ever horror film, and Wyatt Russell on preparing for the lead role.
