Night Swim Director Weighs in on a Possible Blumhouse Sequel

Blumhouse Productions has created a number of beloved franchises in the world of horror, such as Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and Insidious, with director of their latest adventure Bryce McGuire, who delivered last weekend’s Night Swim, addressing the possibility of a follow-up. The filmmaker confirmed that he already has plenty of ideas for a possible sequel, thanks to the mythology that was introduced in this debut installment, while noting that it will likely be up to audience enthusiasm whether this is just the beginning of a long-running adventure. Having only landed in theaters days ago, fans will have to wait and see how many audiences dive into the adventure in the coming weeks.

“Look, if there were to be a sequel, I do have an idea, and there’s lots more of the mythology,” McGuire shared with Entertainment Weekly. “I just wanted this first one to be so simple and archetypal. There’s lots more that has already been discussed and could have been in the movie that I would love to get to explore, if people want more.”

Back in January of 2023, Blumhouse started off the year with M3GAN, a PG-13 horror-comedy that was a major hit with audiences and critics alike, resulting in news that a sequel was in development. Blumhouse bucked the trend with that adventure, as both January releases and PG-13 horror movies don’t often earn much acclaim with viewers. It seemed that Blumhouse hoped to replicate that success by releasing Night Swim the first weekend of the year, but it doesn’t look like their latest will come close to capturing the excitement of M3GAN.

Night Swim has only earned 25% positive reviews out of more than 100 critical reactions, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to M3GAN‘s 93% positive reviews. Additionally, Night Swim took in only $12 million in its opening weekend, as compared to M3GAN‘s $30-million opening on its way to $180 million worldwide.

Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film 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), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, this fall’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren, Fear 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 Saw, Insidious, 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.

Night Swim is in theaters now.

Are you hoping we get a sequel to the horror movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!