by Linda Kay

Also Starring: Alex and Belle

Directed by: Bryce McGuire

This review contains an Implied Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Based on the short film (which also includes a cat). Professional baseball player Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and his family move into a new home as he struggles with medical issues, little realizing that their pool holds a dark secret.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The family cat is a brown tabby named Cider and is briefly seen when the family is moving into their new home.

Their son, Elliot (Gavin Warren) picks up the cat and cradles him.

In a later scene Cider shows up poolside as the mother Eve (Kerry Condon) is taking the titular night swim. The cat seems uneasy and runs away.

Implied Kitty Carnage Warning! When Eve goes inside, Cider sits on the diving board of the pool and growls at whatever makes a toy boat materialize in the water. The scene cuts to black and Elliot finds the poor cat’s collar floating in the pool the next day. The only small recurrence of Cider is when Elliot is lured to the pool near the end of the film when he hears Cider mewing and sees the shadow of his tail moving, making it appear as if the cat is on a floating pool toy.

The cat actors Alex and Belle were provided by Gentle Jungle, Inc. with Molly O’Neill and Rachael Greenstone as animal trainers. Fencing was used to get the cat accustomed to the area for the exterior shoot near the pool and when the cat actors were comfortable a bait stick was used to lure them close to the edge with the trainers always close at hand.

This feature was inspired by the short film of the same name which also included a cat. You can read about the short by clicking here.

Final Mewsings: Cats actors deserve so much more than being early targets in horror films.

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