Night Swim ending explained: With a warm swimming pool, comes a cold monster

With a great house comes a great swimming pool with healing abilities in Bryce McGuire's Night Swim. But healing comes at a cost. There's a history alongside the water in the pool that goes back to a malevolent magic that requires something to be sacrificed for the healing coming out of the water. This is almost like what a Soul Stone demands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film stars Thunderbolts* Wyatt Russell as Ray Waller and Better Call Saul's Kerry Condon as Eve Waller, who have shifted into this new house with their kids, Izzy Waller (Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliot Waller (Gavin Warren).

Ray has a condition called multiple sclerosis, which is also the reason he has to quit his baseball career. The house the Waller family has purchased is mainly because of the hydrotherapy that comes with this swimming pool, which is at the core of the story.

However, this boon turns out to be a curse for them, as the patriarch of the family has to sacrifice himself. There was no other way; it's either his condition's healing or his family.

Why did Ray have to sacrifice himself in the film?

While Ray is being healed in the pool, there are malevolent forces at work, which his wife discovers after meeting the previous owners of the house, the Summers. It turns out that Summers has sacrificed her daughter, Lucy (Jodi Long), for her son Tommy, who is terminally ill.

Eve discovers this and is horrified. What's wrong with Ray, who is acting weird, which involves an instance where he almost drowned himself in the pool? However, Eve returns to find out Ray is being possessed by the malevolent entity that's controlling all of this magic that's in the pool's spring water.

Ray has now become a threat to his own family, trying to kill Izzy, while Elliot is rapped in the pool's water in Night Swim. Now Eve is trying to save her son, and her daughter is in confrontation with the possessed Ray, whom she assaults with a baseball bat.

While all of this is happening in Night Swim, we also see Rebecca's spirit guiding Eve and saving Elliot eventually. Ray eventually comes to his senses and deduces what needs to be done. So he sacrifices himself to save his family, especially Elliot, who is being targeted as a sacrifice for the healing provided to Ray.

Does Night Swim leave a window open for a sequel?

Night Swim turned out to be a critical failure with only 20% approval at Rotten Tomatoes. (Image via Universal Pictures)

There can be a sequel to Night Swim, as the ending does leave room for the story to develop. However, we can't say if the Wallers will leave this house, as they have decided to stay behind to keep the pool's evil at bay.

Maybe there will be other horrors awaiting the family that they try to get rid of for good. Or the creators of the film can bring new guests to the house who may try to chill before finding out the truth behind this premise that can send chills down the spine.

Or maybe we can get a prequel like The Conjuring universe's Annabelle: Creation telling us about how all of this began.