The Pool – Shudder Review (3/5)

THE POOL is a new Shudder horror movie featuring a survival plot. A couple is trapped in an empty pool with a crocodile. Oh yeah! What’s impressive is that it’s actually good. Well, until the final 15 minutes or so, unfortunately. Read our full The Pool review here and check it out on Shudder!

THE POOL is a new horror movie on Shudder. It’s from Thailand and features a survival plot that sounds crazy, but actually works. Or rather, the plot works surprisingly well for a very long time. Then comes the final part of the movie and it’s almost like we’re in a horror-comedy.

Except, we’re not and it’s just very wrong!

Basically, a couple is trapped in an empty pool that has been shut down. Ad a crocodile to the mix and you have a very crazy survival story that utilizes its 90-minute runtime fairly well.

Continue reading our full The Pool review below and give it a shot on Shudder.

CGI and real animals combined

No animals were harmed in this movie which is obvious from the very beginning since the movie opens with this statement. That’s something that warms my animal-loving heart. In fact, most of the movie works well for me despite being very fond of animals.

Then, of course, comes that terrible ending. However, the love of animals is still quite obvious.

Anyway, my point, and I do have one, is the fact that CGI is also used quite a lot and it’s not super well-executed, but it’s not too bad either. Also, there’s a dog in The Pool that plays a key role. It’s both sweet and funny and often works as a tension breaker but never in a silly way.

Yes, you will be very irritated

Look, there is no doubt that parts of The Pool will irritate you in various ways. Mostly because you will look at the terrible situation they’re in and feel like you could get out. I mean, I’m not the most athletic person in the world, but I still feel pretty confident that I could have done better in their situation.

Also, they make some silly choices along the way and they’re just extremely unfortunate. Actually, after watching various true story documentary survival stories, I can recognize that this can actually be the case.

Watch The Pool on Shudder

Ping Lumpraploeng is the writer and director of The Pool and I can’t really falter much about this movie as a whole. Yes, the ending really does suck in many ways. Still, it would have been awesome for a horror-comedy, so maybe that should be the next movie from Ping Lumpraploeng.

We’ve actually reviewed several Thai productions in the past and if you enjoy The Pool, you should really check them out. There’s a Netflix series called The Stranded (read our review here) which wasn’t amazing, but still interesting. In terms of movies, the horror drama Inhuman Kiss is a truly gorgeous looking movie that is worth checking out.

Finally, the Thai episode of the horror anthology Folklore is also worth watching. Read our Folklore season 1 review here >

Basically, please don’t let the fact that this is a Thai production keep you from giving The Pool a shot on Shudder. It’s much better than I expected (again, until the ending) and it’s definitely entertaining.

The Pool is out on Shudder from July 20, 2020.

Details

Director: Ping Lumpraploeng
Writer: Ping Lumpraploeng
Stars: Theeradej Wongpuapan, Ratnamon Ratchiratham