Nowhere to Swim
Click to viewA group of teens break into a posh indoor pool to celebrate graduation only to find themselves picked off one by one by a masked killer. This is the plot of 2001's Swimming Pool, a German movie about English speaking international students in Prague. Its 36% Rotten Tomatoes rating is fair but it's a diverting little slasher.
The cinematography looks like a made for TV movie, the filmmakers evidently felt there was no way they could improve upon the native fluorescent lighting of an actual indoor swimming pool. The actors are in their twenties playing eighteen year-olds but, with the exception of a young James McAvoy, they all look like they're in their 30s. German movies since the '90s seem to like lines on women's faces.
On their way to the pool, the kids listen to an aggressive, techno cover of "Dancing Queen" I suspect was recorded for the movie. Somehow it makes sense that this filmmaker desperately wanted to believe that wild party teens could like ABBA in some shape or form.
The characters break down into he usual character types; the pure hearted girl, the slutty girl, the jock boyfriend and the intense nerdy guy who wishes he could get the girl. Among them is the killer. I can't say I was bored during it, it was fun watching them argue and trying to figure out which one was the madman--I suppose it could've been a woman though the masked figure was wearing a skintight black shirt that showed a male frame. That never stopped a few giallos and American 80s slashers from revealing the killer to be female, though.