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In many ways Dark Water improves upon the memorable Japanese film it's based on. The earlier version was directed by Hideo Nakata (whose excellent shocker Ringu was remade in America as The Ring), but in the hands of director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, this psychological horror story gets an intelligent and more chillingly effective overhaul.
The story is rooted in themes of love and loss that Yglesias similarly explored in his excellent screenplay for Peter Weir's Fearless, here focusing on young mother Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) as she endures difficult divorce proceedings and settles into a low-rent apartment in New York's cramped Roosevelt Island community, near Manhattan, with her young daughter Cecilia (Ariel Gade). Amidst seemingly endless rainfall, Dahlia's world slowly unravels and Connelly is superb as a woman seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Or is she? Could it be that Cecilia's imaginary friend, and the apartment's persistent leaks of dark, dripping water, are the ghostly manifestations of a young girl who had been abandoned by the previous tenant?
Creepy atmosphere and high anxiety are expertly maintained by Salles, and supporting roles for Tim Roth, John C. Reilly and especially Pete Postlethwaite give the film an added edge of mystery. The tension builds slowly (gore-mongers and action fans may be disappointed) but the cumulative effect is palpably unnerving, inviting favorable comparison to Rosemary's Baby. Unlike some other remakes of Japanese horror hits, Dark Water doesn't feel redundant; it stands on its own thanks to the impressive work of everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon
DVD Description
From Hideo Nakata, director of 'Ring', comes this brooding and unsettling masterpiece of horror cinema. In the midst of a custody battle, Yoshimi and her beloved 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment. Once there, the discovery of a schoolbag left behind by a mysterious young girl, along with the appearance of damp patches on the ceiling and walls begins to haunt them as rumours circulate of a little girl who disappeared from the apartment above...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
That's what I was left thinking at the end of this film - 'Is that IT?' I hadn't seen it when it was in the cinema, so I was waiting, with great anticipation for it to come out on DVD! Jennifer Connely is wasted in this film. Her performance is excellent and most of the other characters are well-acted too, but there's only so much they could do with the awful script and poor storyline. I loved the 'Ring' and was expecting something just as un-nerving, but it just never got started! There's so much scope with a story like this, but every chance to scare the pants off the viewer was thrown away. You could see the 'scary' sequences coming a mile off and by the time it got to the end, I was left wondering whether I'd just been watching all the 'deleted scenes' by mistake! My advice would be - don't bother.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Oh dear. On paper, it couldn't fail; Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly in the lead; the ever-reliable Pete Postlethwaite in support; a story from Hideo Nakata, the author of The Ring; and the resources of the mighty Touchstone backing the picture. All that was missing, it seems upon watching this almost haphazard series of scenes, was a director. The plot is so basic that commenting on it gives the game away, so suffice it to say, Dahlia Williams [Connelly] and her 5-year old daughter [a superb turn by young Ariel Gade] are forced by post-divorce reduced circumstances to relocate to a run-down apartment in a bad neighbourhood (if this was the 30's it would have been a spooky mansion), where they hear mysterious noises from the apartment above, from which the incumbent family mysteriously disappeared some months previously. The couple had a young daughter. The opening minutes of the film point out, with all the subtlety of an earthquake, that there is a water tower on the building's roof. And you can probably work out the rest from there. Even allowing for the fact that the plot is as thin as the walls of Dahlia's apartment, a good film could still have been fashioned from the premise on view here, and indeed, might actually well have been originally; the presented 101-minute film gives the appearance of several crucial scenes having been cut (if they were never actually shot, the director, Walter Salles, should have been). A sub-text of the lead character suffering a mental breakdown, and allusions to a corresponding relationship with her mother that ties in with the plot are never followed up; while the denouement is almost as brusque as a Scooby Doo unmasking, with the `villain' all but sneering "I'd have got away with it too if it weren't for you pesky kids". The lighting is depressing and oppressive - not just de rigour scary-movie-dark, but an all-encompassing seaweed dank that makes one turn the brightness up on the remote control just to see what is going on [to discover the answer is, not a lot]. Pete Postlethwaite, who is the only other character of substance in what is essentially a one-woman ensemble piece (paradox intended) sports an accent that should have its own Special Feature in the DVD Extras - Guess The Source (is he Polish? A native Bronxer with severe adenoid problems? Best bet is to stick on the subtitles whenever he appears). Further disappointment for the lads will no doubt be forthcoming when they discover that Connelly, possessor of probably the best body in Hollywood, fails to get as wet as depicted on the cover for more that 10 seconds, but, the film remains eminently watchable purely because Ms C is both naturally charismatic and an immensely gifted actress. Whether too many people will reach for this DVD for a second viewing is debateable though.
Format:DVD
This film is a bit creepy but it drags on and does not really go anywhere
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Atmospheric and subtle.
Having seen both Hideo Nakata's original Japanese version and now this Walter Salles' 2005 remake, for me the remake is the better film. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ernie
dull as ditchwater
There is nothing to recommend here whatsoever.
It is tedious, badly cast, drearily acted, unscary and generally dull and pointless all round. Read more
It is tedious, badly cast, drearily acted, unscary and generally dull and pointless all round. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Euchrid Eucrow
Dark water, dark story...
Ok, it's a modern ghost story about a little girl who was abandoned, drowned, in a New York apartment block, and returns to haunt the new tenants. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2009 by Ed Fredenburgh
Subtle
I thought this was actually pretty good,no I haven't seen the Japanese original,I have seen both versions of The Grudge though and I was pleasantly surprised by that(the American... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2008 by Mr. M. L. Hanford
jennifer saves the movie
Jennifer connely is an amazing actress, and the fact that she's the most beatiful woman on the planet makes looking at her perfomances even more enjoyable. Read more
Published on 13 July 2008 by micheal zeeland
Anathema to say so in some quarters, but I preferred this to the...
I loved the original of "Dark Water" and expected to be disappointed by this, as in the terrible remake of "Ring", but I was very pleasantly surprised to find this was a most... Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2008 by Music Lover.
Could rival Stephen King
The strength of Steven King is being keeping his creepiness on the edge of what can be real or normal. Read more
Published on 13 May 2008 by bernie
good remake but .....
I have seen the original and although I preferred that, this is pretty good. What I didnt like was the poor quality of the print. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2008 by pompeyman
Beautiful and Haunting
I don't usually like the remakes of films as I think they strip from a film what is really pure about it, but this is one remake I can actually very much sit and enjoy (and have... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2008 by Dismal Angel
Another Horror Flick Takes A Nosedive
This is a remake of a classic Japanese horror flick released two years previously. "Dark Water" stars Jennifer Connelly in one of her best acting roles also superb are Ariel Grade... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2007 by DJColzz
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