Dark Water (2005)

Hydro-Phobia...

My main reason for watching DARK WATER was the presence of the amazing Jennifer Connelly (Labyrinth, Phenomena, Dark City, Requiem For A Dream). She has a beauty and innocence that I find captivating. As Dahlia Williams, Ms. Connelly has this same charming quality, while going through a living hell. Dahlia is being assaulted on three separate levels. She is haunted by the terrible memories of her childhood, dogged by the insanity of her current, ugly divorce, and plagued by the ghostly happenings in her apartment building. Dahlia and her daughter, Cecelia are in the middle of a black storm of overwhelming forces. A combination that would drive most souls to despair, most minds to break down. Watching this poor woman go through this ordeal is downright depressing, yet Connelly plays it w/ her usual grace. DARK WATER is a supernatural mystery. Beyond that, it is a story about the undying love of one mother for her daughter in the face of abandonment, desolation, and mounting terror. I watched it twice, and liked it more the second time around... September 2, 2008

The beginning of the end for

After seeing the excellent "Ring" and "Grudge" movies, I was so psyched to see Dark Water.
How could they go wrong with this new and exciting wave of horror, especially with Jennifer Connelly in it?
The work she did in A Beautiful Mind was brilliant, so I was eager to see what she would bring to this movie.
Dark Water turned out to be an unfortunate misstep for Ms. Connelly.
The movie has so many problems..............
This really was the first "J" horror bomb and you can tell "J" horror was already starting to get stale.
The acting is fine considering what the actors were given to work with.
The film just isn't that scary.
There are a few tense moments here and there but it was a general feeling of, been there, done that.
The script is just blah, sorry there's no better way to describe it.
It's just kind of............there.
It's not good, but if you've never seen a "J" horror movie before you might like this one.
But if you're like me, and you loved The Ring and The Grudge then you will more than likely be very disappointed.
The movie is dark, and I don't mean scary dark, just hard to see, hard to make out what is going on in certain parts of the movie.
It makes Dark Water more frustrating than frightening to watch.
What else is wrong with the movie?
Just about everything except Connelly.
The other actors are decent but like the script, there just kind of.............there.
The film gives the feeling that everyone showed up because they had to, not because they wanted to.
The direction does nothing to add any atmosphere to the movie and I already pointed out the film is too dark.
And I remember the music, which is supposed to enhance the atmosphere of the film, does just the opposite and distracts the viewer from certain parts of the film.
The ending of the film is a total disappointment which I won't give away.
It wraps everything up in a nice, neat little Americanized package with a red, white, and blue colored bow.
All in all, a major disappointment and a complete waste of Jennifer Connelly's talent, and infinitely worse, a complete waste of my time and money.
Don't let this movie be a waste of yours too.
Two stars for Connelly's acting chops.
Otherwise ...AAAAAVOID!
July 30, 2008

Anti-climatic Wash-up

Dark Water is great at manufacturing tension using a contemporary project (apartment) complex as the source of shadows, dim and yellow light, strange noises, and black-colored water. The tension is level almost from the beginning of the movie until the end, and rarely is there a scary moment to break it. Even the comic relief of the daughter is unintentional as she plays with her toys in the bathtub -- although she steals this scene, it is due to her personality, not the script.

This film is largely plotless. It's also not entirely a character sketch, as many plotless movies can be. For a horror movie to be a character sketch is risky and quite interesting. For a horror movie to have no plot is downright suicidal. The movie fails mostly because it lacks a believable sequence of events. The relationships between the characters are well-developed and the cast is quite good, but there's nothing for them to do. Look scared, be scary, but why? And the utter non-ending is truly thoughtless -- the film ultimately has no regard for the audience.

I suspect that much of the problem has to do with translation. Not Japanese to English, but rather Japanese sensibility to Hollywood sensibility. Something is missing here, a finger on something important. After all, the best horror movies are about our worst fears. Who is afraid of dark water stains? July 5, 2008

Anathema to say so in some quarters, but I preferred this to the original.

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 excellent movie and better than the original, in that this one didn't leave in what seemed like unnecessary parts, which in the original seemed to drag in places, whereas this one never seemed to lose its atmosphere but continued on with its slow building feeling of dread. The original film seemed to include too much more going on, especially near the end, whilst this one kept things more minimal and was therefore more effective for it. Greatly conveyed the feeling of hopelessness and dampness, dripping water, always raining outside, dampness and more dampness, it was everywhere. Obviously very well thought out and full marks to the makers for creating the damp feel which was always there, so you always felt affected by it. Great movie. June 7, 2008

Could rival Stephen King

The strength of Steven King is being keeping his creepiness on the edge of what can be real or normal. This story, a remake of the Japanese film by Hideo Nakata and based on "Honogurai Soko Kara" by Koji Suzuki is one of those that are just on the edge of real.

Probably mentally challenged Dahlia Williams (Jennifer Connelly) is in the middle of a nasty divorce and due to economics is moving with her daughter `Ceci' (Ariel Gade) to a creepy slum tenement. Her daughter is also going a little funny, seeing dead people and so are we. Can her mother turn this all around and pull us out of this slump with a happy ending? Only time will tell. Now sit back and do not get caught talking to the invisible or very visible Natasha Rimsky (Perla Haney-Jardine.)

Dark City [Blu-ray] - Jennifer Connelly May 10, 2008

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