Dark Water (2005)

These American re-makes of cult Japanese horror films caused a bit of a stir a few years ago. I can understand people getting in a twist about it, especially if they fail to judge the re-makes on their own merit. Sure, the originals are cool and edgy and Japanese, but it doesn't mean that the American versions can't offer something of their own. I think that something is what a multitude of Hollywood Horror films have been doing for decades. That is, moving away from the safe, glamorous, well known parts of the US, in to 'middle America', the unknown, the sticks, that place where nothing is ever quite what it seems.

I think 'The Ring' did this brilliantly. 'Dark Water' makes a good go of it too. The film is set in New York City. But not the New York that you or I know from the movies. As Ceci, the daughter of Jennifer Connelly's Dahlia points out, the place that they move to isn't actually in the city. They move to Roosevelt Island, in to a crappy, run-down apartment block. The ceiling in their new apartment leaks murky water. Dahlia has a lot on her plate as she juggles a messy divorce, her daughter's new imaginary friend and the incessantly leaking roof.

It is, admittedly, not the most thrilling of introductions to a film, but I think those that stuck with it should feel rewarded. As Dahlia's situation worsens, the tension in the film grows. There is a relentless unease to everything that happens, it verges on creepiness and keeps everything from that point feeling pretty tight. On it's own merit, this works well, but it doesn't live up to to Hideo Nakata's original. Watching that, you'd wish for relentless unease, because Nakata offered up a relentless feeling skin crawly feeling. The re-make doesn't have an adequate substitute for the creepy girl in a yellow raincoat and suffers for it. Similarly, where the original built to a dramatic crescendo as all the pieces fell in to place, the re-make seemed to just peter out.

On the whole though, the film works. Jennifer Connelly is as watchable as ever. John C. Reilly is fun, as are Pete Postlethwaite and Dougray Scott. I really liked Tim Roth as Platzer, Dahlia's lawyer. He felt a little underused, though I'm not sure what more he could have offered other than being her shoulder to cry on.

Dark Water never really hits the heights of the original J-horror flick that was based on. On its own merit though, it's not as bad as some critics made out. It offers moments of tension, fright and unease, but just failed in following these elements through to a level where they could have really unsettled the audience.

Connections with other films in The Gallery: Jennifer Connelly - Pollock (2000) as Ruth Kligman

Links: Dark Water (IMDb) Trailer Trailer (Original) Hideo Nakata