Dark Water Reviews

• I liked the payoff(s) on this horror film from Hideo Nakata

  
  By A2NJO6YE954DBH on 2005-06-24
  I have gotten to the point in watching horror films that when I watched the American production "Dead Birds" I was wondering if this was another adaptation of a Japanese horror film. Apparently the Japanese approach to the genre, which has become well established on this side of the Pacific because of the success of "The Ring" (nee "Ringu") and "The Grudge" (nee "Ju-on"). However, with "Dark Water" ("Honogurai mizu no soko kara") I found myself thinking how different this 2002 effort from director Hideo Nakata (who did the "Ringu" films) from contemporary American efforts in a different way. Too many American horror films go the route of "Jeepers Creepers," where there is a pretty good set up and then the film goes down hill and the payoff is disappointing in the extreme. But with "Dark Water" I was not overly captivated by the set up, but found that the payoff really hit home.
  
  At this point let me warn you that when you start watching "Dark Water" on DVD it goes right into the dubbed English track, at which point I start having flashes back to all of the badly dubbed Japanese movies I grew up on (which inevitably leads to thoughts of Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily?"). My strong recommendation is to stop the film and make sure you have the original Japenese language track and the English captions. Fans of the horror genre should be at the point where they can appreciate the natural language and rhythm of Japanese cast. Most of the key sequences here do not require you to do a lot of reading so it is not a great sacrifice and the nuances of the culture are totally lost in the dubbed version.
  
  Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) has divorced her husband and is in a custody battle for her six year old daughter, Ikuko (Rio Kanno). In an attempt to make a new start, mother and daughter move into an apartment, where strange things start happening. The weirdest are the huge water stains that appear on the ceiling and start dripping away and the red children's bag that start popping up every place Yoshimi goes. Then the dead child to whom the bag belongs starts showing up as well. So we have what we would now be thinking of as your basic Japanese ghost story. But there is a bit more going on here as well.
  
  You see, Yoshimi has some trouble being a working mom. She needs a job to survive, and too often Ikuko gets lost in the shuffle, which sometimes means the kids is left standing outside her kindergarten waiting for her mother when all of the other kids have left. As you would anticipate, there is an attendant irony in this as well. But the pressure is getting to Yoshimi who thinks that she is slowly going insane, which works well given all of the above. Characters in these sorts of movies often get so scared that they might go insane, complete with wild eyes and mad cackling, but you do not have them questioning their sanity as often.
  
  "Dark Water" is a less complicated and more subtle horror story than "The Ringu," which is the obvious point of comparison since Nakata and his co-screenwriter Takashige Ichise did both films (the story here is from a novel by Kôji Suzuki. So it is inevitable that this film seems a lesser effort, but that does not really take away from its effectiveness. When we got to the conclusion I found that I liked what happened, and when the inevitable epilogue reinforced the fact, I liked it even more. I do not think this is a great horror film, but I think it is a solid one and I certainly liked it more than the original "Ju-on."
  
  

• Here We Go Again......

  
  By A3PIPHWD45VOGI on 2005-06-09
  *
  I can't believe they are going to take the chance of letting you see the original version of this film before the screening of the over-the-top U.S. ''remake'' due out two to three weeks after this DVD release -- unlike with Nakata-san's other J-Horror standard, ''RING,'' where they forced you to swallow Gore Verbinski's so-called ''remake'' long before they allowed a Region-1 release of the original. (I'm guessing they're betting that American audiences-- always desirous to avoid reading subtitles and anxious to descend into the next F/X induced drunken stupor --will see their overblown remake 'first' and THEN, thinking that they just saw something spectacular, will insist on viewing the original only to come away with the opinion that the remake was the superior film.)
  
  The thing that makes the current wave of Japanese Horror so effective and so memorable is its SUBTILTY! -- something our own cookie-cutter remake masters have extreme difficulty understanding. But 'subtilty' doesn't make mountains of money for U.S. film makers (and, apparently, neither does ''originality''), so DVD marketers don't bother to offer us a chance to see original Asian movie productions such as this UNLESS some Hollywood Hack decides to jump on the film's ASIAN popularity and ''translate'' it for our own restless audiences! It's enough to make many of us who are fans of these original films very angry!
  
  So now ''HONOGURAI MIZU NO SOKO KARA'' (''From the Depths of Murky Water'')-- Nakata Hideo's follow-up to ''RING'' --will be getting a wider American audience under the marketed title, ''DARK WATER.'' And, as always, my suggestion is to SEE THE ORIGINAL FIRST before shelling out hard-earned bucks for a multiplex showing of the overdone remake, so that you can fully enjoy the creepy 'subtilties' of this film; if you do it the other way around your perspective will very likely be corrupted and you'll lose the appreciation for this film that it truly deserves.
  
  

• Excellent

  
  By A2M4R8R6SU049A on 2005-07-05
  I actually enjoyed this film. Perhaps because I first read the fine story, I knew what was coming, but still the directing and acting was so well done that the whole think was very effective. I was scared.
  
  What would any of us do or feel if we were basically trapped by lack of money, lack of many job opportunities, lack of family support -- and we found a reasonable apartment, near school and job. We probably wouldn't want to move out at the first sign of weirdness. And wouldn't any of us question our sanity if really seriously strange stuff started to happen? So I think the film was reasonable. And the acting was so well done. Very minimalistic.
  
  I especially recommend that anyone who is going to see the remake, first see this one. It is well worth the trouble.
  
  

• Tears From the Abyss

  
  By A4RQ549E9K6B4 on 2005-10-10
  Dark Water poses an elemental question: How do we evaluate a society? Koji Suzuki's answer may be in the way we treat our children, and Director Hideo Nakata's haunting adaptation of child abandonment and parental sacrifice doesn't fail to deliver.
  
  Dark Water begins with Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) in the throe of a bitter divorce, and embarking on a new life with her young daughter, Ikuku (Rio Kanno). Needing to relocate, they settle in a dank riverfront apartment in a desiccated Tokyo neighborhood, staffed by an opportunistic property manager and recalcitrant superintendent. Yoshimi's less than ideal new job, and Ikuko's trepidation about attending a new school add to their apprehension. Their struggle takes an unexpected turn when Yoshimi senses the ghostly presence of a young girl, wearing a yellow pauncho and grasping her red Mimiko school bag, which Ikuko later finds, but Yoshimi won't allow her to keep. Despite its disposal, the bag mysteriously reappears throughout the film, poignantly punctuating the plot. Yoshimi realizes the serious nature of the girl's presence, who manifests herself, at first, with a watermark on their apartment ceiling, looking much like Sadako's ring from Ringu, before worsening into an ungainly apparition with the passage of time. Yoshimi's new responsibilities keep her from picking-up Ikuko after school on time, on a few occasions, which fuels her estranged husband's drive to gain Ikuku's custody, haggaring an already frustrated Yoshimi.
  
  But here is where the mystery deepens.
  
  The waterworks are accompanied by footfalls from apartment 405, leading Yoshimi to investigate. She learns that a young girl, Mitsuko Kawai, lived in the apartment and was abandoned by her father, following a broken marriage. Moreover, Mitsuko may, in fact, be competing with lkuko for her affection. Emotionally torn, Yoshimi must try to protect her daughter from Mitsuko's pursuit. If this sounds familiar, do not misunderstand. Dark Water is a unique film, with its own story to tell, distinct but not disconnected from Suzuki's Ring series, and well worth viewing.
  
  Children--particularly infants, young girls, the infirm, the frail and the elderly--are society's most vulnerable members. Two decades ago, novelist Morris West grappled with a similar theme (among others) in the Clowns of God (1981), which debated whether or not the mentally incapacitated had the right to survive a world catastrophe. (You'll need to read his novel, for yourself, to learn his answer.) In Dark Water, Hideo Nakata masterfully brings to life a young girl's ghostly search for love and acceptance that overpowers the living. Fine performances abound, underscoring Mitsuko's heart-wrenching tragedy and society's penance.
  
  
  
  

• Infinitely superior to Hollywood version

  
  By A2G6F3Q2MRSZB0 on 2005-07-20
  Just watched this again (for third time) after watching the Hollywood remake. The original is not only scarier but much more emotionally devastating. It is a fascinating mixture of two genres: the horror film and woman's melodrama. The remake is not bad, all things considered, but the numerous changes made to the plot serve to attenuate both the horror and the melo-drama. This is clearest in the film's climax. What occurs simultaneously in the original -- the mother's discovery of what happened to the missing girl; the daughter's "meeting" with missing girl in her bathtub -- is turned into two separate incidents in the remake. So not only does the original resolve a major plot strand AND generate suspense at the same time (heightening the effectiveness of both), it then takes the material -- before we have had chance to catch our breath or assimilate all we've seen -- to a whole other emotional level with the finale in the elevator (and which ends with a perfectly realized symbolic image: the child awash in fluids, separated from the body that gave it life). This scene in the elevator, the payoff for all that came before, is simply eliminated from the remake!
  See the original.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Water water everywhere....
  By A2P49WD75WHAG5 on 2005-07-25
  One has probably heard the expression, "water water everywhere." Well, that's the weather report of the Japan in Honogurai Mizu No Sokokara, or Dark Water. Dark Water was originally a collection of short stories written by Koji Suzuki, who exploded onto fame with The Ring. The first of those stories, "Floating Water," was adapted into a full-length feature in Japan, and was the second work of Suzuki adapted to the screen by Hideo Nakata.
  
  Yoshimi Matsubara is going through a rough patch in her life. She is involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband over her nearly six-year old daughter Ikuko, and is searching for a place to live. That they do, in a decrepit dingy seven story apartment complex. Encouraged by the friendly realtor, they move in to Room 305. Unfortunately, the apartment is old, the drinking water tastes bad, and water keeps seeping through the flat's roof. Kamiya, the elderly live-in apartment manager, makes a note of it in the log, but doesn't do a thing about it. The water-stained spot keeps growing until one time, while resting by her sleeping daughter in bed, she wakes up to find the whole bed and pillow sopping wet!
  
  Ikuko finds a red plastic handbag with a cute cartoon rabbit, Mimiko, up on the apartment roof. Instead of letting Ikuko keep it, Yoshimi has Kamiya put it in the lost and found box. There's something about cleanliness Yoshimi has, presumably her revulsion to something discarded-you know, who knows where it's been? However, it has a tendency of turning up in weird places, which begins to scare Yoshimi. And is Yoshimi seeing things, or was there a small girl in a yellow plastic raincoat on the fourth floor? And is there any relation to a girl from Ikuko's kindergarten who went missing two years ago?
  
  While Yoshimi tries to be a good single mother, things aren't easy between trying to get a job, getting off work late, and trying to pick up Ikuko from kindergarten. She has been a very sensitive woman, having been so affected at proofreading some graphic and sadistic novels that she'd undergone psychiatric treatment, that the custody hearings raises her stress level. Her ex, on the other hand, is a cold and calculating, but factual person, who doesn't seem too concerned with Ikuko as much as wanting to score a victory over Yoshimi.
  
  The custody battle itself is anything but peaceful. As Yoshimi's lawyer Kishida tells her, the mother has the advantage when the offspring is six years or younger, but things at the apartment, the red bag, and her husband's cunning tactics at revealing her mental health gets Yoshimi hysterical in full view of both her lawyer and her ex's lawyer, which helps damage her case.
  
  The film's noir ambience is partially due to the rain, which it does a lot of in this movie, but the darkly lit corridors and elevators of the apartment complex create an atmosphere suitable for psychological horror, for which the last half hour before the postscript is a whirlwind of suspense and scares.
  
  Hitomi Kuroki does well in portraying Yoshimi, who has the frightening ordeal of having to live alone, provide for her daughter, and balance things out, making one sympathize with the sensitive woman. And Rio Kanno (Ikuko) is a sweet daughter one roots for. This single mother-child pairing worked well in the previous Suzuki adaptation Ringu. Those who saw Ju-On (the original Grudge) will recognize Isao Yatsu (Kamiya) as Saito-san, the wheelchair-bound old man at the hospital who does the peekaboo game and silly noises.
  
  What Psycho did for showers, Dark Water does for baths and a sink, in a scene when Ikuko turns on the tap for a glass of water and shlup!-a lock of hair comes out of the tap, freaking out the poor girl. A well-done suspense story, equal parts custody drama, ghost story, and suspense thriller. Oh, and given what the Americans did to Ringu with their version, I'm not even gonna bother with the American Dark Water. Come on Hollywood, stop making rotten versions of great Japanese thrillers, fer cryin' out loud!
  
  
• Nakata's direction superb
  By AVVEA5AVWWU7Y on 2005-09-30
  While I was expecting another creepy horror thriller from Hideo Nakata, in the vein of Ringu, he delivers something different here. Dark Water is more about the difficulty of the main character's situation as a struggling single mother, than it is your typical Asian ghost story.
  
  After viewing countless American style horror films, I immediately took to the varied pacing and attention to atmosphere of Asian horror. With Dark Water, Nakata takes his time, deliberately pacing his story and developing the primary characters. While this is a ghost story, rather than merely setting up scenerios where the ghost scares the bejeezus out of two-dimensional dupes, Nakata seamlessly tells a tale of a mother pushed to the brink, going through a tough divorce, and having to find a home for herself and her daughter, not to mention a job to pay the bills. And as if that wasn't hard enough, she just happens to move in right below a ghost.
  
  I like the idea that everything does not have to have tidy resolution in film. I enjoy the fact that I may have a few questions after the film is over. Is this story told from the mother's point of view? The daughter's perhaps? Is this a story about the strength/weakness of the bond between a mother and daughter, or just a creepy atmospheric ghost story? I think Dark Water is all this and more. I find myself going back over facets of this movie well after the fact.
  
  Dark Water is a compelling story of a mother and daughter's struggle to survive and stay together under very strenuous circumstances. If you are looking for an upbeat, fast paced horror film, pass this one by. Dark Water requires patience through the first two acts, but pays off in the third, in a way which completely fits this thoughtful, moody tale.
  
  
• LITTLE, CLAUSTROPHOBIC AND UNEASY
  By A2UKC6QFG9L5GV on 2005-11-29
  I was slightly disappointed after watching "Dark Water" but I'd still give it 4 stars. Disappointed because we've seen this already - in "Ringu" and "Ju-on". At a particular moment I realized I'm getting tired of little girls with long black hair who move awkwardly, if you know what I mean. "Dark Water" was no revelation for me. Somehow I didn't find it extremely frightening (because I heard some people saying it's one of the most frightening films of recent time). And as I said I've already seen this kind of a plot. I don't know, maybe had I watched it in 2002, my opinion would be different.
  Now about the pluses. The movie is well-crafted, it's just so little and claustrophobic you start feeling rather uneasy. The plot evolves around a mother and her little daughter, there are practically no side characters and most of the action takes place in their appartment and in the corridors and halls of their house. All this make you feel anxious and comfortless. This is a film of mood definately. And in the end when you discover it was not a genuine horror picture but a drama about a parental sacrifice, you revaluate the whole story and the film itself. From this side it's rather unexpectable and interesting. So I obviously recommend it to everyone who's interested in japanise movies and in Hideo Nakata's work.
  
  
• Spooky cinema from the East
  By A3IB6BLXU304PF on 2005-12-16
  I recently saw a short television program here in Japan to promote the Japanese launch of the US version of Dark Water! After learning of the spectacular efforts to remake Dark Water to an American version ( to follow on the success of The Ring no doubt) including the casting of Oscar winning actress Jennifer Connelly in the remake, I was excited to see the original Japanese version.
  
  The story of Dark Water is straightforward- a mother and daughter, a custody battle, a move to a new apartment, a new school for the girl and a new job for mom. An expanding water leak on the ceiling of the apartment foreshadows the growing evil presence to come as the story unfolds and we learn that a young girl who lived in the apartment above and had attended the same school, went missing 2 years earlier. The "scary" part of the film is not necessarily the havoc that is wreaked on the mother and daughter- which is a combination of psychological and supernatural- but rather the unravelling of clues as the viewer attempt to figure out the significance of the water leak, the school and the mother.... and how it all ties together.
  
  This is a film with meaning, not simply horror for horror's sake. That said, it is slow and deliberate. This is not a spectacular show of gore and guts. It is meticulous and precise. For example, there are repeated scenes of an empty hallway in the apartment building- it is gray and lonely and cold and sad..... this is the type of canvas that the director (Nakata) paints to infuse this film with spookish and frightening elements. Personally I am not sure I would say this is a "horror" film so much as a supernatural thriller, not so much scary as it was eerie and creepy... It was enjoyable and interesting, and certainly a unique and clever story-line. Subtitles in English.
  
  
• WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE AND NOT A DROP TO COOK BY
  By ANIMV3SPDD8SH on 2005-12-17
  Hideo Nakata's ("Ring"), original Japanese version of "Dark Water", is a supernatural suspense drama about a divorced woman and her daughter, who seem to be haunted by the ghost of a dead child in their new apartment. The City of Tokyo, seen from bleak urban landscapes and generic streets and lots, is a lifeless form of steel and concrete, as is their decaying apartment building, nourished only by the cold and discomforting presence of drenching water. It's in puddles in the hallways, dripping from the ceiling, pooling on the building's roof, and gathering in the roof's water silo where the mysterious happenings may be originating. While the rising water lines suggest impending disaster, the horror factor remains lukewarm, and the 'drip-drip-kerplunk' suspense becomes disarming, as the social consciousness of missing and exploited children robs the film of its fright value. It becomes less a ghost story than it does a 'child in peril' safety concern. The conclusion, said to be ambiguous, made perfect sense to me, and it unfolds as if waking in a dry arid land from a horror soaked dream. Hitomi Kuroki brings much conviction to her oppressed single mom character, and her performance keeps the film's floodwaters rising steadily. If only the ghostly factors could have been as convincing.
  
  
• Scary
  By A3FZ06XRKW5JC5 on 2005-05-11
  This begins as a slow-paced and understated drama. A young woman (Yoshimi Matsubara) is newly embroiled in an ugly divorce and moving with her six-year old daughter (Ikuko), the focus of a nasty custody fight, into a rather cheap and nasty block of flats which is all her budget allows. She takes a not very satisfactory job and introduces her daughter to the rather insalubrious local kindergarten. Meanwhile strange moments of creepiness start to crop up. A child's red handbag appears in odd places. A strange small figure is seen running through a doorway. And there seems to be water leaking through the ceiling. All is not quite right in this new home. As the drama develops these strange moments of creepiness get more sustained and, as it becomes slowly apparent that we are watching a quite astonishingly realized ghost story, they develop into some of the scariest sequences you are ever likely to see. Look out for (not that you are likely to miss it) the scene in the kindergarten when I is playing hide and seek and, come her turn to hide, something strange and watery comes looking for her... Best of all is the climactic scene, where, Yoshimi having more or less figured out the mystery, the suspense becomes almost unbearably intense. The scene reaches its climax in a moment of horrified realization that is one of the cleverest and most frightening moments in any horror movie. I'm getting a little old and jaded and there are not many films that get me back to those delicious hide-behind-the-sofa moments of childhood. But this did. Mr Nakata is of course the guy who made the extraordinary 'Ring' (or 'Ringu' as its American distributor insists on calling it) so it might have been a bit worrying for him that people would come to this with very high expectations. If so, he need not have worried: this delivers. In spite of the huge success of 'Ring' which must have put him in a position to command a respectable special effects budget, there's little evidence that he has bothered, making do as he does with astonishing camerawork, brilliant direction, first rate acting and a perfectly realized imaginative vision. Don't spoil the experience of seeing this wonderfully creepy movie by letting yourself see the soon to be released, tediously inevitable Hollywood remake first.
  
  
• ...
  By A2Q5A0L5RVUJ17 on 2005-06-18
  This movie is only worth owning if you are a hardcore fan of the whole creepy ghost kid niche of Asian horror because this movie doesn't really offer much else other than that. A woman is going through a divorce and struggling to keep custody of her child from her ex husband. In the process the former house wife has to find a job and most importantly, a new apartment to live in... Yeah you can see where this is going. So the new apartment starts getting leaks (SUSPENSEFUL and FRIGHTENING leaks) and she sees odd looking girl who is not supposed to be living in the apartment, and lot's of water and raining and the mystery of how the girl died for that matter (gee I wonder how the girl died?)
  
  Throw in a stupid twist and you basically have a film that has been done a hundred times before in Japan. At least the ghost doesn't meow in this movie. I can't imagine how bad the Hollywood remake is going to be after seeing this floater.
  
  
• Creepy To The Extreme
  By A16IXZW2A0NFR6 on 2005-08-11
  This film is not a blood all over the walls, guts on the floor, and boogeymen lunging out of every closet in the house type of movie. Dark Water achieves it's unsettling flavor of horror with excellent pacing, involving characters, and spooky settings. The story builds itself up slowly, inching it's way into your mind, leaving small pieces of nightmarish shadows in each little nugget. This movie is a breath of fresh air for horror fans tired of teens in peril movies. I for one really don't care if UNTALENTED people like Paris ho Hilton gets hacked to bits in a movie. I want a real film not tripe thrown together for 15 year olds. The recent string of Japenese horror films are bright, mature, and inventive. Ringu and Ju-on the two other recent ones made into American versions are also excellent. I have not yet seen the remake of Dark Water and don't have high hopes for it. The Ring was good, but the Grudge was AWFUL. I recommend this film for mature and patient horror fans, not for those who want screaming demons spitting bile in the first 30 seconds. Dark Water is a great find, I recommend it without reserve.
  
  
• A Creepy film to watch with the lights off!
  By A1HO9J4DCQDGP9 on 2005-09-11
  After tenuously winning a custody battle for her six year old daughter Yoshimi Matsubara played by the understated actress Hitomi Kuroki tries to make a new start for herself and her child.
  
  Emotionally fragile, the product of divorced parents herself Yoshmi desperately wants her daughter to have a more stable upbringing than she had, but with the interference of a vindictive ex-husband she is having a hard time of it and she has to find a new place to live and a job, not to mention the fact her daughter will have to start a brand new school.
  
  The apartment Yoshmi and her daughter Ikuko eventually move into isn't exactly the Ritz but it is a roof over their heads and is near to a good school.
  
  However strange things start to happen from the moment mother and daughter move into the apartment, like the shadow of a child glimpsed coming and going from the building especially in the lift.
  
  Also huge water stains appear on the ceiling of the apartment and drip constantly, as each day passes more and more liquid oozes into the rooms every day and Ikuko's Aunt complains that the water in the apartment is bad and brings her own water in to cook when she has to babysit for Ikuko.
  
  Yoshmi calls the landlord in but he refuses to do anything about it, saying the building is damp from so much rain and what else should she expect?
  
  Add to this a child's red school bag shows up in odd places and soon a more physical manifestation of the child herself starts appearing and Ikuko finds herself an imaginary playmate that shares her bath and who talks to her in whispers that only she can hear does the little girl's mother start to really worry.
  
  Yoshmi eventually discovers the origin of the ghost and all hell is let loose as the young mother desperately tries to save her daughter from a vengeful child spirit whose own mother had deserted her a few years ago and whose death in the water tower on the top of the building has never been discovered.
  
  This is a seriously creepy movie; I thoroughly enjoyed it, no blood and gore, just tension, spooky moments to make you jump, a good dose of hysteria and all round good acting from the whole cast.
  
  I watched this film with the subtitles on, I can't stand dubbed films, they do my head in, but the subtitles didn't detract from the film at all.
  
  I'm not sure what the American version of "Dark Water" will be like, probably better special effects but I doubt if they will ever get that moment of terror when Yoshmi realises that the child she has pulled out of the bath is not her daughter but the child spirit who wants a mother and will do anything to get one.
  
  Superb!
  
  
• A "Japanese" ghost story
  By A2B8GXSCB1R05T on 2006-05-26
  Of all the modern horror films coming from Japan, I fear "Dark Water" ("Honogurai mizu no soko kara" or "It came from the dark water") is the one that will be most lost in translation. Many of the themes being dealt with are simply not issues in the US, specifically the scandal of a divorced woman raising her child alone. Divorce is still very rare and disgraceful in Japan and children are often given to the father who is seen as the more important parent with a greater chance of providing financial support and thus being able to remarry and establish a "proper" environment.
  
  With this in mind, "Dark Water" is more a film about family than ghosts, specifically the type of sacrifices a mother must make for her child. She must, and does, give up every thing to ensure her daughter's future. The story is brief, being taken from a short story collection by horror author Koji Suzuki. Anyone can figure out the secret of the ghost fairly easily, and that's OK because it isn't really the point.
  
  Director Hideo Nakata brings his same stylistic flairs that he showcased in his other Suzuki adaptation, "Ring." There is clearly a connection between these two, author and director, that works very well and I hope that they continue the partnership. Nakata knows what is scary about Japan, about the fears and expectations of parents, and he plays all of these to their strengths.
  
  Another possible area for confusion in "Dark Water" is the appearance of the ghost. Many viewers seem to be frustrated in seeing long, dark-haired girls dressed in white and dripping water. However, that is what a Japanese ghost looks like and it is to be expected for filmmakers to use the same archetype over and over again. It would be like a Japanese viewer complaining how vampire movies always have characters with sharp teeth who drink blood.
  
  
• An out of the ordinary scare film
  By A117STXMXCAQNA on 2006-11-07
  I watched the American remake of Dark Water before seeing the Japanese original. Although I enjoyed Jennifer Connelly's sensitive performance, having now seen the original, the American version is definitely lacking the creepy, foreboding atmosphere of the Japanese version. There are very scary moments in the film involving the mother (a great performance) daughter (an adorable, but not annoying child actress) and their ghostly encounters. One scene of the daughter playing hide and seek at school is particularly spooky. What I love about this movie is that it relies on atmosphere and mood to provide the scary moments and it is highly effective at providing them. There is a huge sense of foreboding and dread throughout the film, no gore or cheap tricks, but genuine fright, the dilapidated apartment building where everything takes place is appropriately dreary and creepy. This is for fans of psychological thrillers like "Rosemary's Baby", I highly recommend it, it kept me from sleeping the first time I saw it.
  
  
• Is "creepyfacious" enough to sum this up?
  By AOP9WIBXJ8F2D on 2005-05-22
  This DVD has been available in Europe since last year, but since Hollywood was making their borrowed version, we dont really get to see this Japanese masterpiece sooner.
  
  Here in this movie, Yoshimi is a divorced mother trying to make ends meet. Nothing special about her, she wears ordinary clothes, has ordinary furniture (a total alien concept for Hollywood flicks), she only has proof reading in her resume. The only thing that shines in this simple frau is her outstanding motherhood. Really, Im envious, I wish I had a mum like that.
  
  She and her daughter, Ikuko, moves into this old apartment. Ikuko goes to kindergarten, amd mommy just got a job. The problem is, this mother-and-daughter is being haunted by a disquiet spirit of a girl. This girl used to live in the apartment right above where Yoshimi lives. Also, she went to the same kindergarten where Ikuko goes. This girl went missing, last seen wearing a yellow raincoat.
  
  Apparently, flashbacks tell us that this poor missing girl's mother was a neglectful one, often leaving the girl last to be picked up from school. It was then she went missing (and died) when she decides to walk home by herself.
  
  Basically, this ghost wants a mother. And who can possibly be the best candidate, she's the paragon of motherhood! And that means, Ikuko has to be out of the picture. So the spirit lures the girl in so many ways than one.
  
  Not remotely close to being far fatched as the Ringu, this movie is really creepy, the final scenes were frighteningly awesome. Overall, a splendid movie.
  
  Surely, Hollywood jests in thinking they can copy this movie. There is nothing I can think of that can resemble and capture the simplicity of this nuclear family, nor the lower middle class city where this movie takes place. Im also sure that Jennifer Connely will be wearing designer clothes. OK, maybe she won't be wearing Armani, Id put my bets on Banana Republic.
  
  Ugh. Words cant say enough how much this movie is excellent, no special effects can replace the mood this movie has.
  
  
• Scariest movie I've seen
  By A37TU4R22L7FMA on 2005-05-26
  i bought this dvd as an import, before it's released in the US. This movie creeped me out from start to finish. No gore, just the best told ghost story I've seen in years.
  It's made by the same director that did the ring, but with a much more linear plot, much easier to follow. The little girl who plays the daughter will steal your heart away. If you like to be scared by film, BUY THIS MOVIE.
  
  
  
• The hair on the back of your neck will stand on end. . .
  By A3LPD7NTGFH7V4 on 2005-06-03
  I saw this movie three years ago at a midnight showing during the film festival. I've never before seen a horror film where the entire theater collectively jumped and screamed at each and every scare. Forget Ringu, Pulse or Ju-On. This, by far, is the creepiest and scariest Japanese horror film I've ever seen. It's a little bit like The Shining as the characters live in a huge, dark, seemingly deserted apartment building with endless halls and a creepy elevator. Ghosts appear when you least expect it and the thrills are achieved through a slowburn effect building to the scary if not slightly confusing climax (although what Japanese horror flick isn't a bit confusing?). If you're a fan of the genre and haven't seen this yet be prepared for a chilling treat! As always, Hollywood is remaking this film to be released this year starring Jennifer Connelly. After the slight disappointment with the Grudge remake, I only hope that they do this amazing film justice.
  
  
• Dark Water a fantastic ride
  By ALL0FUR61FN8J on 2005-06-12
  Ringu, which inspired a sequel, a television series, and a nearly identical American remake (The Ring), it's not surprising that Japanese horror specialist Hideo Nakata would turn once again to household objects as a source of terror. What Ringu did for television sets and video tapes, Dark Water will, for the faint of heart, do for kitchen faucets and leaky ceilings. Nakata certainly can't be blamed for going with what works, but if Dark Water seems at first like a cynical recycling of a successful formula, its director has developed into enough of a formalist to at least make it reasonably compelling. Set in a dreary, rain-soaked suburban landscape of concrete block apartment buildings, some of the film's subtly composed long takes wouldn't be out of place in a Michelangelo Antonioni movie. Its atmosphere is its best asset. The final payoff is nowhere near as elementally terrifying as Ringu's most famous sequence, but enough chills are delivered along the way to keep things interesting. Because it is similar but a bit less effective than its predecessor, Dark Water could end up being a transitional fanastic and really good horror flick you wont be disapointed.
  
  
• HORRIBLE
  By A1EP3PD6OK9H8E on 2005-06-19
  This junk pretty much sums up all that's bad about Japanese horror flims.Personally, I have yet to watch an impressive J-horror flick, but some were at least entertaining. Actually , this one can be entertaining too if you're in the mood to see just how bad such films can get. From the beginning , it's pure cheese - some water dripping from the ceiling, ghostly girl popping up everywhere along with her personal belongings and so on. And OF COURSE, it's all shrouded in a deep mystery - who the girl is, what she's doing there, blah ,blah,blah. Sounds familiar? Well, to top it off, it's all presented in the most impressively mundane format (homage to other J-horror classics, perhaps?), so in the end it's pretty much up to your imagination (hopefully you have one, unlike this Japanese directors) to answer the above questions and figure out what exactly is going on. In other words: unless you want to show your friends just how bad J-horror can get, avoid this at all costs... damn, I hear something dripping..what the #$^& ?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  
• four stars as a psychodrama
  By ABK0V7DLYO5NU on 2005-10-09
  Touted as a horror movie, the only way this could scare you is if you haven't seen any recent horror films. I would categorize this as a psychodrama at the very most.
  
  Written by the same author as the ring- that I thought was great- I'm sure as a book it was a great idea and I've hear good things about the Japanese version of the movie, but this one falls flat. The characters are well played but that doesn't help the script. Unless you are mentally handicapped, you will figure out "who-done-it" within the first twenty minutes.
  
  I would give this four stars as a psychodrama, just don't go into it expecting to get your pants scared off or you'll only end up falling asleep.
  
  
  
• Hang in there folks
  By A55CHTKKLTZP4 on 2006-05-24
  I bought this dvd for $4 and had no idea what it was about
  so was I surprised how creepy this flick is.
  You must be patient and hang on the pay off is well worth it.
  This really is a fine film and I think the acting is top notch.
  See it.
  
  
• CaN'T WAIT
  By on 2005-06-08
  If Dark Water is as scary as you all say it is, can't wait till I take my date there! Shell be so scared that she'll be all over me! Hehehe.
  
  
• Disorienting
  By A2MPAOYEC1KWEI on 2005-06-15
  I didn't dislike this movie, but I do dislike when plot twists end up changing the entire story from one side to another entirely. The movie was creepy even with the regular water, and the American version's (I like Jennifer Connelly, but American versions are always changed with the most stupid details - Ringu and The Ring 2 for example)going to have brown water, but I'm wondering what else will be changed to up the scare tactics? I'm also thinkingalot will be changed to avoid confusion. I never saw the clues in the movie and the end came as a shock to me.
  
  
• An Intriguing Horror Film Well Worth Watching...
  By A6ADO7B6FUVN on 2005-06-26
  Dark Water begins as a divorce drama where the two adults are in the midst of a custody battle for their daughter Ikuko. During the custody battle the mother, Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki), is trying to find a new apartment and a job that can support her family. When Yoshimi finds an apartment they end up moving and she then discovers that water is seeping through the ceiling into their rooms. The water leakage is just the beginning on some very strange occurrences that take place in the apartment building, and it begins to wear out Yoshimi as she continues the custody battle. However, the bizarre incidents intensify, and Yoshimi is on the verge of losing custody of her daughter. Dark Water is a clever horror film with an interesting plot that builds an empathy around Yoshimi and her daughter as she struggles throughout the film. As the film unfolds, there are some situations on the screen that hint to later scenes. Despite this, Nakata provides a solid cinematic experience to the audience, which is enhanced by the excellent performance by Hitomi Kuroki.
  
  
• Suspenseful and Scary!
  By A3VHUQ85RH0BC3 on 2005-07-25
  Now that the English version of the movie starring Jennifer Connelly is running in the theatres, I thought I would first see the original Japanese version before seeing the new one. After watching Hideo Nakata's "Dark Water", I was a little speechless by how good it was!
  
  Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) has just moved into a new apartment with her daughter, six year old Ikuko (Rio Kanno). Yoshimi is just getting out a marriage and in constant fear of losing Ikuko to her husband. The apartment is close to Ikuko's school, the rent is low and they both like seem to like it. So they decide to take it. In the beginning everything seems ok. But strange things start happening in the building that Yoshimi cannot account for, such as: her daughter disappearing half the time, a pink handbag suddenly reappearing out of no where, the buttons in the elevator being burnt out, and most importantly, the constant leak that appears on their ceiling. Will Yoshimi be able to figure out what is going on in time to stop it or run away from it?
  
  This movie proves that you do not need to have a lot of gore, or zombie faces, or sudden noises to get scared when watching a horror movie. There is an eerie atmosphere in just the constant dripping of water in this film! Hideo Nakata did a great job in directing his movie as he did for "Ringu". Hitomi Kuroki did an average job in acting as Yoshimi, probably because she overacted too much. Her character became a little annoying, mainly because she overacted in most of the scenes. The kids did their job well though. The subtitles provide a good translation for this movie, but there are not that many special features for this DVD.
  
  All in all, if you like Japanese horror like The Grudge or The Ring, you will like this movie!
  
  
• it s not great movie
  By A3DIBKVC1CGCN7 on 2005-08-02
  bueno..debo decir..que ya estoy un poco cansado de tantas peliculas..japonesas de terror.. que siempre..se vuelven muy repetitivas,,,esta no es la excepcion..lo unico emocionante son los ultimos minutos.. no se si considerarla terror.. o drama..pero..creo que ya es un tipo de pelicula que repiten mucho...
  
  saludos
  
  
• Kinda like the Ring/the Ring 2, but more emotional
  By A5NNCLLI764OE on 2005-08-26
  Dark water is about a mother who has recently divorced and is currently battling for custody of her daughter. The mother and her 5 year old girl move into a new apartment that appears to have a leak in the ceiling. As the leak gets worse, the daughter has increasingly unpleasant visits from a mysterious little girl in a yellow raincoat.
  This movie moves a little slow and is not very scary at all. It's similar to the Ring 2, because of the water theme and the ghost-girl-trying-to-steal-another-child's-mom story, but the Ring 2 sorta sucked. I felt no connection to the mother or the child, and they didn't seem to have a very strong bond. You couldn't "feel the love". And the kid in this movie is quite cute, while the child in the Ring was just plain creepy. I was rather teary towards the end of Dark Water, and I like movies that have emotion. All in all, this is not a scary movie and not a fast-paced movie, but pretty good.
  
  
• Dark and dank
  By A1D2C0WDCSHUWZ on 2005-11-23
  After massive success with the "Ringu" movies, Hideo Nakata tackled another of Koji Suzuki's novels: the dark, dank horror novella "Dark Water." While the acting is top-notch and the direction is pretty good, the film has some of the worst dubbing I have ever heard.
  
  Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) is in the middle of a messy divorce and custody battle over her daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). Starting on a new life, Yoshimi gets a new job and new apartment in a run-down building. Its only flaw is rotten drinking water and a leak in the middle of the bedroom ceiling.
  
  But as the leak grows, so do Yoshimi's problems -- a child's bag keeps reappearing, a dead child keeps appearing in the building, and her daughter keeps talking to the nonexistant "Mit-chan." It all centers on the water tank on the rooftop -- and the horrific price that Yoshimi may have to pay to keep Ikuko safe...
  
  After "Ringu" and "Ringu 2," it seems appropriate that Nakata's next work was another one of Koji Suzuki's horror stories, although amped up a bit, and with a new ending. This movie feels a bit like the apartment complex: dark, dank, a bit grimy and somewhat claustrophobic. It seems like the perfect place for a person who is questioning her sanity.
  
  "Dark Water" is not Hideo Nakata's best work; compared to the "Ringu" movies, it seems rather clumsy. A few of the climactic scenes are unintentionally funny, such as when the green, slimy, faceless ghost rushes Yoshimi. But Nakata manages a sense of lingering dread throughout the movie, and includes a powerful, tragic finale that sticks in the viewer's mind long after the movie has ended.
  
  Kuriko puts in a very good performance as Yoshimi, letting her face and eyes express the character's sorrow, rage, fear or love. She dips over the top in the lawyer's offices, but remains a powerful presence, especially in the final scenes. Ranno gives a pretty standard performance as Ikuko, except for her final appearance, when she seems to be overwhelmed with misery.
  
  But if the acting is good, the dubbing is nowhere near as good. It's bad. Really bad. Most of the dubbed voicework sounds painfully affected and hammy; Yoshimi is a strong and determined woman, but sounds ditzy and breathy here. The worst is Ikuko, who sounds at least five years older than she is. Whose brilliant idea was that?
  
  Hideo Nakata doesn't quite strike gold here, but "Dark Water" is a creepy, dank horror movie with an unexpected finale. Too bad they couldn't leave the atrocious dubs out of it.
  
  

• Ju-on (The Grudge)
• Ringu
• Premonition
• Pulse
• Audition (Uncut Special Edition)