Dark Water

Dark Water is the latest Hollywood remake of a successful Japanese horror film, this time translating the latest film from Hideo Nakata, the man behind Ringu.

Dahlia Williams (Connolly) is a single mother who has just come out of a difficult divorce from her husband (Scott) who thinks she is mentally unstable. They have a five-year-old daughter, Cecilia (Gade), who lives with her mother during the week and father at weekends. The film begins with Cecilia and her mother looking for a new place to live; money is very short and they end up settling in a run down apartment building in a remote part of New York. >From the off things seem strange in that building, from the creepy Mr Veeck (Postlethwaite) in the lobby, to the lift that feels compelled to go to floor ten before any other. Whilst viewing the apartment Cecilia, much to the panic of her mother, feels drawn to go up to the roof where she finds a child's school bag lying in the shadow of a vast water tank. Once they move in their lives become disturbed by strange dreams, huge damp patches on the ceiling and the sounds of people running on the abandoned floor above them.

It is always interesting to see what gets done to a foreign film to make it more appealing to Westerners. Dark Water's translation has been to make a film that sacrifices some of its horror for characters that are easier to understand. For example the central relationship, between mother and daughter, is very well acted, comprising some moments of real tenderness. The mother's character is better thought out in this version, with issues about her own mother coming to the fore. This results in a film that is more well rounded, but admittedly less scary than its original.

Yet it is a scary film in its own right especially as the films main mother and her child relationship is one that everyone can relate to. This means that instead of feeling scared for yourself, Dark Water easily makes you feel very scared for its characters.

Nick Grills