Dark Water (2005)
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Duration: 105 minuten
Country:
United States / Canada
Directed by: Walter Salles
Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade and Tim Roth
IMDb score:
5,6 (67.738)
Releasedate: 8 July 2005
Dark Water plot
"This Season, The Mystery Of The Darkness Will Consume Your Life"
A young woman and her ex-husband are engaged in an uphill battle over the custody of her five-year-old daughter Ceci. Despite her psychiatric past, she hopes to be stronger by finding work and renting her own apartment. However, due to her work, she will occasionally have to neglect her daughter and there appears to be a large damp spot on the ceiling of the apartment.
Actors and actresses
Dahlia Williams
Mr. Murray
Jeff Platzer
Kyle Williams
Veeck
Ceci
Teacher
Natasha / Young Dahlia
Young Dahlia's Teacher
Mediator
Reviews & comments
Elineloves
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- 24071 messages
- 3632 votes
Talk about underrated! Is it because many people simply have aversion to remakes? Or do I like it so much because I haven't seen the Japanese version yet?
Dark Water is a fine psychological thriller. Gloomy and clammy atmosphere, well-detailed characters (chapeau Connelly!) and a nice structure of the story, in which you feel empathy from beginning to end for the woman who seems to lose herself, and her daughter who is busy with all kinds of worrying matters. Ariel Gade shines with conviction. Nice, those child stars.
The images are effective. Gray, grey, dark… and grubby. (Has anyone noticed that it really continues to rain there? Cozy!) And then you are forced to end up in a house where you actually wouldn't want to live, even if you got it for free .. because the neighborhood is not really child-friendly either. When ghostly phenomena also happen, of course you get it all on your hips.
The great thing about Dark Water is that as a viewer you start to doubt yourself for a while: Is it all supernatural, or does it take place in the head of the woman who consumes a few jars of pills per day? This creates a suspense atmosphere and keeps you on your toes. Together with the recurring 'suggestion' (which is well put down, as a viewer you don't have to see everything in detail) this keeps you thinking.
No cheesy plot twists or thrills flying around you, but a calmly constructive film where you empathize with the characters and think about what the hell is going on..
No, not that bad. Not bad at all.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Theunissen
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- 12279 messages
- 5519 votes
Nice horror/thriller story that knows how to captivate and is sometimes also exciting. Story (somewhat like "The Grudge") is quite good and is sometimes quite creepy although there are not really many horror elements in it. There are also quite a few good scary moments. The cast does a pretty good job by the way, but I thought Jennifer Connelly played a bit on a routine basis. Although the ending was a bit bland, it was well done. All in all, quite a nice horror/thriller, but certainly not a high-flyer.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Richard_Voorhees
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- 2311 messages
- 2135 votes
It's been quite a while since I saw the original movie, but really all the scenes I can remember came back to it.
In that respect one can almost literally see this as a remake, because I have the idea that in many things they copied the original.
It is different, however, that here there is much more contact with the father and that the family drama is much more in the foreground. I seem to remember that less attention was paid to this in the original and that time was used more to exploit the oppressive atmosphere of the building.
That's mainly what I miss with this remake. Where in the original film the building came across as a cold, concrete building, I miss this a bit in this film. Because the emphasis is placed on other things, the atmosphere of the building comes across less well.
What I did find funny was that some familiar faces passed by. Jennifer Connelly is etched in my memory because of Phenomena and A Beautiful Mind. Furthermore, I thought it was strange to see John C. Reilly in this. I mainly know him for his roles in lame comedies, so it's best to see him in such a film.
Not the best American remake of Japanese horrors and in any case a separate choice for a remake. I can imagine that people in the US wanted to exploit the success of Ju-on and Ringu, but also films like Dark Water and Premonition? Really?
Wouldn't have been my first choice, but as long as one can earn money from it, one wants to go far.
I'd rather watch the original than this American variant, but that's just my opinion.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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