Dark Water on DVD (2005)

not the best of asian horror

sakuraba1982 from Dover , 01/08/2007

I am a big fan of asian horror, that being said this is just and average scare or two after watching and hour or ten minutes of build up. Nice ending to the film though. If you want asain horror choose the eye, the ring or the grudge.

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Another fabulous Holywood remake of Japanese horror movie

A customer from North Tyneside , 21/07/2005

I watched this movie because I received 2 free screening preview tickets in UGC Cinema Boldon. I had no idea what movie it was while I came in to the cinema; however, I couldn't sit relaxing when it rolled on because it was so thrilling from the first two second to the end. No wonder when I realised that it was another Holywood version of Japanese horror movie I saw after The Ring (Ringu), The Ring II and The Grudge (Ju-on). Japanese does really know how to thrill us and Americans know how to sell it worldwide. Worth to watch.

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More a Greyish Puddle

David Hogben from yorkshire , 22/07/2005

The original Japanese Version of this movie is based on a 40 page short story by Koji Suzuki, the author of the Ring series. Though I would say ‘loosely based’ since much of the movie is not in the book, the ending, is added on, the characters are fleshed out, with quite a few more added. However, I did like the Japanese movie; (the near-the-end elevator bit apart) it was a creepy, atmospheric movie with moments that were genuinely scary. When I reviewed it I gave it full stars and much praise, I also said the Americans were about to butcher it and I was right.

The US version is based on the Japanese Movie rather than the short story, as there are the same extra bits that are not in the original story at all. But while the Japanese movie is atmospheric and (mostly) subtle, the US version is bland and is devoid of the atmosphere of the original. Where the Japanese version trickles eeriness, the US version gushes and over states the point.

As usual the US version makes the story easy to follow; treating us (as they do) like children who can’t follow any plot that is not completely spelled out to us. There is nothing left to the imagination, which is, of course, what a good horror movie needs, we should be sucked in and drift away with the movie so that we care about the characters; I did with the original, but I didn’t with this remake; frankly I kept looking at my watch.

I am willing to accept that I was watching the film from the bias that I already know the story and that I am automatically going to compare it to the book and the other movie. But even so, I went to see the film wanting to relive the edgy isolation of the original and was unable to, because it simply was not there.

In its favour the cast are very good and I don’t believe it was their performances that are to blame for this effort of spooklessness.

Dark Water is a subtle ghost story with a sort of tragic sting in the tail. In the original, a little drip here, a slight hint of floating black hair there, an impression of a wet footprint where there is nobody, all go towards a creepy experience. The overflowing toilets, belching taps and the torrents of black water of this remake find the ghosts struggling to stay afloat.

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Dark Water: More like Dull Water

LadySleek from Birmingham , 26/07/2005

If you are going to compare this film to The Ring, don't bother!

This film is more psychological than shocking horror.

I was waiting for something to happen, there were so many holes in this film, I am surprised that Dahlia's apartment did not flood completely!

See this film if you wish, but don't be suprised if you feel disappointed at the rolling credits.

I wish I watched the Japanese version first!

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awful!

Toby Dore from brighton , 19/04/2006

honestly, only watch this film if you like being walked by the hand the whole way through.

the original was a stroke of genius when it came to suspense, with a genuine sense that the supernatural was invading the mundane, but the remake was more interested in swelling the soundtrack and providing a JUMP every 5 minutes. while in the original they build up mitsuko to be an iconic and sincerely scary (but ultimately tragic) character, in this version you don't really realise who natasha is supposed to be, and you end up going 'hang on, which girl is drowning which right now?'

so yeah. there were little moments that the remake had in terms of personal interaction that the original missed (it's a cliched but accirate criticism of japanese films that they're socially cold...) like the brief relationship with the lawyer and the flirtation with the ex husband, but they didn't capitalise on these at all and they just ended up being frustrating.

so, if you haven't seen this then see the original first. if you've seen this first then go and watch Ring or Azumi or Battle Royale, or anything that doesn't talk down to you like this film does. only gave it one star because there's no category for zero stars.

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Shallow and overcast.

A customer from UK , 02/03/2006

How disappointing that such a fine cast and crew should make such a pigs ear of this remake of Hideo Nakata’s excellent 2002 thriller. Clearly attempting to capture the mood of the likes of Rosemary’s Baby and Don’t Look Now, Walter Salles’ handsomely shot film trudges along aimlessly and then just stops. Where Nakata’s film ends with a genuinely shattering climax (which was both chilling and heartbreaking), this new version just falls flat – finally acknowledging head-on the supernatural aspect which it had been avoiding since the start, but not quite knowing what to do with it.

Everything else is spelled out with thumping obviousness: the characters of the husband, the real estate agent and the building supervisor are turned into cartoon villains which make the heroine’s predicament almost completely unambiguous. Whereas the original film transpired to be – essentially – a story about a woman coming to terms with the fact that she might not be the best person to raise her daughter, this version hammers home instead the point that the heroine’s childhood paralleled that of the ghostly kid. It doesn’t add any further depth to the proceedings, but – if you’ll forgive the pun – just muddies the water further.

On the plus side, the cast are as fine as you would expect, and the film-makers deserve kudos for not resorting to the usual current Hollywood techniques for portraying ghosts (grey/green make-up, flickery stop-motion style effects) and instead just using a young girl who is creepy because she simply shouldn’t be there.

Well made then, but the original film is more subtle and scarier.

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