Dark Water (2002)

• Year: 2002
• Released: 19 Jan 2002
• Country: Japan
• Adwords: 6 wins & 2 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308379/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dark_water
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dark-water
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Japanese
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
• Runtime: 101 min
• Writer: Kôji Suzuki, Takashige Ichise, Hideo Nakata
• Director: Hideo Nakata
• Cast: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi
• Keywords: parent child relationship, family, ghost, nightmare, child custody,

	6.7/10
	47% – Critics
	28% – Audience

Dark Water Storyline

After winning a custody battle for her daughter, Yoshimi tries to make a new start. The apartment she moves into seems perfect at first. Soon though, strange things begin happening. Huge water stains appear on the ceiling and drip constantly, more liquid oozing into the rooms every day. She calls the landlord in but he refuses to do anything about it. A child’s red bag shows up in odd places and soon the child herself starts appearing. Yoshimi then discovers the origin of the ghost…

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Dark Water Movie Reviews

Very creepy

When I began watching “Dark Water” I was surprised to see that the film was dubbed into English. In recent years, dubbing has nearly died out and subtitles have reigned supreme, so I was surprised. However much I dislike dubbing, however, the quality of this dub was actually pretty good.

The story begins with a mother and her young daughter going through a divorce. Her husband is fighting her for custody, so the woman feels a lot of pressure to get a job and an apartment. While she is able to do both, the pressure only gets worse as the apartment building appears to be haunted by the spirit of some creepy child. And, thought the course of the film, this creepy kid seems to be calling out to the mother and her girl. What’s next? See the film.

While many of the story elements are very familiar if you’ve seen more than a few Japanese horror films, they are assembled quite well. Plus, most importantly, the mood is excellent–with creepy music and effective direction and editing to create the proper mood. Well worth seeing.

You’ll never look at a damp patch in the same way

Another exceptional ghost story from Japan. The set-up on this one’s familiar: a lonely mother, her precocious child, a creepy run-down apartment block haunted by the ghost of a little dark-haired girl. So far, so par for the course. Where the film excels is in two places: script and direction. The script delivers an ultimately moving, affecting story peopled by realistic characters we get to know and care about. Sure, there are no jump-in-your-seat moments as in some other Japanese ghost films, but they’re not required; by the end, the film has turned into nothing less than a tragedy, and the horror is driven to the background.

The direction is sublime (you’d expect as much, given that RING’s Hideo Nakata is the man behind the lens). The dripping patch on the ceiling becomes monstrous in itself, and the atmosphere is palpable in every sequence. I loved the way that obvious scenes aren’t shown, they don’t need to be shown, the focus is on mood instead. Hollywood managed a decent remake of this, but even that had to show obvious stuff that wasn’t required. Add in a cast giving top-notch performances and you have one of the finest the genre has to offer.

Tense Low-Paced Horror Movie

The reviser Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) has just divorced from her husband and is disputing the custody of their five years old daughter Ikuko Matsubara (Rio Kano) in the justice. She is looking for an apartment and a job to restart her life alone with Ikuko. She finds a small old apartment, and she does not pay attention to a stain of water on the ceiling. When she moves to the apartment, she notes that there is a drip of water in the bedroom, and she asks the landlord to repair the leakage. Meanwhile, Ikuko finds a red bag on the terrace, and Yoshimi returns it to the administrator. Yoshimi sees the creepy shape of a girl wearing a yellow coat, and she finds that she resembles a young girl that has been missing for two years in the neighborhood. She becomes afraid that the girl might be a ghost.

“Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara” is a tense low-paced horror movie, with a frightening and original story. The characters and the situation are slowly developed, the climax is scary, but I did not like the conclusion. I was really a little disappointed, since I expected much more. However, this film is another great Japanese horror movie, the best producers of this genre in the present days. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): “Dark Water – Água Negra” (“Dark Water – Black Water”)