Dark Water Reviews

When Yoshimi Matsubara and her five year old daughter, Ikuko move into an old apartment building, their new life is threatened by a supernatural force.

Dark Water moves slowly, delivering an ever increasing tension and unease instead of relying on the normal shock and gore. It's very much about things that you see out of the corner of your eye or stuff you would chalk down to your imagination.

At a number of points you find yourself wondering if Yoshimi is actually experiencing a nervous breakdown because dripping water shouldn't be scary. Yet Hideo Nakata manages to build such dread into the constant plink of water from the ceiling.

Dark Water is about abadonment and ultimately a soul's desire to connect - there is such a haunting sadness that is very beautiful in this movie.

But as much as I wanted to give it a higher rating, Dark Water's downfall is the performance of the actress playing Yoshimi. In scenes that warrant quick thinking she tended to play the character in a shrill, hand wringing manner or would move slowly when the occassion demanded her to be fast.