Featured Audience Ratings

• Candy R

  
  Psychological thriller starring Jennifer Connolly. After a nasty divorce and custody battle of her daughter, mother and daughter move to an old apartment which is haunted by a little girl.

• Emil K

  
  Totally pointless and poorly made re-make of the brilliant japanese horror-classic. Walter Salles has no clearly any kind of idea how to make suspense or your skin crawl. I think he is one of the over-rated directors of today. This Hollywood-version has none of the power of original… More
  Totally pointless and poorly made re-make of the brilliant japanese horror-classic. Walter Salles has no clearly any kind of idea how to make suspense or your skin crawl. I think he is one of the over-rated directors of today. This Hollywood-version has none of the power of original one, which was truly a great film. There should be law against these J-horror re-makes.

• Alexander D

  
  DARK WATER is a bit formulaic, but it's a great, intense, complex horror/thriller cross (something we clearly see a lot of nowadays) with a mutual connection to THE RING as well as just enough scares to leave you satisfied by the end of the picture.

• Albert K

  
  DUN DUN, DUN DUN, DUN DUN.... the end.

• EightThirty .

  
  15/07/2010 (DVD) This is not your typical "BOO!!" type of horror but more of a psychological "mess with your head" flick. I personally enjoyed the original Japanese version more than this but it was cool to see the westernized serving of this dish. A story of… More
  15/07/2010 (DVD) This is not your typical "BOO!!" type of horror but more of a psychological "mess with your head" flick. I personally enjoyed the original Japanese version more than this but it was cool to see the westernized serving of this dish. A story of struggle, confusion and madness. Not bad.

• Film C

  
  i sort of liked this movie i liked its twists and turns and is an alrght movie!

• Dean M

  
  This US film of 2002 Japanese version remake does strike the right chords more often than not, and provides a lot of touching, sad moments. The acting is wonderful and three dimensional. All of the cast does an excellent job, but especially Jennifer Connelly, who proves once more she… More
  This US film of 2002 Japanese version remake does strike the right chords more often than not, and provides a lot of touching, sad moments. The acting is wonderful and three dimensional. All of the cast does an excellent job, but especially Jennifer Connelly, who proves once more she is the best American actress working today. The cinematography and the art design are beautiful, with a lot of attention to atmosphere. Also, Walter Salles shows some neat directing techniques in playing with the viewer's minds, making us doubt what's real and what's imaginary, and giving visual expression to the heroine's ever deteriorating state of mind. Horror remake of Japanese 2002's <i>Honogurai mizu no soko kara (aka Dark Water)</i>.

• Lewis C

  
  Dark Water isn't very frightening, but its main focus is never really on trying to scare the viewer. It tries to be more of a psychological movie, by tackling issues like parental neglect and abandonment. Does it succesfully explore those themes? Not entirely, but I give the… More
  Dark Water isn't very frightening, but its main focus is never really on trying to scare the viewer. It tries to be more of a psychological movie, by tackling issues like parental neglect and abandonment. Does it succesfully explore those themes? Not entirely, but I give the movie credit for trying. Plus, it's nice to see an actress like Jennifer Connelly doing this kind of film.

• Derek D

  
  Even the awesome cast (Reilly, Roth, Postelwaite, Connelly, Scott) can't save this thing. A bit confusing and not even interesting enough to keep my attention. Not the worst movie I've ever seen, but definitely not onw of the best.

• Luke B

  
  I guess I've put off watching this for so long because of all the pointless remakes that are churned out. I only watch them if I am in a hateful mood, something to direct my anger at. It's a stress reliever. Dark Water is very different though. Although it follows the same… More
  I guess I've put off watching this for so long because of all the pointless remakes that are churned out. I only watch them if I am in a hateful mood, something to direct my anger at. It's a stress reliever. Dark Water is very different though. Although it follows the same path Salles has done an extraordinary thing in his translation. He has removed all the horror and simply gone with a drama. This is Kramer vs. Kramer with a ghost girl as a subplot. He merges the strands well, having the haunting gradually destroy Connelly's chances of custody of her daughter. It makes for excellent viewing even if it will let down those expecting a horror. Nakata went for a bit of emotion and a lot of horror. Salles has beefed up a lot of supporting roles and managed to explore them in the most simple of ways. He certainly understands the idea of telling a story through pictures. Roth is brilliant and is handed such little nuggets as working from his car and lying about being married before sitting down in an empty cinema. If there was a version with the emotion of this and the horror of the original, it would be a perfect film. Both current versions are excellent films that show how a different interpretation doesn't need to result in a carbon copy remake.

• Randy T

  
  ...proving once again that Hollywood can take a really good Japanese movie and screw it all up.

• Dan S

  
  An ok movie elevated in large part due to the great performances. It takes aspects of "Hide and Seek", "The Ring", and " The Sixth Sense" in hopes of producing something creative. While it tends to bog down from time to time, with a lack of general… More
  An ok movie elevated in large part due to the great performances. It takes aspects of "Hide and Seek", "The Ring", and " The Sixth Sense" in hopes of producing something creative. While it tends to bog down from time to time, with a lack of general scares, the atmosphere and creepy moments are indeed impressive. The ending could've been fleshed out a little better, it almost feels like they knew they were losing some of their audience and wanted to end it already, which is disappointing.

• Jens S

  
  For the longest time this is more a psychological thriller than a horror movie. The first ten minutes were full of familiar faces I didn't even know were in this, I love it when that happens and ignorant me beats well-informed me sometimes. Anyway, the cast is really good, the… More
  For the longest time this is more a psychological thriller than a horror movie. The first ten minutes were full of familiar faces I didn't even know were in this, I love it when that happens and ignorant me beats well-informed me sometimes. Anyway, the cast is really good, the little girl playing Ceci particularly adorable. The movie sets up a really good atmosphere with the horribly plain building and constant rain. It's tense and nerve wracking at times, but not really scary. The solution is somewhat easy to figure out, the showdown after that pretty creepy at least. Worth a look for fans of subtle horror, but surely no must see.

• Kylie B

  
  For yet another remake of a Japanese horror this was actually reasonably enjoyable. I feel that this version is less of a horror and more of a supernatural drama, as supernatual events are focused on less than the bond between the mother and daughter, and on the mother's past.… More
  For yet another remake of a Japanese horror this was actually reasonably enjoyable. I feel that this version is less of a horror and more of a supernatural drama, as supernatual events are focused on less than the bond between the mother and daughter, and on the mother's past. Those aspects were looked at in more detail than the original, and I liked that. However, as cheesy as the ghost effects were in the original, I think I preferred them to the otherwise normal looking Natasha in this film.

• Drew S

  
  Hoo boy, where to start with this one...? The Dark Water remake, at least publicly and commercially, was doomed from the start. I get the feeling that Walter Salles and the studio were at odds with what to do with this movie. On one hand, the Big Movie Men saw the success of The Ring… More
  Hoo boy, where to start with this one...? The Dark Water remake, at least publicly and commercially, was doomed from the start. I get the feeling that Walter Salles and the studio were at odds with what to do with this movie. On one hand, the Big Movie Men saw the success of The Ring and wanted to mold Dark Water, a very different movie, into something similar to cash in on that. Salles's intention seems to have been to remain true to the source material, which is less a horror movie than a sanguine family drama. This is all speculation, obviously, but I think it's the best explanation for what we got with this movie: two parts mother-daughter drama, one part generic horror movie. I've read a couple of things that corroborate my theory, but it's really pretty obvious. There is a lot more going on, psychologically, in this movie than in the original. These elements are occasionally delivered pretty heavily, with a few of those obnoxious "explain it for the idiots" moments, but the majority of it is pretty seamless. Foundationally this movie isn't too different from Hideo Nakata's treatment, so the obvious reason for this new depth is Jennifer Connelly's performance. Her work is a fantastic portrait of a devoted mother, fraying at the edges. It is refreshing to see a talented actress giving such an involved and unashamed performance in something that was bound to be written off as a PG-13 Asian horror remake. She blows Hitomi Kuroki out of the water (no pun intended). The movie isn't great - and upon watching it, I realized that the original wasn't either - but it has a lot of strong moments and a little bit of sludge. As I mentioned before, the infusion of "horror" into the narrative is really generic and an obvious bid at fitting the movie into its (ill-appointed) genre. The rest of the movie is stronger than that, though. It is atmospheric, dark and beautiful, composed and shot superbly by Salles and his DP. Aside from Connelly, the rest of the performances are spot-on, even Pete Posthethwaite's bizarre role as a foreign janitor. The ending is interesting. I thought it was weak in the original and not particularly strong here; though it feels less tacked-on now, it also doesn't frame the movie as well. It's almost sappy. Basically, what Dark Water amounts to is a fantastic, mature reworking of a rather dubious set of demands. The movie would never have been great no matter what treatment he'd given it, but he made something out of it that few other directors could have. It is not for everyone but it's commendable work.

• Leigh R

  
  Kind of slow, but the scariness factor is high still.

• Dean !

  
  Very average thriller with no real scares or any note worthy action at all. All too predictable to be honest.

• Emily A

  
  Another Japanese horror remake that didn't need to be made. This movie has its moments, but spooky little girls have become such a cliche that the imagery is drained of all its potency. The Ring does everything this film does better. I'm so sick of ripoffs.

• Matt P

  
  While the tone and atmosphere of the movie are pleasingly eerie, the plot comes off as amateurish and the movie isn't really scary.

• Frisby 2

  
  It certainly not as scary as the original, in fact, it has cheap scares, but the great performances by its cast, beautiful score, great direction, &amp; realistically constructed plot wins on this. But for those who are not into psychological horror movies will just die of… More
  It certainly not as scary as the original, in fact, it has cheap scares, but the great performances by its cast, beautiful score, great direction, &amp; realistically constructed plot wins on this. But for those who are not into psychological horror movies will just die of boredom.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings