Dark Water

Everyone has his or her own "horror threshold": what's frightening to you might not be to me, and vice versa. Well, I can't say that Dark Water was particularly scary. The set up was slow to the point of being tedious and the payoff, although not without some tension and creepiness, was ultimately disappointing. There was nothing here that was unique, or innovative; in fact, it seemed pretty predictable. The only thing that came close to racing wasn't my heart but my finger toward the fast-forward button.

After studying Japanese for a year I decided to watch this to see how much I could understand and also because I wanted to see how it compares to the American remake. The dialogue is fairly slow and predictable and a fun way to train one's ear for "real life" Nihongo. I felt it wasnt scary enough though and the mother daughter relationship wasnt convincing. The American version has better: acting/atmosphere/scares.

I loved this movie. The mother's devotion toward her child was so strong and intense that I found myself crying at the end. The plot is this: Ghost wants Yoshimi (mother) to be her mother and is jealous of Ikuko (the daughter). Yoshimi is paranoid about what ghost is going to do to Ikuko. However, it's really not that simple afterall. It's riveting to watch as the story unfolds and you find out the history behind the ghost. In fact it's sad. Horribly sad. The cinematography is effective in that it's rather monochromatic -- lending a somber tone to the film.

Yoshimi is over-stressed. She is recently divorced, going through an ugly custody battle, she has to find a job and a new place to live. And then there's the ghost to deal with.

The ghost to me was more of a sad little creature than a menacing threat. But Yoshimi does not see things that way and ultimately sacrifices herself to save her daughter.

I owned this DVD long before the American version came out and I am happy that was the case. As usual, American film-makers bastardize incredible Asian movies, simplifying them to the point they are not even interesting. Such is the case with America's Dark Water.

If you want to truly enjoy this movie, buy the Asian version and watch it in the original language with English subtitles.

Having watched both the Japanese and Hollywood remake of Dark Water, I prefer the Japanese version [though the remake is watchable]. The Japanese version just seemed more creepy, and the acting was a whole lot better. The story centers around Yoshimi [Hitomo Kuroki], who is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce and heated custody battle with her soon-to-be ex-husband over their 5 yr old daughter, Ikuko [Rio Kanno]. Having no stable income of her own, Yoshimi is forced to lease an apartment in a run-down apartment complex. Almost immediately, they experience strange things like a dark, wet stain on the bedroom's ceiling that never seems to dry up. Complaints to the management elicits no follow-up action and so Yoshimi tries to solve the mystery on her own. By this time, she has also found a job in a publishing firm and is trying to get her life on track, but the sinister goings-on at her apartment cause Yoshimi to question her sanity. Her daughter Ikuko keeps finding a red backpack that Yoshimi comes to fear for she instinctively realises its menace. At heart, this is not so much just a horror story but that of a mother-child relationship, played out both in the real world inhabited by Yoshimi and Ikuko, and also the world of the ghostly entity that has focussed its attention on Yoshimi. The struggles of a single parent are very well-explored here, and both the actresses who portray Yoshimi and Ikuko do a great job of portraying the mother-daughter dynamics. Yoshimi feels she is not a good mom for not being able to better provide for her daughter and another instance when she is late picking her daughter up from school. This is resolved in an ironic manner at the end...how far would a mother go to show her love for her child and protect her? A beautifully made movie, with an element of horror that not so much as startles you, but slowly and insidiously creeps up on you. A great addition to the J-horror genre.

He did it again! Hideo Nakata makes some of the best movies. No other director can set the mood like he can. He makes you feel so cut off from the rest of the world and that loneliness mkaes the movie that much more intense. The story is about a single mother going through an ugly divorce. To keep her daughter she must get a job and find a place to live. She settles for a somewhat run down apartment and from their strange things start to happen to the point where she questions her own sanity.

Great movie, great ending, just great you will not be let down