Plot

Directed by Walter Salles Jr., Dark Waters is a remake of Hideo Nakata’s supernatural psychological drama Honogurai Mizuno Soko Kara, which depicts the plight of a single mother (Jennifer Connelly) whose messy divorce and ongoing battle for the custody of her five-year-old daughter is taking a heavy toll on her emotional well-being. Ultimately, mother and daughter relocate to an apartment, which, despite its decrepit interior, seems to serve as an adequate location for starting a new life.

Before long, however, what appears to be the spirit of a young girl begins to haunt them. No stranger to mental illness, single mom Connelly assumes the visions are just a part of the inherent stress of transitioning from life as a housewife to being a working, single mom.

As time passes and the haunting does not subside, the apartment’s new residents are forced to examine the history of its former tenants.

Dark Water also features performances by John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, and Dougray Scott.

Memorable Lines

Dahlia: [Referring to Natasha] I can’t be her mother… I don’t know how to be myself!

****

Kyle: [Shouting at Dahlia] You’re insane!

****

Dahlia: If you ever need me, I’ll be right here.

****

Thoughts from the HauntedHouses.com team

Actress Jennifer Connelly artfully inhabits the role of besieged single mother Dahlia Williams — an unglamorous undertaking that requires her to dress in shabby clothes and endure constant migraines. She is thoroughly convincing as a woman in deep distress, financially and emotionally, who also happens to be a loving mom with only the best intentions. Connelly isn’t the only performer in Dark Water who scores in the acting department: John C. Reilly as the superintendent serves up a powerful monologue (mostly improvised) as he takes Dahlia and her daughter on a grand tour of the appalling housing project on Roosevelt Island, which serves as the movie’s setting. “Where’s the living room?” asks Dahlia. “This is it,” Reilly exclaims. “It’s both bedroom AND living room! It’s what they call a DUAL-USE room. Look at it — it’s huge!” Anyone who’s ever had to suffer through a real estate agent’s pitch will recognize and appreciate Reilly’s bilious cloud of faux friendliness. Top notch talent such as Pete Postlethwaite and Tim Roth also make significant contributions as the building’s janitor and Dahlia’s lawyer.

But the great virtue of the film is without doubt its photography and set design. Dark Water is that rare horror vehicle with an urban setting – Roosevelt Island – a seedy spit of land situated across the river from Manhattan, blighted with Soviet-bloc style tenement housing. The weather is usually David Fincher-esque rainy, the sky gun-gray and pierced with smokestacks. The interiors, particularly Dahlia and Ceci’s apartment — along with the ominous apartment 10-F on the floor above — pay effective homage to Catherine Deneuve’s miserable quarters in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion.

Is Dark Water really scary? Probably not enough for that young adult demographic to whom the movie was mistakenly marketed — but it’s scary enough for those who’ve had to contend with life’s more quotidian problems, such as raising a child alone, or finding oneself hobbled by physical or mental afflictions, all piled atop an unhappy personal history. To wit: it’s scary enough for grown-ups, who can experience terror watching their children cross a busy intersection. And director Walter Salles also delivers a few choice jolts along the way. But the true genius of the film is its atmosphere: an unrelenting dark-hued menace spawned of urban misery. Dark Water is both depressing and truly scary.

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