Dark Water

Greetings again from the darkness. Nothing leaves a film-goer feeling less satisfied than a non-thrilling thriller. Based on a novel by Koji Suzuki ("The Ring"), director Walter Salles ("High Art") hands us a flat, uninspired, at times boring rendition of the traditional Hollywood genre. Despite a nice cast and excellent performances by Jennifer Connelly (looking unhealthily thin), John C. Riley, Tim Roth and especially Pete Postlehwaite, this movie provides only a couple of decent moments. The "good" moments are furnished by Perla Haney-Jardine ("Kill Bill" fans will recognize her as B.B. Kiddo) but there are not enough to save the film. The dark water is of course a major player and the convoluted attempts to mislead the viewer are weak and ineffective. This is just not a very good film and certainly not much of a thriller.

It's easy to understand why so many people appear to have issues with Dark Water. For a film billed as a horror film right during the huge glut of Asian ghost movie remakes, it doesn't have a single scare that works. What it does offer are strong performances by the entire cast, but especially Jennifer Connelly as a struggling single mother who moves her and her young daughter into a trashy apartment building that's haunting with the spirit of a vengeful little girl. If you look at it as more of a tense psychological drama, you might be more apt to enjoy it for what it is.