Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly), a recently divorced mother going through a custody battle, moves with her young daughter (Ariel Gade) to an apartment with a water-damaged ceiling. Soon, water is dripping into the bedroom, and mysterious events are occurring that relate to a missing girl.
Dark Water is the result of a group of primarily talented people getting together and doing some of their best work. The problem is that these people were making a horror film, but they neither liked nor understood the genre. Producer Bill Mechanic publicly stated he’s not a fan of horror and was glad that Dark Water didn’t fit into that category. Apparently, everyone connected to the film was under the massive misconception that you can’t say anything interesting or important with horror, that only drama can do that. So, they took the Japanese fright film Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water), kept the social commentary and story, but changed the tone and dropped the ghost, leaving a slow-paced, repetitive melodrama.
So, lets get the good parts out of the way. The music, art design and cinematography are well done, setting a tense and unrelenting mood. I don’t go to the theater to see skilled art design, but it’s nice when it’s there. The basic storyline is also good. Perhaps there isn’t enough material for a feature, but it would make a great short. And there is the acting. Granted, much of the cast is merely adequate. The normally reliable Pete Postlethwaite seems mainly interested in doing a funny voice, and John C. Reilly thinks he’s in a comedy. However Tim Roth puts in the best performance of his career as a good-natured, multilayered lawyer. But when looking at this film, the work of most of the players is of no importance as this is really a one-woman show. The woman is Jennifer Connelly and she is superb. OK, finding a time when Connelly isn’t first rate would require going back nearly two decades, but even for her, this is excellent. She makes Dahlia believable and sympathetic, though not simple. This is a real person in pain and it is impossible not to share that with her. The one reason to seek out this movie is to watch Connelly.
Unfortunately there aren’t other reasons. It is amazing how closely the original is followed and to what very different effect. There are no substantial alterations in the story. But here it is played as if the ghost is merely in Dahlia’s head. It was already a metaphor, but now it is also a product of a broken mind. The idea that the monster isn’t real was clever in the 1930s, but it has gotten very old by now. Actually, it was old by the ’50s and is unpleasant now. I’m always amazed to find a producer/director/writer who still thinks that’s the height of intelligent filmmaking.
The slight plot was workable with chills to fill in the extra time. Without those, the movie is about twice as long as it should be. Every conversation goes on longer than needed. We’re given endless flashbacks where the point was clear after the first. There’s even a dream sequence which the filmmakers admit is there because they liked the footage of the flooded apartment, and didn’t have any place to put it; note to Hollywood: if a scene doesn’t fit in your movie, no matter how good it is, cut it.
The Japanese Dark Water was a worthwhile entry in the J-Horror movement. Far from groundbreaking, its mix of message and frights was effective. The American remake is a pretty film that shows off the impressive talent of Jennifer Connelly, but is otherwise misconceived.
Jennifer Connelly’s other genre works are the cult horror flick, Phenomena (1985), the juvenile fantasy Labyrinth (1986), the retro sci-fi The Rocketeer (1991), the future noir Dark City (1998), and the maudlin superhero misfire, Hulk (2003).