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Dark Water
Buena Vista Pictures


5.4

based on 35 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 34 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images and brief language

Starring Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade, Jennifer Baxter, Pete Postlethwaite, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Perla Haney-Jardine, and Camryn Manheim

Based on a film by the creators of the Japanese version of the "The Ring" comes this haunting, chilling, film about a young mother who goes to extreme lengths to solve a mystery and protect her daughter. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Horror \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Rafael Yglesias Hideo Nakata (film Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara) Takashige Ichise (film Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara) Kôji Suzuki (novel Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara)
DIRECTED BY:	Walter Salles
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 27, 2005 Theatrical: July 8, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Slate David Edelstein

Salles brings an explorer's eye and breathless curiosity to this fetid milieu, and he gets the most brilliant performances imaginable for this sort of movie.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Most important, I cared about the Jennifer Connelly character; she is not a horror heroine, but an actress playing a mother faced with horror. There is a difference, and because of that difference, Dark Water works.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

This is a quieter, more psychologically dense movie, where the payoff is sometimes no payoff at all - for instance, Tim Roth plays a cut-rate divorce lawyer whose own weirdness (he seems to live out of his car) is never explained.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Salles tends to explain rather than suggest, but he connects with the anguish and abandonment to give this ghost story an emotionally haunting core.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

In a movie with more subtext than "Rosemary's Baby," nearly everyone, including Tim Roth as Dahlia's lawyer, harbors secrets. Salles unleashes a torrent of suspense for one purpose: to plumb the violence of the mind.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

As a sheer ghostly thriller, it's mostly a spell-binder, but I was disappointed at the ending.

Premiere Peter Debruge

Even as Dark Water's horror-movie component flounders, a different, arguably better kind of thriller emerges.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Brazilian Walter Salles, who previously directed the Oscar-nominated films "Central Station" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," guides this stylish remake through treacherous territory to create a distressing, subtly suspenseful film full of emotional resonance.

Newsweek David Ansen

Builds dread masterfully, but don't expect solace or "fun." This is not for those who like mysteries neatly resolved.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A shudder-by-numbers pseudo-J-horror gothic, full of supernatural stunts you feel as if you've seen before the movie even gets to them.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This picture doesn't have deep enough currents to succeed as a psychological thriller and, as a ghost story, there are times when it has trouble treading water.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Dark Water has more substance and a more interesting look than many horror films, but the familiar elements of the story disappoint.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

While his movie lacks the psychological resonance of "Rosemary's Baby" or "The Sixth Sense," it easily equals their creep-out quotient.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Unlike "The Ring," Dark Water -- which features one of the mad, whispery ghost children who populate such films -- is never actually frightening.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

He [Salles] has managed to create a movie that's pretty bleak for a Hollywood -- especially Disney -- thriller. His theme, as a director, is the indignities of poverty and, in his way, he pays more attention to that agenda than he does in generating any real thrills.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The new version is out of scale with the basic premise -- too much rain, too much water, too much doom, gloom and intricate eccentricity.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Favors character development over rude scares, though given the narrow parameters of the genre, it's not really a worthwhile trade.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

With his stirring visual sense very much intact here, Salles sets the creepy mood eloquently, but the picture -- ultimately fails to reward all the little shivers with any satisfying jolts.

TV Guide Ken Fox

True to form, Salles' version is an intelligent, brooding ghost story brimming with atmosphere, emotions and, above all else, water, but it's disappointingly short on scares.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

There's something that never quite works about the film.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Dark Water devolves into something resembling genre schlock, albeit the kind featuring zesty supporting performances from the classy, Oscar-nominated likes of John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, and Pete Postlethwaite.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Well-crafted but thoroughly unsuspenseful.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The end product is so clunky, scattered, and all-around soggy that sometimes you can't help laughing. At least Connelly and Reilly give their all, and Tim Roth is terrific as a weird lawyer.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

If you can check your brain at the popcorn stand and keep your expectations low, Dark Water is an OK genre exercise that maintains a consistently creepy tone.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This fake-feminist thriller hides its sadism under a show of sympathy for its beleaguered heroine.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As the movie is in step with Connelly's aching heroine and not trying to scare our socks off, Dark Water is of a piece with Salles's sensitive filmmaking. Obviously, from a genre standpoint, that presents a tremendous problem. Nobody goes to a horror movie for a good cry.

Village Voice Ed Halter

It fails to deliver the narrative thrill twists its origins would promise.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

If only the explanation and resolution of the action were more compelling, Dark Water might have been a thriller of the first order.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Spins toward its glum, dishwater-gray whirlpool of an ending, which doesn't have nearly as much emotional punch as it should. It doesn't leave you feeling spent -- only soaked.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The movie is prettily shot by Almodóvar collaborator Affonso Beato, but no amount of tastefully desaturated color or imaginary friends going whoo-whoo in the deserted apartment upstairs can save this lumbering echt-thriller from fatal tedium.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Wildly overproduced and filled with fussy flourishes that make even a derelict hallway look like a million bucks, Dark Water fails to rustle up either meaning or meaningful scares.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Dark, dank, damp, grim, dingy and dour, Dark Water is a tasteful but unremitting bummer.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Stripped of every major scary moment and restructured in what feels like a deliberate attempt to remove all suspense, this "horror" movie is now a domestic soap opera.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Dark Water isn't a bad horror movie, simply because it isn’t horror at all: a full hour passes before anything remotely scary occurs, and all the suspenseful scenes take place in the final ten minutes (and are all fully shown in the trailer). What's left is tedium and a seemingly endless build-up to nothing much at all, making it a bad movie. Period.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The overall emotion the film generates is one of moist, enervated ennui. Who cares if the apartment is haunted when the best the ghost can do is get things a bit damp and run laps on the floor above?

The average user rating for this movie is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alan gave it a3:
It never quite became anything. It was neither a horror or psychological film. Jennifer Connely was almost putting me to sleep, the constant rain kept me awake. Why did she stay there?, at the end who cares. It seems the director never made a horror film before.

Lynn gave it a4:
Probably had potential with this cast, but somebody let set production take over. Too "dark" and too much "water", with too little suspense and flow to the story line. Can we let the Japanese keep their scary movies, and write some good ones like we used to?

Jimmy T. gave it a5:
Pros: great acting, meaningful characters. Cons: too similar to the ring. Overview: if you have not the ring yet, then watch this film, as it will be fresh and original for you. but if u have, then it won't.

Sam V. gave it an8:
The adapted screenplay of Suzuki's story by Hideo Nakata is pretty good, but there are a lot of cliches in that storythat even the interference of the great director Walter Salles was able to fix it. It is not a horror movie like "The Ring" or "The Grudge", but it's very interesting as a suspense movie, that is saved by the great actings, photography and the director's vision. Dark Water is a suspense movie without arrogation and far away from the overproduction status, but the aftermath is great!

Carchy gave it a7:
Dark Water isn´t good horror, but it has a dark and icy atmosphere. Jennifer Connelly and Ariel Gad are very good.

Kel R. gave it a0:
I can't believe that anyone liked this movie. I wasn't sure if the movie was suppose to look like that or if the movie projector was broken. My girlfriend (who finds everything scary) was bored to tears. Looking at these scores makes me wonder if the movie company hired some people to give this movie good ratings, because anyone else will most likely hate it.

Craig B. gave it a1:
To start with, the camera work was awful. Cuts were clearly visible and the 'purpose' cuts added no effect whatsoever. The acting from Jennifer Connelly was atrocious, such a poor performance from who I believed was a quality actor. With the director attempting to create a build up of tension and suspense by delaying a "jumpy" bit for a long while. This however backfires, with the audience I was with getting restless, waiting for something to happen. Where is the point in having a 'ghost' who does nothing but leave a few taps running? There is no fear generated by this mystery person. The plot itself is very poor. The 'little girl with imaginary friend' movie has been done so many times, so in order to be good, it must be very good. Im going to leave my rant here, but I recommend you do not see this movie.

Dark Water Buena Vista Pictures

Dark Water
Buena Vista Pictures