Clevercell Very disappointing...

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Nigel P Directed by the acclaimed Hideo Nakata, this Japanese horror was part of a number of films featuring ghostly black-haired children that courted a wave of popularity (and American remakes) alongside The Ring, the Eye and The Grudge.Recently divorced Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) and her young daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno) move into a rundown apartment block where there is an alarming – and growing – patch of damp dripping from the ceiling. Ikuko attends the local school and adapts quickly, but sees ghostly images of a dark haired youngster. This little spirit is often accompanied by puddles of water that seem to be reaching out towards Ikuko, like fingers. Could this be the local child that has recently gone missing, leaving only her red school satchel behind – a satchel that crops up in the most unlikely places?SPOILER: it emerges that the missing Mitsuko Kawai (Mirei Oguchi) drowned in a large water tank on the apartments' roofing whilst trying to retrieve her satchel. Now a ghost, she now sees Yoshimi as a kind of mother figure, and haunts her and her daughter, leading Yoshimi to make the ultimate sacrifice and appears to travel over to the 'the other side' to appease the spirit and save her daughter. This scene is illustrated as Yoshimi elects to stay in the elevator frequented by Mitsuko's spirit. When at last the sliding doors open before her, a vast outpouring of water envelops Ikuko. Of her mother, there is no sign – until ten years later when she revisits the apartments, dilapidated outside, but tidied and fresh inside. She sees her dead mother who assures her that as long as she is well, she is happy. Mitsuko is also there, but when Ikuko turns, she is gone.This is a good, creepy film that also carries a real emotional sting. Although Mitsuko has a history of instability, there is little doubt that the watery hauntings are real, and these are achieved very convincingly – none more so than when Mitsuko enters her flat once again after the damp patch on the roof has grown once more, to find filthy water pouring from the ceiling in every room. The effect is very much as if it is raining on the inside and is highly unsettling.The melancholy of the lonely little girl, now without a mother, is also palpable but at least we get (and she gets) some assurance that Mitsuko will always be watching over her.

leila moore A truly memorable film, which succeeds not so much as a literal ghost story as an aching depiction of struggle, heartache, loneliness and loss.In some respects, the film might come across as pretty formulaic stuff, with generally predictable scares, a sometimes dubious script, and generic horror-film score (although there are also effective uses of background silence). Having said this, though, I should also add that the climax in the lift is genuinely shocking and heartrending. But what matters even more than the supernatural thrills is the all-too human story of the characters, the bleak atmosphere created, and the haunting imagery. All these elements the film pulls off remarkably well.The acting is pretty good. Admittedly, at first the mother appeared rather too high-strung to me, but that really is the kind of character she's meant to be. And the mother-child team is superb - there's real chemistry between the two.Dark Water is a notable accomplishment. It does often look like a formulaic supernatural thriller yet it transcends tired old clichés and conventions to be so much more; it manages to be consummately chilling, desolate, and poignant, all at the same time. As a work of art, and in terms of provoking genuine emotion, it succeeds (at any rate I found myself crying openly at the end, and I can honestly say I don't usually cry at films). Dark Water is arguably the best of the whole raft of Asian-horror films of the past two decades. At its core, it is a subtle, moving, and highly intelligent film, the like of which I've rarely seen, whether in the supernaturalist genre or out of it. A treat..

johnwillis49 Huge horror fan so if your looking for a horror aficionado's take on the movie then read this brief review Good Story, eeriness abounds, decent scares yet lacking the punch that I neededMore chilling than scary I guess. Read some review so I watched it. Not gonna lie kinda disappointed. Solid story but other horror movies deal with similar themes and are just handled better. very dreary. almost too much. weather is shite in every scene. maybe if the movie was more stylized i would have liked it. Some decent scares but I watched shutter from Thailand the day before and that blew this out of the water in terms of scares. maybe biased on scare factor because shutter was so recently watchedIdk i cant say its bad. its definitely a decent movie but not great.

Tokyo-1997 This movie is entertaining in numerous ways and has many nice scare. I do not find this movie slow pacing at all. I thought it was very well paced. The ending of this movie was very touching and well made. The storyline was decent but there were some plot holes. This movie, unlike ringu, contains both touching and creepy scenes. This movie has much more scares than ringu, cause ringu only has one scary scene. But the scary scene in ringu is much much more frightening than this movie. So overall, ringu was scarier and much more entertaining. The storyline of ringu was better than this. However, although ringu was much more entertaining than this movie dark water, dark water has got very good development of the characters. This movie deals very well with themes such as "Family", "Love", "Mother Daughter Relationship". The ending for this movie was an extremely sad one. There should be more character development for the ghost. Other than that, this is a wonderful movie that deserves to be watched definitely. Score:8.7/10