Dark Water

Dark Water is an exemplary case of dysfunctional filmmaking. What is this actually supposed to be? A psychological social drama, unsuccessfully filmed in the form of a modern horror movie? If so, there is a complete lack of suspense and the key motif of the main character’s trauma is just dumb. Not to mention the moronic ending, which is just the icing on this miserable cake. Apparently the director himself didn’t even know what it was supposed to mean. Dark Water is an even bigger clusterfuck than the stylistically similar The Ring 2. (14.10.2005)

Excellent cinematography, good cast, and slow-moving nothing. Considering that nothing happens in the entire film except for the last few minutes and it has almost no atmosphere, it's surprising that I actually quite enjoyed it, even though it's the purest possible average. (19.02.2006)

An incredibly poorly directed film with a plot so dull that at times it made me sick. What was it actually about? A social drama? Horror? Neither. Just a poorly patched together mess without anything to capture the viewer's attention. I don't understand the inclusion of Jennifer Connelly as a character actress, but money probably plays a major role in that. The musical score is quite good and they successfully manage to create a dark, even depressive atmosphere in the first half (well-chosen setting, rain). However, overall, the result is a big failure, further compounded by the absolutely ridiculous conclusion. (10.11.2005)

It doesn't seem silly and dysfunctional at all to me. The details fit together, the partial scenes are shot very well, the atmosphere of the rainy city and the greenish filter of the camera perfectly evoke the depressing genius loci. I was fascinated by the convincing Jennifer Conelly and little Ariel Gade. The Brazilian, Salles, embarked on a Shyamalan-tuned intertwining of thriller, horror and social drama; unfortunately I would enjoy Dark Water much more as a psychological film than as this wonderful monster. The imported ghost story with a dead girl from the neighborhood is terribly transparent and completely unnecessarily dilutes the film's potential into something average that has been seen a hundred times over. The attempt to transform the fairground touch of the ghost jump-scares into a deeper message about motherly love is awkward and the end of the film fades out in false tones. It’s too bad, because I really like the atmosphere of Dark Water and it is definitely higher than average amongst the competition of similarly-tuned films. (18.09.2006)

One big sigh. The first half of the film might seem like a psychological drama without any hint of suspense (I don't take puddles and stains seriously), but from the moment Dahlia goes to the laundry room, Dark Water turns around 180°. The subsequent haunting, however, is heavily unsuccessful because it doesn't work on a single level; the depression is conveyed too emptily even despite all efforts from Jennifer Connelly, and the script presents progressively more ridiculous lines minute by minute. By the time the exhausted ending rolls around, the cluster of unoriginal storylines (the house, a ghost, the friend) can only unravel into a simple sterile loss. (01.02.2006)