Jennifer Connelly plays Dahlia Williams, a mother with a young
daughter named Cecilia who recently divorced her husband. Looking for a cheap
place to live, Dahlia looks at an apartment on Roosevelt Island, a tiny sliver
of land in the East River, accessible to Manhattan via tram and subway. While the apartment
is pretty small, a big plus is that it’s located within few blocks from one of
the best schools in the city, and so Dahlia and Cecilia move in. Yet all is not
hunky dory, for Dahlia is under pressure from her ex-husband, who is threatening
to sue her for sole custody of Cecilia. Dahlia quickly gets an office job that
she’s under-qualified for, both to pay the bills, as well as to look good for
the upcoming court battle.
Yet there are other problems, as well. There’s a large stain in the bedroom
ceiling, and it’s growing larger in size, with brackish water dripping down
continuously. Dahlia keeps haggling with Mr. Murray, the building manager and
Veeck, the maintenance man, to get it fixed but to no avail. And there’s also
the constant, heavy pounding of footsteps from the apartment upstairs. Yet when
Dahlia goes to investigate by knocking on her neighbor’s door, she finds the
place is empty and flooded, with all of the faucets in the bathroom and kitchen
turned on. She discovers that her upstairs neighbors had abruptly vanished,
leaving behind a chilling mystery.
Based on the film Honogurai mizu no soko kara, by Hideo Nakata, Dark Water is
the sort of creepy psychological thriller that slowly builds its
scares as the film rolls on. The film is propelled by Jennifer Connelly’s great,
extremely sympathetic performance alone, yet the other actors are just as good.
Little Ariel Gade is a marvel as Connelly’s young daughter, and the rest of the
cast--Tim Roth as Dahlia’s lawyer, John C. Reilly as Mr. Murray and Pete
Postlethwaite as Veeck--are all superb. Special features include "Beneath The
Surface: The Making Of Dark Water", a series of five mini-documentaries dealing
with the making of the film, including a look at the real-life shooting location
of Roosevelt Island. "The Sound Of Terror" examines the sound design of the film.
"Extraordinary Ensemble" looks at the cast and crew of the film. There’s also a
section that analyzes several of Dark Water’s key scenes in greater detail, as
well as two deleted scenes. There is no audio commentary. If you’re looking for an
action-packed, stomach churning horror film, you might be better off checking
out High Tension instead. But if you have the patience for a good, chilling
story with slow building tension that’s populated by a marvelous cast, then give
Dark Water a try.
--SF
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