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Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata ... see more see more... , Isao Yatsu , Shigemitsu Ogi , Yu Tokui

Following up on his horror smash hits Ringu and Ringu 2, Hideo Nakata directs this supernatural psychological drama about a middle aged woman struggling to cling to her sanity. Yoshimi Matsubara (Hito... read more read more...mi Kuroki) is the midst of a nasty divorce with her thuggish, abusive husband over the custody of their five year old daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). In Japan's family court system, which is heavily weighted towards the mother, Yoshimi case would normally be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, Yoshimi has a history of mental imbalance as a result of her miserable, emotionally starved childhood. The transition from housewife to independent working woman has been stressful. She has moved into a fleabag of an apartment -- completely with a constantly leaking roof -- and has had little luck finding employment. Worse, Ikuko and then Yoshimi start seeing a creepy little girl dressed in yellow suddenly appearing in apartment. With a growing sense of dread, Yoshimi starts having outbursts not only in family court, but also at her daughter's kindergarten. When she slumps into a coma after the end of one such fit, she realizes what the girl in yellow is trying to communicate. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Flixster Users

66% liked it

20,686 ratings

Critics

77% liked it

13 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Hideo Nakata

Release Date: January 19, 2002

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DVD Release Date: June 21, 2005

Stats: 1,208 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,208)

  • EightThirty
    July 21, 2010
    EightThirty
    17/06/2010 (DVD)

    This is a classy horror that has a decent drama-style structure. It is a bit draggy at first but the interest keeps you there till the impact..

    Although it's very predictable (most films are these days), I really didn't mind it, it's just like having a differe... read morent drink with the same vitamins if you know what I mean. It's a different movie with the same outline. But like drinks, there are ones I like better than others, and this is one of them.

    A worthy play in my opinion, its suspenseful, dramatic, tragic and emotionally disturbing. A dreadful horror indeed!
  • SirPant
    September 15, 2009
    SirPant
    Hideo Nakata is undoubtedly the best horror director working today. Dark Water (The Original) is creepier than the ring in my opinion. I just wish Hollywood would stop doing pointless remakes!
  • skactopus
    February 26, 2009
    skactopus
    Ringu director, Hideo Nakata, steps back into the Japanese horror scene with Dark Water. There is nothing really wrong with this picture, but there is also nothing really special either.

    The story is slow going and is somewhat predictable. That shouldn't turn pe

    ... read moreople away because horrors are all about the suspense and thrill ride. The run time is only 95 minutes and more than half of that is spent building up the story and the characters. This is fine and dandy, but there are times where this film spends too much time meandering on certain story elements, which makes for uneventful segments. Of course, people will say that all this just makes the ending that much more better.

    The scares are scarce, however the suspense is definitely there, especially at the end. There are small hints and glimpses for the bulk of the film, but the last 20 minutes do get freaky. The usual girl with long hair character is frightening and even though it is unoriginal, it is still an effective element to this horror movie.

    Hitomi Kuroki is an OK lead. There isn't enough screaming and kicking going on in here for her to show her stuff. Rio Kanno is quite entertaining as the young Ikuko. Male actors do exist in this picture and their acting is decent, but their characters are forgettable. Asami Mizukawa shows potential, however she is only there to add a little more story to the ending. "My mother was here all that time... protecting me."

    Dark Water will not blow anybody away or scare the living daylights out of a person, but this is still a watch that isn't regrettable for Japanese horror fans.
  • matertenebraum
    September 7, 2008
    matertenebraum
    This is my idea of a horror movie. No junk, no noise, no random jolts, but plenty of fear, delivered quietly and compactly, without fuss. It's the most suspenseful movie I've seen since "Ring," and I think it's even better. Like that movie, it put my stomach in knots to prep them... read more for the chills, which rose up like waves out of calm water. I thought "Ring" rather like a Robert Aickman story; this is as near as a movie can come. The director has uncanny skill in knowing where to place the camera and how long to hold a shot. And the leading actress gives a wonderful performance. Her face in the elevator...but that would be giving it away. The conclusion is foreseeable--maybe the ends of all ghost stories are foreseeable--but nonetheless satisfying. If you like tales of quietly disturbing dread, this is one for you.
  • garyX
    August 18, 2008
    garyX
    Hideo (Ringu) Nakata once again wheels out the old J horror staple of young woman stalked by mysterious child after moving into a new apartment with her young daughter. The fact is that there's nothing really WRONG with this film (aside from when the soundtrack skirted dangerousl... read morey close to power ballad territory), it's just that we've seen it all before. To the point where I knew what the so-called "twist" would be virtually from the outset, and spent the first hour wishing he'd just cut to the chase. There are a couple of atmospheric scenes, but otherwise it's strictly by the numbers and a little sterile, with an occasional lapse in logic (has this woman never heard of a staircase...?!) Not bad, but nowhere near as good as the very similar Ju On.
  • ceWEBrity
    March 15, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    A melancholy, waterlogged, immensely sad "horror" movie. A lot of the real horror, though much more covert than the supernatural elements, comes from the themes of abandonment and regret, which come across surprisingly effectively. Hitomi Kuroki gives a smash performance as a men... read moretally worn mother embroiled in a bitter custody battle, adding a lot of poignancy to the role.

    The ending is extremely mysterious and vaguely sad at the same time.

    EDIT: Saw the remake, made me realize that this film wasn't THAT great, dropped the rating accordingly. It's still worth watching, though.
  • newvogueravyn
    March 26, 2007
    newvogueravyn
    Great adaptation of the Koji Suzuki short story.
  • ascordeiro108
    July 7, 2011
    ascordeiro108
    A sad horror movie, it will make sense when you see it.
  • DrStrangeblog
    October 15, 2008
    DrStrangeblog
    'Dark Water' Murky As Entertainment

    That's it, I'm giving up on Japanese horror. My interest was first piqued with the suspenseful if flawed American version of The Ring, so I tried Ju-On (The Grudge) and The Eye with mixed but mostly piffling results. I thought Dark Water would... read more beat them both after an intriguing 20 minutes, but then played out the same, only worse.

    This new wave of Japanese ghost stories work on a level of logic that I simply cannot accept and are filled with inconsistencies that make me want to yell, not in a good way. Add to that the creakiness of 1930s movies like Dracula or Frankenstein where time after time the protagonist, filled with dread, takes no less than 45 seconds to turn their head, which in reality would've been lopped clean off by the kind of danger they feared lurking behind them. If you think 3 films is a rush to judgement, keep in mind these have been hailed near the top of their class and made by 3 different directors. If you were judging food, how many times do you want to throw squid and eel down your throat before you decide you don't like sushi after all?
  • alanjayh
    June 1, 2008
    alanjayh
    i enjoyed it simply because its a bitdifferent from your standard asian ghost fare..and the ending is definitely touching...not as opaque as other ghost stories...so its nice at film's end to actually have a prety good grasp of what you just watched..good atmosphere and visuals

View All Dark Water Reviews

Critic Reviews

Nick Schager
July 8, 2005
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

About as frightening as a soggy diaper. Full Review

Jeffrey Chen
July 7, 2005
Jeffrey Chen, Window to the Movies

Benefits from having an undercurrent of sadness, which makes it feel quite similar to the ghost stories in Kwaidan. Full Review

Rory L. Aronsky
July 3, 2005
Rory L. Aronsky, Film Threat

He [Nakata] wants us to absorb, to feel a location, and to understand the plight of the characters before he goes any further. Full Review

Christopher Null
June 6, 2005
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

So much of Dark Water is contrived that it defies the mind to try to make sense of it. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
July 20, 2004
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Um terror bem construído que não quer apenas provocar sustos passageiros, mas sim estabelecer um clima de tensão constante e personagens com os quais realmente nos importemos.

Luke Y. Thompson
June 29, 2004
Luke Y. Thompson, LYTRules.com

To date, the scariest movie I've ever seen.

Rich Cline
February 23, 2004
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

With extremely heavy echoes of his own 1998 film Ringu, Nakata is on subtle creep-out form here rather than big horror movie mode. Full Review

Anton Bitel
November 7, 2003
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette

just beneath its surface horror this film conceals a deep reservoir of tragedy, addressing themes like family breakdown, isolation, abandonment, and - something of a taboo in Japan - the terrible lega... Full Review

Ian Waldron-Mantgani
July 16, 2003
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic

A horror movie that sits there and drags and seems very full of itself, and is based on the premise that puddles are scary. They're not.

Walter Chaw
July 2, 2003
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

The picture is melancholy remembrance and its sources of fear are intimate and brilliant. Full Review

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