Dark Water Rated D for Dismal - a Movie Review
Dank, Dreary, Depressing, Dismal, Dark, Derivative and Discordant
Jennifer Connelly plays Dahlia, a single mother starting life over after a bitter divorce from her husband Kyle, who considers Dahlia unstable. While apartment hunting, Dahlia and her daughter Cecilia, nick-named Ceci, visit a rundown apartment building on Roosevelt Island.
Cecilia hates the drab, dreary building on sight, but after she disappears for a few minutes and finds a Hello Kitty backpack near a large water tank on the roof of the building, she develops a sudden powerful desire to live there. Due to her limited finances and the apartment's proximity to Ceci's new school, Dahlia puts a down payment on the apartment, and they move in.
Strange noises from the apartment above them and a mysterious leak in the ceiling cause Dahlia to have a confrontation with the building super. Dahlia learns the apartment above has been vacant a month, but she visits it to find it fully furnished, with dark water spewing from every faucet. At about the same time, Ceci is discovered to have an invisible friend named Natasha. This sets the stage for the moderately suspenseful and pretty predictable climax.
In spite of Jennifer Connelly's performance, Dark Water is dank, dreary, depressing, and dismal. You can also add derivative and dark to the alliteration. It appears it rains constantly on Roosevelt Island, and Dahlia's migraines were accompanied by discordant music. (That mean I can also add discordant to my alliterative list of descriptive terms for Dark Water.)
The story is too much a knock-off of The Ring to be very surprising or even frightening, and Connelley's problems with the mysterious spreading leak on her ceiling never fully engage the viewer.
Still, Dark Water will appeal to some fans of the horror genre. There are some suspenseful scenes, and the ending, although somewhat predictable, is sweeter then I expected. If you were wise enough to avoid Dark Water in the theaters, you might want to give the DVD -- on sale -- a try.
The unrated Dark Water DVD is 103 minutes which is actually shorter than the theatrical release.
SOURCES
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Water_(2005_film)
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Published by Kathryn E. Darden
An author, poet, publisher, publicist & skincare consultant, I have written for publications including CCM Magazine, The Tennessean, Barbie Bazaar Magazine, Christian Activities & several local newspapers.... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentThanks for the honest review.
Great review:)
Fantastic review! (Even though the movie wasn't.)
You certainly have a knack for writing movie reviews. Great article.