Review: Dark Water (2005)

Dark Water

IMDB rate: 5,5

Genre: Supernatural

It had been a long time since I saw this movie last so I thought it would be time to watch it again! I'm never really sure what to think of this movie. I like the ending and the story is okay, but it's not scary at all. There are no jump-scares and the ghost girl is not very creepy. I've never seen the original movie entirely so I can't compare between those two, but I suspect that an asian ghost girl would be a bit scarier than this girl. I'm not a big fan of Asian horror so that's why I never finished watching it, but I can imagine why people think the original is better than this one.

Dahlia Williams and her daughter Cecelia move into a rundown apartment on New York's Roosevelt Island. She is currently in the midst of divorce proceedings and the apartment, though near an excellent school for her daughter, is all she can afford. From the time she arrives, the are mysterious occurrences and there is a constant drip from the ceiling in the only bedroom. There are also noises coming from the apartment directly above hers, though it would appear to be vacant. Is the apartment haunted or is there a simpler explanation?

The acting in the movie is very good. Jennifer Connelly is an excellent actress and she never fails to amaze me. Even though I'm not a big fan of this movie, her acting abilities are still amazing. Other main roles are played by John C. Reilly and Tim Roth. Tim Roth is a very good choice for this character I think. A serious man who is a bit lonely. However, I don't really like John C. Reilly in this movie. He mostly plays in funny movies and I think he should stick with that. It's like seeing Jim Carrey in The Number 23 all over again (which is by the way an excellent movie, if Jim Carrey would not have played the main character). John C. Reilly just has that thing over him that makes him funny, and that does not really fit in this film. I was also a bit annoyed by his character in the beginning, he had a very loud voice and was quite annoying. And of course there's the little girl Cecelia, who is played by Ariel Gade. She's really adorable and it's very hard not to love her in this movie.

The happenings in this movie are a bit unreal. Or a better word: unnatural. Sure, the ghost girl and such is quite unnatural, but I actually mean the reactions of the people living in this building. Apparently it's not very strange that an entire apartment is filled with water. Or it's not very necessary that the leak in your apartment is needed to be fixed. Sure, the woman asked about it, but when there is the possibility that the ceiling might fall down, you do react a bit different. 

I don't find the movie Dark Water very special. It's a decent movie to watch but it is not very tensive. It's also not really a horror movie, even though it's promoted as if it is. Dark Water is more a Drama movie, and for a Drama it's quite a good one I guess. Unfortunately, it was (and still is) promoted as a horror movie, which causes it's low rate. Not very surprising, because if you watch this movie expecting it will be a horror, you will be very disappointed. 

Dark Water is a decent movie to watch, but it's not very tensive or surprising. What did surprise me though was the ending, very dramatic, but also very good. Dark Water is not a horror movie so don't get confused by that.

My personal rate: 6/10