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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - July 8th

"DARK WATER" released in 2005

Produced during the J-horror remake boom of the early 2000's, Dark Water stars Jennifer Connelly as a recently divorced single mother who discovers that her daughter is being haunted by a malicious spirit in their new apartment building.

Watch the Dark Water trailer below!

Dahlia Williams (Connelly) moves with her daughter Cecilia (Ariel Gade) to a new apartment building in Roosevelt Island after divorcing her husband Kyle (Dougray Scott). Shortly after they move in, strange things start to happen; Cecilia starts to see an imaginery friend Natasha (Perla Haney-Jardine) and the bedroom ceiling begins to leak dark water, flooding from the upstairs apartment. Dahlia discovers the previous tenants of apartment 10F, the Rimsky family, once had a daughter Cecilia's age who had drowned the in building's water tower when she was left behind by her parents. Believing her daughter's imaginary friend Natasha be the ghost of the little girl that drowned, Dahlia must now struggle to save her own daughter from the vengeful spirit who is looking for a new family!

Top:   Jennifer Connelly and Ariel Gade as Dahlia Williams and 

daughter, Cecilia;   Above:   Dougray Scott as ex-husband Kyle

Dahlia: [Referring to Natasha] There's water everywhere! She can't be here!

Based on the 2002 J-horror film Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara (From the Depths of Dark Water), this American remake was hurriedly put into production after the huge success of previous J-horror remakes, The Ring (2002) and The Grudge (2004). To play the lead role as Dahlia Williams, Jennifer Connelly turned down the role of Paige Edwards in another horror remake, House of Wax (2005), to appear in Dark Water. The characters of the young Dahlia and Natasha Rimsky are played by the same actress Perla Haney-Jardine. This was supposed to show that Dahlia symbolically saw herself in Natasha as they were both young girls who were neglected by their mother (or in Natasha's case both her parents). As the primary theme throughout the film, water can be seen in nearly every single scene of the film whether it be rain water, dark water, humidity, or household appliances such as a toilet, bathtub, or a washing machine. A color dye usually used in concentrated gels for soft drinks was added to the water to turn it to a dark color.

Top and Above:   Natasha begins to haunt Dahila and Cecilia

Dahlia: [Referring to Natasha] I can't be her mother...I don't know how to be myself!

Though not as successful as it's predecessor's, Dark Water was still a modest hit and garnered some favorable reviews. William Thomas wrote in Empire the film as "Interesting and unsettling, but never terrifying. Best viewed as a family drama-cum-Tale Of The Unexpected rather than a full-on horror." Matthew Turner of ViewLondon descibed Dark Water as "a watered-down version of the Japanese original, Salles's remake is still an enjoyable, atmospheric horror flick, with strong performances from its cast."

Above:   Director Walter Salles with Jennifer Connelly

Dark Water was released in two different versions for the home media release; the theatrical cut and an unrated cut. Since its release rumors about said versions began to spread. On the internet one can find numerous reviews in which the writers can only remark that they just can't recognize any difference between the two versions. Some reviewers even claimed that the two versions were identical, and others again that the unrated version only included more swear words.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   46%