A mother going through a divorce moves into a run down apartment with her daughter. A persistent leak from above, visions of a missing girl, and other eerie phenomena become increasingly menacing as clues to a past tragedy come to light.
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- RazorbitzOctober 4, 2026I went into this with no expectations and came away with a new all-time favorite ghost story. The J-Horror film I will now compare all others to. A slow, sombre masterpiece that is not interested in scaring you, yet delivers on creeping dread few others can achieve. Drenched in symbolism, drowning in pathos. Each character beat sublime, each shot treated with deep consideration yet subtly genius in how the film pays off on every possible level. The music--rare yet so deeply resonant when used. A rare film that also mind-linked itself with me in that every time I thought the protagonist should do something, or I realize a twist--THEY DO TOO. I can't even think of the last time something like that happened. Also a rare film in which the child actor is an absolute pleasure to watch--as a film primarily set around mother and daughter and their struggles, I never once doubted the depths they would go through for each other. The mother's performance...wow. Even the small ensemble cast was excellent. Most of them were only on screen for a handful of minutes but I never got confused as to who anyone was and not a moment was wasted in set up or pay off for anyone. The apartment complex is a character in and of itself like the best haunted houses of old. In my dreams, I still see that place... I will say the ending is perhaps the only dim spot on the film for me, and only because it does the one thing the rest of the film avoids; tell you what happened, rather than show. And it's just one line! One, followed immediately by the credits and a moody song that amends whatever issues I ever might have had. This film uses tropes with expertise and style, and still manages to make something utterly unique despite fimiliar filmic language. I love every second, save the slower middle--but even this slow period has intention and I cannot really find a fault. Ugh! I love this film.
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Dark Water was released on January 19, 2002.
Dark Water was directed by Hideo Nakata.
Dark Water has a runtime of 1h 41m.
Dark Water was produced by Takashige Ichise.
A mother going through a divorce moves into a run down apartment with her daughter. A persistent leak from above, visions of a missing girl, and other eerie phenomena become increasingly menacing as clues to a past tragedy come to light.
The key characters in Dark Water are Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki), Young Ikuko Matsubara (Rio Kanno), Mitsuko Kawai (Mirei Oguchi).
Dark Water is rated 13+.
Dark Water is a Horror, Mystery, Drama film.
Dark Water has an audience rating of 6.6 out of 10.
Dark Water had a budget of $4M.
Dark Water has made $1.7M at the box office.