Dark Water

‘Things that go bump in the night’ territory from the director of 'The Motorcyle Diaries' Walter Salles. This is a remake of a Japanese classic in which Jennifer Connelly plays a mother called Dahlia who moves into a cheap and seedy New York apartment with her young daughter Ceci. All is well but it’s a case of two’s company, three’s a crowd, since it becomes obvious Ceci is not home alone, in fact she has an imaginary friend called Natasha.

Dark Water is more atmospheric nasties, supernatural if you like rather than outright horror – much of the scares are unhinged moments that suggest something nasty is lurking around the corner but then you find that’s as far as it goes in the fear stakes and you realize just when you’re just expected to go ‘wooaahh’ instead you end up tensely thinking something else is about to crack up. Mind you, perhaps with the likes of John C Reilly and Tim Roth playing supporting roles as a landlord and lawyer respectively, perhaps naturally Ceci should want to get know someone a little different. Throw in Pete Postlethwaite looking less than normal and of course you’ve got the right ingredients for an unusual scarefest. Sadly though, Dark Water doesn’t go the whole hog and that’s probably because the original is also more unhinged atmospherics rather than jaw-dropping scares.

Matt Arnoldi