A goofy movie after today Analyzing Dark Water Scenes 5 min

A goofy movie after today

Analyzing Dark Water Scenes 5 min. The films surprisingly young editor is interviewed about his techniques for building suspense during one scene from the movie. Next, a producer and the Production Designer discuss a major visual effects sequence that didnt make the final cut. This latter piece was reinstated for the movies Unrated Cut. Unfortunately, as presented here we arent able to watch the scene in its entirety without being interrupted by the interviewees. Missing from the DVD are three featurettes: Beneath the Surface 17 min. , The Sound of Terror 7 min. , and An Extraordinary Ensemble 26 min. New to the Blu-ray is: Movie Showcase An especially worthless feature, all this showcase does is isolate three scenes from the movie that are meant to be the most visually impressive for independent playback. The Dark Water remake is a pleasant surprise, more of a compelling character drama than the cheap horror flick I was expecting. I actually found it an improvement over the Japanese original. The Blu-ray disc has decent if unexceptional picture quality, but still merits a recommendation. Agree? Disagree? You can post your thoughts about this review on the DVD Talk forums. Original aspect ratio: 39:1 English: LPCM 1 48kHz, 16-bit English: Dolby Digital 1 Spanish: Dolby Digital 1 English: LPCM 1 48kHz, 16-bit English: Dolby Digital 1 English SDH, French, Spanish Dahlia Williams Jennifer Connelly and her five-year-old daughter are ready to begin a new life together. But their new apartment dilapidated and worn suddenly seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of dark water and other strange happenings in the deserted apartment above send Dahlia on a haunting and mystifying pursuit one that unleashes a torrent of living nightmares. When The Ring came along in 2002, Im sure many people wouldnt have predicted that it would inspire the American film industry to remake every Japanese horror flick under the sun. Yet, here we are in 2006 and they just keep getting made. The Ring itself was a fun and spooky ride. In my opinion, however, everything that has proceeded it, has been an obvious attempt to cash in on the phenomenon it created. Dark Water, on the other hand, has a slightly higher pedigree than most of these remakes. With a strong cast, high production values and the same author as The Ring itself, Dark Water showed promise in an otherwise lackluster genre. Dahlia Williams Jennifer Connelly is having a pretty rough go of things. Her husband has left her for another woman, shes unemployed and shes desperately looking for an apartment where she can care for her young and precocious daughter, Cecelia Ariel Gade. To make matters worse, about the only apartment she can afford is a relative dump on New Yorks Roosevelt Island. Hey, at least the schools in the area are good. Once Dahlia and her daughter settle in, all sorts of disturbing events begin to transpire. Black water seems to constantly drip from the bedroom ceiling and the water faucets have a nasty habit of spewing disgusting substances at inopportune times. Is their new apartment haunted? Is the landlord trying to drive them crazy? Is her husband in on it all? Or is Dahlia just a nutcase? Despite evidence to the contrary, the child in this photograph is not animatronic Dark Water is a really sad movie. Its not particularly scary, it isnt particularly suspenseful and it certainly wont be causing any nightmares. Those of you familiar with The Ring will certainly recognize many common plot points. This, in reality, is a film about abandonment and despair. Almost everything about Dark Water is unpleasant. Just about every room, building, person and thing in the movie is, on some level, disgusting. Other than Dahlia herself, I counted a grand total of 3 somewhat redeeming characters in the entire movie. There is an absolute TON of acting talent present in Dark Water : Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth almost totally unrecognizable and Pete Postlethwaite. The acting is great across the board. Actually, its better than this film deserves. If the filmmakers had just tried to tell a simple story, I think we would have had a very interesting psychological drama. Instead, there is so much phony melodrama, forced tension and random paranoia inserted into this film that it just falls completely apart. Dark Water is clearly trying to mine material from the likes of The Shining and even a bit of Poltergeist. As is usually the case, those classics do the job much better than this cobbled together story. All we are left with is a very frustrating and ultimately unrewarding experience.