Popular reviews

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★ 3

  Finally, a movie that explores humanity’s deepest darkest fear: shitty apartment buildings with bad plumbing.

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  Review by Dyrnott ★★★★

  An excellent subtle horror movie! I was a little skeptical at first because of the PG 13 rating. It was nicely done. Directed by the Japanese Horror Legend Hideo Nakata who is also famous for Ringu. If you loved Ringu and haven’t seen this one the it is a must see! I get where several reviews refer to the Lisa Lam case. Eerily similar! It is available on Arrow and Tubi. I watched on Arrow because no commercials though I do like Tubi because it is free!

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  Review by Ben Hibburd ★★★★½ 10

  Sombre and sorrowful, Hideo Nakata's "Dark Water" is literally and figuratively dripping with atmosphere. The film is centred around a single mother, Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) in the midst of a legal battle for custody of her daughter. In order to maintain custody in the meantime she quickly moves into an unkempt apartment complex where a ghostly presence stalks the halls, and a damp spot on her ceiling rapidly expands.

  As the film unfolds she starts seeing a little girl in a yellow anorak roaming the halls and elevator. However, things take an uneasy turn when her and her daughter become the focus of the mysterious girls attention.

  I liked "Ringu" a fair amount, however, Nakata blows that film out of…

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  Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★½ 10

  Although I have not seen all of Hideo Nakata's filmography, it is clear that the Japanese director has an affinity for ghost stories that are part of a larger social context. Often, when sadness, loneliness, and alienation prevail, these feelings are depicted as ghosts that haunt our protagonists.

  In the case of this film, as many have mentioned, it is less of a horror film and more of a social drama with various supernatural overtones. Its much creepy than anything else, with a few effective jump scares. The last act is actually sadder, with the elevator scene bringing a tear or two to my eye, but at the same time knowing what's coming next and what does certain sacrifices that…

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  Review by CinemaCl🎃wn ★★★ 3

  Enveloped with a brooding atmosphere that hints at a quietly disturbing dread gurgling beneath its slow-burn narrative, Dark Water is a tale of family, tragedy, isolation & abandonment that's often suspenseful, at times unsettling but never terrifying.

  The story concerns a divorced mother who moves into a dilapidated apartment with her daughter to begin a new chapter in their lives. But things soon take a turn for the worse when they start experiencing supernatural occurrences that's got something to do with the floor above.

  Directed by Hideo Nakata (best known for Ringu), Dark Water builds its ominous ambience methodically and that sense of foreboding never really goes away. But it's the mother-daughter bonding that drives this story and there is a…

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★★ 1

  Slow, creeping, foreboding horror overlays a tale of loss, sorrow and loneliness in Hideo Nakata's effective ghost story. The plot focuses on a mother who, while going through a messy divorce, moves into a delapidated apartment building; before become the target of some sort of entity. The film works chiefly because it puts all of its focus on the characters and situation. Hideo Nakata brilliantly builds up the atmosphere by way of perfect pacing, in which things are allowed to escalate in a logical way. The film has a real ethereal beauty to it; the sparse industrial feel of the central location melds well with the symbolic water that permeates through it. Like many J-horror films of the time, this…

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  Review by Liz ★★★★

  Finally, a horror I can relate to: lousy apartment supers

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  Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★

  Cinematic Time Capsule
  2002 Marathon - Film #36

  ”There’s water leaking from our ceiling”

  APARTMENT FOR RENT

  Now available, rustic two bedroom apartment featuring picturesque water-stained ceilings that sporadiclly drip to provide a soothing fountain ambience.

  PLEASE NOTE: Rumors of a wandering faceless child are greatly exagerated and probably the result of an overactive imagination. However, all residents are asked to keep track of their children and not allow them to roam freely about the building.

  ”What are you doing?”
  “We’re moving out”

  
  Cinematic Time Capsule - 2002 Ranked

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  Review by matt qt ★★ 4

  Not only is this an ineffective film in the context of J-horror, but the copycat nature of this film, and Nakata’s entire filmography after Ringu for that matter, delegitimizes whatever semblance of originality that can be extracted from Dark Water. The techniques used in this film are the staples of J-horror, which typically lends itself to some chilling scares, but the genre had already been worn out and “americanized” at this point in time, making these techniques lose all of the effectiveness they once had. Both technically and story-wise, this is a very similar film to Ringu, just with far less nuance, and a subject to the genre decay of the J-horror movement. I don’t see any ambition inside of…

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  Review by Tao A ★★★★ 13

  Damn near suffocated me with that thicc, dripping wet atmosphere. Luckily I’m a fiend for anything thicc and dripping wet so despite the fact that I’m choking and gargling as it’s doing a number on my gag reflex something fierce - just fucking going to town on that bad boy - I still wanted to dive in, head first. And when it finally reaches a nice crescendo - a climax, if you will - as (spoiler alert I suppose) the entire apartment complex is overflowing with that nutrient, thirst-quenching nectar; I was euphoric. 

  Anyway, best SILENT HILL 4 adaptation that we never got.

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  Review by Freyr ★★★½

  I've been in the mood for something moody and atmospheric, and as expected, Nakata tends to come through on that. Dark Water is dripping with unease, his signature apparitions in the background, a damp and decrepit setting, and a soft, haunting score. Despite putting me in the right mood though, the meat of the movie feels a bit too predictable and sparse; never really bad, but not quite captivating. I found the finale to be very strong though, with the keynote scare being both unsettling, and ultimately moving. It closes on an emotional high that left me feeling satisfied.

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  Review by Logan Jones ★★★★ 1

  I don't understand it when people tell me they don't like horror movies. I have a friend who doesn't find them scary, and fair enough, but my older brother doesn't like them because he "doesn't see the appeal" of scaring yourself silly. Personally, I love them. There's something strangely exhilarating in sitting in a dark room, getting scared and fearing for the characters. Furthermore, there seems to be some absurd notion that they should be classified differently to other films, but when done well, and properly, they can be just as good as - if not better than - any other film. Dark Water is a superb example of that notion being utterly wrong.

  Directed by Hideo Nakata - who…