Dark Water

Herald rating: * * *

Thanks to the success of The Ring and The Grudge, Hollywood is powering on with its adaptations of Japanese horror films filled with ghostly spirits desperate for our attention. This latest offering, from Koji Suzuki, the author of The Ring, is similar in theme but refreshingly different in attitude.

Where The Grudge and The Ring had simple plots, a pretty blonde in the lead, and a few good scares, Dark Water presents us with a more intelligent and subtle plot, the dark and troubled Jennifer Connelly, and hardly a scare at all.

Directed by Brazilian Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), Dark Water is a psychological thriller witnessing the complex unravelling of a mystery and a mind, rather than a classic horror film.

Like Auckland pre-Christmas it is grim, grey and saturated with water - not only are there leaks, floods, and drips, but the rain never stops, making this a truly depressing suburban nightmare.

Connelly is perfectly cast as the fragile and depressed Dahlia Williams, struggling to cope with her separation from her husband (Dougray Scott) and the custody battle over their daughter Ceci.

Forced to find a cheap apartment, Dahlia rents a grotty apartment in a dismal, characterless apartment block.

At first the apartment is a refuge for Dahlia as she begins to piece her life back together, but her emotional and physical stability is pushed to its limit when the ceiling starts to leak toxic-looking brown water, her daughter acquires an imaginary friend, and traumatic childhood memories flood back.

Dark Water is slowly paced, with considerable time given to setting the scene, creating the mood, and introducing the main characters. It's a film filled with too much preparation and not enough action or plot development.

The film picks up towards the end but, by this point, lethargy has sunk in, along with the realisation that Salles has chosen to highlight performances from his stellar cast and, in doing so, sacrificed the interesting twists and turns hinted at in the creepy undertone.

CAST: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Pete Postlethwaite
DIRECTOR: Walter Salles
RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes
RATING: M, horror scenes
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley and Rialto Cinemas