'Dark Water': Head games make it more than just ghost story

Like its sister ghost story "The Ring," the little-girl-lost "Dark Water" originates from Japan and involves an overly demanding specter, creepy moments and a heck of a lot of H2O. What sets "Water," starring Jennifer Connelly as a mom in a stare-down with a girl ghost, apart probably won't impress the legion of "Ring" fans. The latter film emphasized a dead little wench climbing out of a well, through a TV and into the personal domains of about-to-be victims. "Dark Water," a sometimes equally impressive film but one challenged by following in "Ring's" shadow, is more interested in what's going on inside Connelly's head. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
Dahlia Williams is determined to put her relationship with her estranged husband behind her and devote herself to raising her 5-year-old daughter Ceci. But mysterious noises from the empty apartment upstairs and a persistent leak of dark water in the bedroom ceiling make her imagination run wild.

FILM FACTS ...
Touchstone Pictures
'Dark Water'

Director: Walter Salles
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Pete Postlethwaite
Run time: 105 minutes
Release date: July 8, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images and brief language.
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READ THE REVIEW

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B-
"As much a psychological drama as it is a ghost story. The two mix and mingle till, in a big splash of water, they become one."

Middletown Journal: B+
"... chillingly sets a mood of unease and uncertainty."

The Palm Beach Post: C
"There are direct similarities between The Ring and Dark Water. Both deal with the effects of emotional scars, the potential death of a young child and links with ghostly apparitions. Oh, and they both want to scare the heck out of us."


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