Dark Water (Unrated Edition) (DVD)

Another horror/thriller I missed in theaters last year was the poorly received Jennifer Connelly starrer Dark Water. How poorly received was this one? Well, it mustered only $26 million at the box-office, that's $5 million less than the worst movie of the year, Stealth, pulled in. It isn't as bad as Stealth, thank God, and it isn't that the movie is necessarily bad overall, it just isn't all that good.

Dark Water is based on a Japanese film, a Japanese film by the guys who created The Ring, and it shows. This film reeks of comparisons to The Ring franchise, from the scary little girls bit to the "water, water everywhere" motif. Unfortunately, while the first Ring was quite good and felt original (even though it technically wasn't) Dark Water feels like a remake even though I hadn't see the original.

The film tells the story of Dahlia Williams (Jennifer Connelly) who is just finalizing her divorce and moving on with her life with her little girl while a custody battle is underway. To show that she can support her daughter and lead a stable life she moves into a shit hole apartment where the ceiling is already leaking and the supposed "two bedroom" apartment offers up a living-room/bedroom set-up. But hey, John C. Reilly is such a convincing apartment manager we all would have rented this place... right?

Anyway, as she is getting settled in it becomes apparent that the water leak is quite a serious situation, and when her daughter soon creates an "imaginary friend" you would think it would be time to move out right? Nope, we still have to prove how stable we are as we get closer and closer to a mental breakdown, both mom and daughter. The film goes on from there and to steer clear of ruining any surprise I will let those of you that are interested explore the film from there, but I think you can see where it is going.

As for the DVD, I reviewed the unrated version of the film, but since I have not seen the original I obviously can't give you any insight as to what is new compared to what is old. Sorry about that, I just can't.

The features available aren't exactly stellar either as they are pretty much standard. Some deleted scenes, a five part making of featurette, a look at the creation of a few specific scenes and a casting feature. Overall there is nothing to writ home about here.

Whether or not you should buy this DVD is really a toss-up. Like I said in the opening it isn't that it is a bad movie, it just isn't all that good. Dark Water is tolerable and you won't be running for the stop button if you put it in, there are just better choices out there when it comes to your home entertainment movie watching.