Hideo Nakata's name will forever be linked to Ringu, the 1998 Japanese horror that spawned its own sequel ('99s Ringu 2) and an American remake and sequel ('02s The Ring and the Nakata-directed The Ring Two in 2005). This is to be expected, as the Ring films made a lasting impression on western horror, and brought so-called "J-Horror" to the masses...
In the late-90s, with US horror stuck in a rut (recycling post-modern slasher movies after the success of '96s Scream), the Japanese horrors offered a back-to-basics perspective. With its slower-paced mystery plots, creepy atmospherics and blend of old-fashioned scares with contemporary concepts, Ringu deservedly became a calling card for Nakata's vision of chilly, escalating, tense scares.
Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water) was Nakata's first film away from the Ringu brand, although it shares some similarities regarding its involvement of a single mother, her child, and half-glimpsed appearances from a central, facially-obscured spook.
The plot finds Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) moving into a crumbling apartment block with her young daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno), only to uncover a ghost story about a missing girl called Mitsuko (Mirei Oguchi), whose restless spirit may be responsible for their home's water leaks...
As with many Japanese ghost stories, the atmosphere throughout Dark Water is one of mounting dread, with an emphasis on the human character's lives, as the mystery is slowly deepened and revealed to the audience. It's sprinkled with jump-scares, but it's the pervasive mood that really draws you in. The Japanese setting and subtitles also provide an extra level of oddness for English-speaking viewers...
What I find particularly enjoyable about Nakata's work, both in Ringu and Dark Water, is how he manages to almost hypnotized you for several minutes, before unleashing a visual/aural curveball that stuns your mind...In Dark Water, there's one particularly chilling moment in an elevator towards the end that, frankly, caused a kind of "brain blip" in me when I watched it! It was as if someone had managed to film the kind of surprise/shock you sometimes get in dreams... only this time, I couldn't kick my legs and wake up under a snug duvet...
Ultimately, Dark Water is a sad, tragic story about children being abandoned, lost and killed by neglectful parents. It lacks the high-concept premise of Ringu, or the shocks of Ju-On: The Grudge -- preferring instead to let things develop and draw you in -- so might therefore not be to many peoples' tastes. If you assume all J-Horror means creepy kids coming out of TVs and constant lurching scares, you might find Dark Water a bit boring. But I found it unsettling and engrossing -- with one really wonderful, freaky moment...
Unfortunately, Nakata is a director whose talent seems to be mostly confined to one brand. After filming two Japanese Ringu films, he directed the American remake's weak sequel in 2005 and is set to direct The Ring Three for 2008.
Oh, and forget about the American remake of Dark Water, starring Jennifer Connelly. Despite its promising pedigree of director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and a supporting cast that included Pete Postlethwaite, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth and Dougray Scott, it was a major disappointment.Stick with the original nerve-jangler.
