Dark Water (2005)

With rare exception, I think remakes are a bad idea. Having said that, I think that some of the remakes of J-horror films in recent years, such as The Ring and The Grudge, have equaled, and arguably even surpassed, the originals. This is likely due, at least in part, to the way these films did not deviate far from their predecessors; they mostly just made moderate alterations to accommodate for the cultural differences between American and Japanese audiences. Thus, it was not without hope that I decided to watch the 2005 American remake of the 2002 Japanese film, Dark Water.

Sure enough, the American version remained somewhat faithful to the original version, but I was disappointed to find that the changes that were made, small as they were, noticably changed the focus of the film and overall were for the worse. As I mentioned in my review of the 2002 version, the original film is not without its flaws, particularly in its pacing. Presumably in an attempt to fix this, the American version added several more visceral scenes to enhance the film’s creepy atmosphere and emphasized more strongly the protaganist’s (played by Jennifer Connelly) troubled past and fragile psychological state. This emphasis takes the focus away from the emotional connection between the mother and the daughter, which is what really made the original film engaging and different. Without this emotional charge, you’re left with a film that’s rather nondescript and ordinary (although I will mention that John C. Reilly and Tim Roth both do well in their supporting roles). The American version also attempts to tie up many of the loose ends that were left undone in the original’s storyline, which only takes away from the haunting, unsettled feeling the first film did a pretty decent job of creating.

The American remake of Dark Water isn’t bad. It’s just that the original Japanese version wasn’t perfect either, even though I did like it a lot. There’s probably no real reason to check out both films, so if you’re going to see one, you might as well see the better one and watch the Japanese version. The features that distinguish it from the remake make it a much more interesting film.