US Title: Dark Water
Japanese Title: ほの暗い水のそこから (“From the Murky Water”)

One of the “canonical” J-horror stories, and still one of the creepiest, Dark Water pits the ghost of a young girl against a single mother and her young daughter, with unpleasant results.

Recently divorced mother Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) and her daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno) move into a new apartment in a rather unfriendly looking “mansion.”  Strange things start happening, such as the appearance of a red kiddie tote bag, and water dripping from the ceiling.

They also learn of the disappearance a few years prior of a young girl about Ikuko’s age, and the mystery begins.

Dark Water isn’t particularly gory, nor is there any real language to worry about, or gratuitous sex… what there is in spades, though, is suspense.  This movie is one of my favorites of the J-horror genre, just because it is so damn creepy.  The entire mood of the picture is dark.  From the surroundings, to the soundtrack, to the camera angles, and dialog.  It’s just so utterly bleak and wonderful.

So when the “gotcha” moments happen, they really happen.  Director Hideo Nakata, probably more famous for “The Ring”, really exercises some restraint here, and it pays off big time.

The only problem I think is that it does get a bit cliche at times, for some of the “gotchas” anyway.  I’m thinking the hands-in-the-bathtub type of stuff.  The first time you watch it you’ll be thinking, “Wait for it!” and sure enough, there it is.

If you’ve seen the US remake of Dark Water, you’ll also notice the entire ending sequence with the older Ikuko is completely missing.  I think this entire act lends a bit of optimism and a bit of an uplift to the end of the picture, and does so in an entirely Buddhist way.  That’s probably why the US version chose to leave it out.  The entire concept of our passed-on parents keeping watch (literally) over us….  Just a bit too foreign for most of us, here, I’m afraid.  But I love it.

Dark Water is just a great subdued creep-out fest that can’t be missed.  It’d make a great introduction to the genre for the younger crowd as well, as its (mostly) kid safe.  Nightmare inducing, maybe, but nothing you’ll have to explain later!

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308379/
Amazon: Dark Water (2002)

Here’s a totally awesome example of what I’m talking about: Brilliant.