I was excited to watch Dark Water as I enjoyed Hidoe Nakata’s previous work (Ringu). The film starts off with a relatable plot, a recently made single mother who is struggling financially to support her young daughter. The lead characters Yoshimi Matsubara played by Hitomi Kuroki and Ikuko Matsubara played by Rio Kanno have a fantastic on screen chemistry and are completely believable as Mother and Daughter.

The run down flat they live in is plagued by a constant leak in the ceiling and it progressively gets worse every day. The maintenance manager could not care less about the issues Yoshimi is experiencing. She finally decides to speak with the tenants that live above her to try to resolve the issue. When there is no answer when she knocks the door she retreats back to her flat, as she enters the lift, she catches a glimpse of the door opening and a shadowy figure of a little girl with long black hair, wearing a yellow raincoat.

This shadowy figure ends up being the little girl Mitsuko Kawai who went to Ikuko’s nursery school and had been missing for over a year. This is a startling revelation for Yoshimi and she starts to piece together the strange occurrences that have plagued her and her daughter. The re-occurrence of the red back pack that Mitsuko was last seen with, kept reappearing after Yoshimi believed she got rid of it.

The image of Mitsuko is both sad and creepy. She was abandoned by her mother and left to fend for herself. I can understand why she became a vengeful spirit. The tragic circumstances surrounding her death is both heartbreaking and disturbing. When Yoshimi realises Mitsuko drowned in the water tank on the roof (she had a vision, given by Mitsuko) she rushes back down to find Ikuko unconscious in the bathroom with the bathtub overflowing. She picks up Ikuko and tries to escape via the lift.

Yoshimi believes she is holding Ikuko, until she hears her child scream out for her. Yoshimi discovers she is holding Mitsuko who has clung onto her believing she is her mother. Yoshimi knows she can’t leave Mitsuko and sacrifices herself to save Ikuko. Ikuko waits for her mother at the lift on the top floor and is met with murky brown water and her mother is nowhere to be seen.

Throughout the film I was met with different emotions. I shuddered at the sight of Mitsuko, I mean who wouldn’t? A creepy dead child is always unsettling. At times I wanted to cry for the little girl also, she had no one to turn to and was simply begging to be loved.

I didn’t find the film scary. It had more of a suspense/thriller vibe. I loved the fact that this film did not need or use any flashy effects. The plot and the atmosphere the film created spoke for itself.

The strong lead characters carried the film and kept my attention throughout. There was a time in the middle of the film where the pace dropped quite a bit, this was noticeable but not enough for me to give up on the film. I’m so glad I didn’t!

If you like Japanese Horror and you’re a fan of Hideo Nakata and Koji Suzuki then this is a film for you.