Dark Water (remake, of course)

[Remo D]

Well, I have yet to see the box office totals for this weekend, but I'll be somewhat curious to see how DARK WATER fares (won't be number one, that's for DAMN sure!), all things considered.

I didn't hold out much hope for this one, especially after RING TWO. Oh, boy. Another Japanese-derived thriller about a single woman and her young child who move into a place and have to deal with ghosts and lots and lots of water. Thrill me. Shock me. Wonder if the ghost has lots of long black hair hanging over her face.

Oh, and the "imaginary friend" angle? Wish HIDE AND SEEK hadn't come out earlier this year...

And it's entirely possible that DARK WATER will "tank" on that conception alone.

Well, if it does, it's too bad, because the new DARK WATER is actually better than THE GRUDGE, RING TWO and HIDE AND SEEK put together.

Sure, the first American RING was the popcorn hit, and it knew what it was doing. DARK WATER won't catch on nearly as well, as it goes for a quiet buildup instead of quick shocks. But it is a HUGELY welcome change of pace. NO flashes of lightning. NO nuclear-explosion-fingernails-on-the-blackboard sonic blast to make you jump every thirty seconds. Just the tense journey to the inevitably disturbing revelation (and no cheesy RING TWO copout here, either).

Oh, yeah--Tim Roth plays Jennifer Connelly's lawyer in this one... but for some reason, I thought he was Ron Silver! Go figure.

Bottom line (and I freely admit to NOT having seen the original): I liked it, and it would be nice to see it catch on. DARK WATER is the perfect antidote to RING overkill.

[PECKER{*x*}WOOD]

I can't say anything about this remake or the Japanese version, but I will say Jennifer Connelly has almost never made a mistake when it comes to picking roles to play. Although she is pretty much herself in every film, she is no character actor thats for sure. Still I guess she is forced into it because of the way she looks. I'm waiting for her to take some risks, which I find is the problem with a lot of good actors these days.

Oh, my friend said the Japanese version sucked hard, and I'll take him for his word on that.

[Remo D]

I can't say anything about this remake or the Japanese version, but I will say Jennifer Connelly has almost never made a mistake when it comes to picking roles to play. Although she is pretty much herself in every film, she is no character actor thats for sure. Still I guess she is forced into it because of the way she looks. I'm waiting for her to take some risks, which I find is the problem with a lot of good actors these days.

Oh, my friend said the Japanese version sucked hard, and I'll take him for his word on that.

Well, nobody seems to think that the Japanese DARK WATER is a patch on RINGU. And nobody will think that the American DARK WATER is a patch on THE RING. But those who bother to watch both of them will still probably take DARK WATER over RING TWO.

I'm curious as to what sort of risks you'd like to see Jennifer Connelly take--as I see it, she's pretty well run the gamut. Want two extremes? Set up a double bill of LABYRINTH and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM...

[Kimberly]

Oh, my friend said the Japanese version sucked hard, and I'll take him for his word on that.

It does suck imo... that being said I have no desire to run out and see the remake...

[Lode]

And nobody will think that the American DARK WATER is a patch on THE RING. But those who bother to watch both of them will still probably take DARK WATER over RING TWO.

I saw "The Ring" 1 and 2, recently borrowed "The Grudge" from a friend, and just saw "Dark Water" on Friday.
"Dark Water" is not better in creepy factor than "The Ring", but it is FAR better in every way than "The Ring 2." And I liked the somewhat-but-not-really-predictable ending.
"The Grudge" just pissed me off it was so horrible.

Want two extremes? Set up a double bill of LABYRINTH and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM...

My brain would just be really confused if I watched those two in a row, but you do have quite a point!

[DylanDog]

Still haven't gotten around to seeing the remake but I did watch the original a week or two back. I didn't think it was all that bad. Sure, it's pretty predictable as a straight ghost story, but I thought it worked very well when focusing on how easy and frightening it can be to become separated from a child/parent.

[Jakeuglyface]

I really didn't dig on the Japanese version at all and I ended up seeing the US version out of sheer desperation for entertainment and was pleasantly suprised. It didn't really stand out as a horror movie to me. It just seemed like some depressing tale of a divorced mother and her child and I think it did well at that. It wasn't scary by any means.

I do have to say the Japanese version has a pretty creepy scene (possibly the only redeeming scene the movie has) in an elevator towards the end that I was suprised the US version didn't keep. The US version had a similar scene but it was nowhere near as effective.

Also for the record Jennifer Connely was in a few really bad movies like "Waking the Dead" if you want to keep a positive opinion of her I would suggest not watching that movie ever...