Dark Water is a creepy as all hell J-horror flick and probably my second favorite in the genre behind Ringu, though this one has some scary scenes no less than the final one. Director Hideo Nakata, along with the creepy factor, provides a thoughtful, character-centric, exercise.
Dark Water
(2002)
Genre(s): Horror, Supernatural
Arrow Video | NR – 101 min. – $34.95 | October 11, 2016
Date Published: 12/13/2016 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
PLOT SYNOPSIS
|
| Based upon on a short story by Ring author Koji Suzuki, Dark Water follows Yoshimi (HITOMI KUROKI), a single mother struggling to win sole custody of her only child, Ikuko (RIO KANNO). When they move into a new home within a dilapidated and long-forgotten apartment complex, Yoshimi begins to experience startling visions and unexplainable sounds, calling her mental well-being into question, and endangering not only her custody of Ikuko, but perhaps their lives as well. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
|
This two-disc release comes housed in a clear HD Keep Case. Inside is a 26-page booklet and a standard DVD Copy. Hideo Nakata: Ghosts, Rings and Water (26:03; HD) is a new interview with the director as he discusses his career as a horror director with Ring and Dark Water. Koji Suzuki: Family Terrors (20:20; HD) — Author Suzuki, in this new interview, talks about how he became Japan’s pre-eminent horror novelist and how Dark Water was adapted from one of his short stories. Junichiro Hayashi: Visualizing Horror (19:16; HD) — Director of Photography Hayashi talks speaks about his frequent collaboration with director Hideo Nakata. Making-of Featurette (15:50; HD) is an older behind-the-scenes featurette from 2002. Archival Interviews:
Promo Materials include a Trailer (1:13; HD), Teaser (0:37; HD) and TV Spots (0:50; HD). |
VIDEO – 3.75/5 |
| Arrow Video releases Dark Water onto Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer from a master provided by Kadokawa Pictures with some restoration work removing dust marks, scratches and other flaws. As it is, this decade plus old movie looks fine and colors do appear natural looking but it is a dark looking picture and detail at times is a tad soft and the lack of film grain makes me wonder if too much DNR work was done. |
AUDIO – 3.5/5 |
| The film has been given a restored DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and it’s adequate enough but this was never a movie meant for depth-filled audio. Dialogue though is clean throughout and those watery scenes do at least make some use of the front channels while the rear speakers were relegated for a haunting score. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
|
Overall, Dark Water is a creepy as all hell J-horror flick and probably my second favorite in the genre behind Ringu, though this one has some scary scenes no less than the final one. Director Hideo Nakata, along with the creepy factor, provides a thoughtful, character-centric, exercise. The Blu-ray released by Arrow Video offers good video/audio transfers and a fine selection of bonus features. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.