Dark Water [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs]

Director: Hideo Nakata Hideo Nakata

Overview

Following up on his horror smash hits Ringu and Ringu 2, Hideo Nakata directs this supernatural psychological drama about a middle aged woman struggling to cling to her sanity. Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) is the midst of a nasty divorce with her thuggish, abusive husband over the custody of their five year old daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). In Japan's family court system, which is heavily weighted towards the mother, Yoshimi case would normally be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, Yoshimi has a history of mental imbalance as a result of her miserable, emotionally starved childhood. The transition from housewife to independent working woman has been stressful. She has moved into a fleabag of an apartment -- completely with a constantly leaking roof -- and has had little luck finding employment. Worse, Ikuko and then Yoshimi start seeing a creepy little girl dressed in yellow suddenly appearing in apartment. With a growing sense of dread, Yoshimi starts having outbursts not only in family court, but also at her daughter's kindergarten. When she slumps into a coma after the end of one such fit, she realizes what the girl in yellow is trying to communicate.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2016
UPC:	0760137947882
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	NR
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:41:00
Sales rank:	18,893

Special Features

Ghosts, Rings and Water: a brand new interview with director Hideo Nakata; Family Terrors: a brand new interview with author Koji Hayashi; Archive interviews with actresses Hitomi Kuroki & Asami Mizukawa and theme song artist Shikao Suga; Original 'making-of' documentary; Trailers and TV spots

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Hitomi Kuroki	Yoshimi Matsubara
Rio Kanno	Ikuko Matsubara, 6 years old
Shigemitsu Ogi	Kishida
Mirei Oguchi	Mitsuko Kawai
Asami Mizukawa	Ikuko Hamada, 16 years old
Yu Tokui	Ohta
Fumiyo Kohinata	Kunio Hamada
Isao Yatsu	Kamiya
Kenji Kawai	Composer
Shikao Suga	Composer

Technical Credits

Hideo Hakata

Takashige Ichise

Yoshihiro Nakamura

Ken-ichi Suzuki

Hideo Hakata	Screenwriter
Takashige Ichise	Screenwriter,Producer
Yoshihiro Nakamura	Screenwriter
Hideo Nakata	Director
Shuichi Kishiura	Special Effects
Ken-ichi Suzuki	Screenwriter
Kiyoshi Kakizawa	Sound/Sound Designer
Masayuki Iwakura	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Given the phenomenal success of Ringu, which inspired a sequel, a television series, and a nearly identical American remake (The Ring), it's not surprising that Japanese horror specialist Hideo Nakata would turn once again to household objects as a source of terror. What Ringu did for television sets and video tapes, Dark Water will, for the faint of heart, do for kitchen faucets and leaky ceilings. Nakata certainly can't be blamed for going with what works, but if Dark Water seems at first like a cynical recycling of a successful formula, its director has developed into enough of a formalist to at least make it reasonably compelling. Set in a dreary, rain-soaked suburban landscape of concrete block apartment buildings, some of the film's subtly composed long takes wouldn't be out of place in a Michelangelo Antonioni movie. Its atmosphere is its best asset. The final payoff is nowhere near as elementally terrifying as Ringu's most famous sequence, but enough chills are delivered along the way to keep things interesting. Because it is similar but a bit less effective than its predecessor, Dark Water could end up being a transitional work for Nakata. It opens up the question of whether he will take the easy route with more Ringu-like fare, or find new ways to keep moviegoers up at night.