Dark Water (2002)

 

Hideo Nakata's film of Koji Suzuki's novella gets a UHD upgrade from Arrow.

Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) is getting divorced, and the big question is who is going to get custody of her six year old daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). For now it's Yoshimi, and the two of them move into an apartment in a refurbished but still rundown tower block.

Despite the flat having been redecorated, a bothersome damp patch persists on the bedroom ceiling, a patch which gets steadily larger and more drippy the longer they stay there. Then there's that blurred figure in a yellow raincoat, and the fact that apparently a little girl who lived in the block went missing a couple of years ago. And she lived in the flat above Yoshimi and Ikuko.

DARK WATER isn't as good as the team's previous RINGU (1999) and could probably have done with about 15 minutes trimming off its 101 minute runtime. It's still nicely atmospheric, though, and delivers at least one good ghostly scare.

Arrow's UHD transfer looks fantastic. DARK WATER has always looked rather muddy on disc but the image here is crystal clear. Extras include interviews from 2016 with Nakata (26 minutes), Suzuki (20 minutes) and DP Junichiro Hayashi (20 minutes). There's also an archival 2002 making of and interviews with actors Kuroki and Asami Mizukawa (who plays the grown up Ikuko) and Shikao Suga who wrote the song at the end.

You also get trailers, TV spots and a booklet with writing on the film from Michael Gingold and David Kalat. 

Hideo Nakata's DARK WATER is out on 4K UHD from Arrow on Monday 18th March 2024