Dark Water [Blu-ray]

• DARK WATER (BLU-RAY DISC)

No one loses their mind instantly â€" Sanity seeps away one drop at a time. Yoshimi simply wanted a better life â€" for both herself and her daughter Ikuko. Unfortunately, such wishes may sometimes be hard to come by. The custody battle has grown embittered and hurtful, her new job is less than desirable, and Ikuko’s schoolwork has taken a turn for the worse. But, Yoshimi has something bigger to worry about. Something upstairs. Something cold and dank. Something that should have never been.The terror of DARK WATER reaches new heights on Blu-ray disc. Starring acclaimed actress Jennifer Connelly, the film "Rolling Stone" calls "a torrent of suspense" is a visual and auditory wonder in this revolutionary high-definition format. Life becomes a living nightmare for Dahlia Williams and her daughter when their new apartment begins to take on a life of its own. Experienc! e every heart-stopping moment in razor-sharp 1080p, and feel the grip of every blood-curdling scream delivered in 5.1 48 kHz, 16-bit uncompressed audio. See, hear, and feel the excitement with Blu-ray high definition.In many ways Dark Water improves upon the memorable Japanese film it's based on. The earlier version was directed by Hideo Nakata (whose excellent shocker Ringu was remade in America as The Ring), but in the hands of director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, this psychological horror story gets an intelligent and more chillingly effective overhaul. The story is rooted in themes of love and loss that Yglesias similarly explored in his excellent screenplay for Peter Weir's Fearless, here focusing on young mother Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) as she endures difficult divorce proceedings and settles into a low-rent apartment in New York's cramped Roosevelt Island community, near Manhattan, with! her young daughter Cecilia (Ariel Gade). Amidst seemingly end! less rai nfall, Dahlia's world slowly unravels, and Connelly is superb as a woman seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Or is she? Could it be that Cecilia's imaginary friend, and the apartment's persistent leaks of dark, dripping water, are the ghostly manifestations of a young girl who had been abandoned by the previous tenant? Creepy atmosphere and high anxiety are expertly maintained by Salles, and supporting roles for Tim Roth, John C. Reilly and especially Pete Postlethwaite give the film an added edge of mystery. The tension builds slowly (gore-mongers and action fans may be disappointed), but the cumulative effect is palpably unnerving, inviting favorable comparison to Rosemary's Baby. Unlike some other remakes of Japanese horror hits, Dark Water doesn't feel redundant; it stands on its own thanks to the impressive work of everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon