Dark Water (2005)

 

Genre: Horror/ Thriller

Time: 1h 45mins

Director: Walter Salles

Quick Summary: A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hole up in a run-down apartment building, where they are targeted by the ghost of a former resident.

I will say that I felt that Jennifer Connelly was a much more interesting character than the mother in the original movie. Overall, the characters were fleshed out better. The original just sort of glanced over many of the details about the divorce and how it was affecting the little girl. Some of the shots were actually more effective than the ones in the original even though I did like how the original lingers with a lot of them, and the ending in the remake is more satisfying and better executed than in the original. I was left confused for a start.

Like the original, it is very slow placed. I got incredibly bored throughout most of this. As well it pretty much is a carbon copy of the original, even the script is the same sometimes which I found a bit cheap since I watched both of these on the same day it was a bit hard to focus on this one since I had already technically watched it. I did not like the kid in this one though, she came across as spoiled and whiney which I found hard to like.

This does have a good atmosphere and it does manage to make itself more creepy than the original at times. I wouldn't call this a horror though, it's more of a thriller with scary moments thrown in. I think it manages to get its point more across than the other as I felt sad watching this one when it gets to its ending. 

They changed one element of the story which I was unsure if I liked. To me, it didn't make sense. It felt very silly and not really thought about too well. More than likely they did that so It wasn't an "Exact copy"  but honestly it pretty much is.

I wouldn't fully call this a better version out of the two, it has its strong points over the other but it greatly falls in other areas. Equally as slow but really it boils down to being a sadder exact copy of the original. 

6/10