Dark Water

A torpid, trite remake of Hideo Nakata's identically-titled Japanese ghost story, Dark Water isn't the least bit scary, just relentlessly unpleasant. After a messy divorce, a miserable single mom (Jennifer Connelly) moves into a drab, creepy cinderblock slum with her sad-eyed daughter (Ariel Gade). Before long the kid has an "imaginary friend" she won't discuss, their ceiling is dripping gooey black liquid from an abandoned (and eerily flooded) apartment upstairs, and the building's greasy manager (John C. Reilly) and bug-eyed, hollow-cheeked building superintendent (Pete Postlethwaite) both appear to be hiding something sinister. Director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) drags out these routine, oppressively glum establishing scenes to a mind-numbing degree (yet gives away the entire plot in transparent foreshadowing), while the talented cast serves only to provide an ersatz air of serious drama and respectability for what is the most contemptible kind of cinema horror: putting little kids in peril for cheap thrills. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either an unrated widescreen or a PG-13 full screen version, DVD extras include the “Extraordinary Ensemble” cast and crew featurette (26 min.), the “making-of” featurette “Beneath the Surface” (16 min.), “The Sound of Terror” (8 min.), three “Analyzing Dark Water” scene-specific sequences (7 min.), two deleted scenes (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a very disappointing remake.] (R. Blackwelder)