Dark Water

In all movies, but especially in horror, atmosphere is crucial. Not just the physical location, but the mood and the ambiance around the proceedings. The Thing builds an atmosphere of mistrust and paranoia by never letting the audience see when the titular monster infects another person, and the physical surroundings reinforce this by taking place somewhere so remote (Antarctica) and dangerous, there is no choice but for the cast to confront the problem. Halloween's atmosphere is pitch perfect, an innocent midwestern small town, shattered by the presence of The Shape; he pops up everywhere, making nowhere feel safe, in a setting where EVERYWHERE should feel safe. Dark Water's setting and atmosphere are a knock-out. The movie tells the story of Dahlia, a soon-to-be-divorced mom of a little girl, Ceci; she has to move from their Manhattan home to a rent-controlled building on Roosevelt Island. The building has plumbing issues, deteriorating drywall, and it's constantly raining outside. Inside, Dahlia and Ceci are not only tormented by the building's many problems, but also, potentially, a ghost. Or Dahlia, who has mental health issues, may also be losing her mind under the pressure of her dead marriage and sudden single-parenthood. Dark Water's color palate is muted. The apartment, which is smaller than the agent says it is, feels cramped and claustrophobic. The building itself is a shambles. Outside, it appears to be monsoon season. The atmosphere is perfect for telling a tale of a single mom struggling to adjust to her new life and being tormented by an angry child spirit looking for her mother. The themes of motherhood sometimes being a burden but putting on the brave face for the child, the overwhelming feeling of not being able to do it and feeling like you're drowning in responsibilities (symbolized by the use of breaking pipes and water), of a child just wanted their parents and to be noticed, it all works together so well. The ghost child wants her parents; Ceci wants her parents together. Dahlia's parents abandoned her; the ghost child's parents neglected her. The parallels in the stories work well to highlight the themes, and the mental exhaustion and stress of Dahlia suddenly being on her own, and dealing with a daughter seeing a ghost, and weird visions and psychological torment from the mystery apartment above, all creates this excellent ghost story/haunted house atmosphere. But here's the thing about atmosphere; it has to amount to something, and that's Dark Water's biggest problem. Don't get me wrong, I love the atmosphere here. Jennifer Connelly does a magnificent job in her role, putting on a loving, supporting face for her child to provide her as much stability as the situation allows while cracking in private. Ariel Gade puts in a performance well past the years of her young age, especially at the end, when she had to cry silently. Everybody here came to play. The problem is that Dark Water's genetic make-up says horror movie. Its poster says horror movie. Its marketing said horror movie. But it's really a mostly-storyless dramatic look at a woman post-divorce struggling to find her footing, with some supernatural elements thrown in. It's a ghost story drama. It's a decent drama, elevated past its station by Connelly's incredible acting, but it is not a scary movie, despite every element of the movie insisting that it is. It is the cinematic equivalent of 2+2=5. You know it's wrong. You know the answer is 4. But here's Big Brother saying nope, it's 5 now. That makes Dark Water difficult to recommend. Sure, I can say "watch it as a drama with some supernatural elements in it", and maybe someone will like it. Maybe even more than I did. But the movie's atmosphere lies all along the way. It's one thing for a movie to pull off a twist, but to use the trappings of a horror movie and not deliver on the horror feels disingenuous. I still like it for what it is, but I was sold something else, and I can't just ignore that.