Dark Water
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: July 8, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
15
Negative:
5
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Salles brings an explorer's eye and breathless curiosity to this fetid milieu, and he gets the most brilliant performances imaginable for this sort of movie. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
In a movie with more subtext than "Rosemary's Baby," nearly everyone, including Tim Roth as Dahlia's lawyer, harbors secrets. Salles unleashes a torrent of suspense for one purpose: to plumb the violence of the mind. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
As a sheer ghostly thriller, it's mostly a spell-binder, but I was disappointed at the ending. Read full review
75
PremierePeter Debruge
Even as Dark Water's horror-movie component flounders, a different, arguably better kind of thriller emerges. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Salles tends to explain rather than suggest, but he connects with the anguish and abandonment to give this ghost story an emotionally haunting core. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This is a quieter, more psychologically dense movie, where the payoff is sometimes no payoff at all - for instance, Tim Roth plays a cut-rate divorce lawyer whose own weirdness (he seems to live out of his car) is never explained. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Most important, I cared about the Jennifer Connelly character; she is not a horror heroine, but an actress playing a mother faced with horror. There is a difference, and because of that difference, Dark Water works. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Brazilian Walter Salles, who previously directed the Oscar-nominated films "Central Station" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," guides this stylish remake through treacherous territory to create a distressing, subtly suspenseful film full of emotional resonance. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Builds dread masterfully, but don't expect solace or "fun." This is not for those who like mysteries neatly resolved. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A shudder-by-numbers pseudo-J-horror gothic, full of supernatural stunts you feel as if you've seen before the movie even gets to them. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This picture doesn't have deep enough currents to succeed as a psychological thriller and, as a ghost story, there are times when it has trouble treading water. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
While his movie lacks the psychological resonance of "Rosemary's Baby" or "The Sixth Sense," it easily equals their creep-out quotient. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Unlike "The Ring," Dark Water -- which features one of the mad, whispery ghost children who populate such films -- is never actually frightening. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Dark Water has more substance and a more interesting look than many horror films, but the familiar elements of the story disappoint. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
He [Salles] has managed to create a movie that's pretty bleak for a Hollywood -- especially Disney -- thriller. His theme, as a director, is the indignities of poverty and, in his way, he pays more attention to that agenda than he does in generating any real thrills. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Dark Water devolves into something resembling genre schlock, albeit the kind featuring zesty supporting performances from the classy, Oscar-nominated likes of John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, and Pete Postlethwaite. Read full review
60
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
There's something that never quite works about the film. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
With his stirring visual sense very much intact here, Salles sets the creepy mood eloquently, but the picture -- ultimately fails to reward all the little shivers with any satisfying jolts. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
True to form, Salles' version is an intelligent, brooding ghost story brimming with atmosphere, emotions and, above all else, water, but it's disappointingly short on scares. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The new version is out of scale with the basic premise -- too much rain, too much water, too much doom, gloom and intricate eccentricity.
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Favors character development over rude scares, though given the narrow parameters of the genre, it's not really a worthwhile trade. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Well-crafted but thoroughly unsuspenseful. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The end product is so clunky, scattered, and all-around soggy that sometimes you can't help laughing. At least Connelly and Reilly give their all, and Tim Roth is terrific as a weird lawyer. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
If you can check your brain at the popcorn stand and keep your expectations low, Dark Water is an OK genre exercise that maintains a consistently creepy tone. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
This fake-feminist thriller hides its sadism under a show of sympathy for its beleaguered heroine. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
As the movie is in step with Connelly's aching heroine and not trying to scare our socks off, Dark Water is of a piece with Salles's sensitive filmmaking. Obviously, from a genre standpoint, that presents a tremendous problem. Nobody goes to a horror movie for a good cry. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
If only the explanation and resolution of the action were more compelling, Dark Water might have been a thriller of the first order. Read full review
50
Village VoiceEd Halter
It fails to deliver the narrative thrill twists its origins would promise. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie is prettily shot by Almodóvar collaborator Affonso Beato, but no amount of tastefully desaturated color or imaginary friends going whoo-whoo in the deserted apartment upstairs can save this lumbering echt-thriller from fatal tedium. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Spins toward its glum, dishwater-gray whirlpool of an ending, which doesn't have nearly as much emotional punch as it should. It doesn't leave you feeling spent -- only soaked. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Wildly overproduced and filled with fussy flourishes that make even a derelict hallway look like a million bucks, Dark Water fails to rustle up either meaning or meaningful scares. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Dark Water isn't a bad horror movie, simply because it isn’t horror at all: a full hour passes before anything remotely scary occurs, and all the suspenseful scenes take place in the final ten minutes (and are all fully shown in the trailer). What's left is tedium and a seemingly endless build-up to nothing much at all, making it a bad movie. Period. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Dark, dank, damp, grim, dingy and dour, Dark Water is a tasteful but unremitting bummer. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Stripped of every major scary moment and restructured in what feels like a deliberate attempt to remove all suspense, this "horror" movie is now a domestic soap opera. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The overall emotion the film generates is one of moist, enervated ennui. Who cares if the apartment is haunted when the best the ghost can do is get things a bit damp and run laps on the floor above? Read full review
More From This Movie

52 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL