Tubi Thursday: Dark Water (2002)

 After Dark Waters, I wanted something a little less intense.  How about just a singular bit of dark water then?

No Pirates though.

In Japan, we see a young girl looking sad inside.

This is one of many Flashbacks (which will be important later) as shown by the yellow tint.

Of course, some low-budget Films accidentally look this way too.

In the Story proper, a Divorcee and her Daughter move away to a new place to start anew.

This never ends well.

The place has water leaking from the ceiling and, well, nobody is going to fix it.

Also there's a ghost who keeps leaving their backpack around.
Litter!

They eventually figure out that there's a connection between the strange sights, the backpack and the missing girl they keep talking about.

Sadly, she died and, well, nobody is responsible.  So, naturally...

The Ghost Girl tries to kill the Daughter.

The Mom makes a sacrifice to save her Daughter, dying in a vague way that helps them reference The Shining.

Cue confusing 10 Years Later Epilogue and we're out.

A slow, atmospheric trip to pretty familiar territory.  Far be it from me to accuse a famous and successful Writer of being redundant, but hear me out.

In Ringu, they solve the mystery of a dead girl in a well, free her body and then she kills a Parent.
In Dark Water, they solve the mystery of a dead girl in a water collection tank, free her body and then she kills a parent.

Dark Water has some really good atmosphere, but also has that old 'I'm going to look very slowly and walk veeery slowly towards whatever is there' bit in high quantity.  At one point, she's worried about her Daughter, so she creeps along silently for what feels like 10 minutes.  Time is a factor!

Ultimately, the Film delivers what you expect from a J-Horror Film, doesn't really make any obvious mistakes and definitely exists.  Only a fool would do something like not watch their kid or, you know, watch this Film a second time...

If you're a fan of J-Horror, it checks all of the boxes.  If you don't like J-Horror, it still checks all of the boxes.