Dark Water

This is nothing more than a long movie about trying to fix a leak in the ceiling. Jennifer Connelly plays Dahlia, a mentally fragile woman who moves with her daughter Ceci (Ariel Gade) to a terrible apartment complex on the outskirts of Manhattan. Dahlia immediately notices a gray patch in the bedroom ceiling, and that patch begins to leak what looks like black coffee. She calls the landlord and bothers the custodian, but nobody will tend to her needs. She also hears people running around upstairs, keeping her up at night. So, basically, this is a movie about a nightmare apartment masquerading as a ghost story. Yes, there’s some business about a little girl who lived upstairs being abandoned by her parents, but that’s small potatoes compared to the ever-expanding leak in the ceiling. It’s filling up the room with unwanted dampness and wrecking furniture. This is yet another American re-make of a Japanese horror film, and I can’t see this dull story working in any language.