History Film / DarkWater

''Dark Water'' (aka ''Honogurai Mizu no Soko kara'', translating to "From Under the Murky Water") is a 2002 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, best known for being the director of ''[[TheRing Ring]]'' and ''Ring 2''. The film is based on ''Floating Water'', [[AdaptationExpansion a short story]] by Koji Suzuki (who also wrote the ''Ring'' series of novels), from his horror anthology also titled ''Dark Water''. There is also a manga adaptation that holds little similarity to the film, although the apartment building is similar.

* ProductPlacement: HelloKitty, {{Franchise/Barbie}} and Subway in the remake.

* ProductPlacement: HelloKitty and {{Franchise/Barbie}} in the remake.

** The very real possibility that your unpleasant, possibly [[DomesticAbuser abu]][[AbusiveParents sive]] ex gets sole custody of your only child.

* InfantImmortality: Averted in the case of Mitsuko and Natasha. [[spoiler:Played straight with Ikuko and Ceci.]]

** In the remake, Dahlia makes similar claims about Kyle, but whether the claims are true or not is never expanded upon. Both of Dahlia's parents were abusive - her father physically, her mother emotionally - and both of Natasha's parents abandoned her.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Arguably Yoshimi's fate. She sacrifices herself to save Ikuko's life, but, as a consequence, has her spirit bound to her apartment, forced to be a mother to the same spirit who repeatedly tried to kill her daughter.]]

* ArtifactOfDoom: The red bag (a pink HelloKitty bag in the remake). Well, more like "Artifact of Dread", but, still.

** In the remake: [[spoiler:Similar to the original, Dahlia chooses to stay - and die - with Natasha so Ceci can live. Three weeks later, Ceci, along with her father, are preparing to move in together. Ceci silently cries over the loss of her mother, but, just before leaving the building, she is apparently visited by Dahlia's spirit, who braids her hair and tells her how much she loves her before disappearing.]]

'''''Dark Water''''' (aka ''Honogurai Mizu no Soko kara'', translating to "From Under the Murky Water") is a 2002 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, best known for being the director of ''[[TheRing Ring]]'' and ''Ring 2''. The film is based on ''Floating Water'', [[AdaptationExpansion a short story]] by Koji Suzuki (who also wrote the ''Ring'' series of novels), from his horror anthology also titled ''Dark Water''. There is also a manga adaptation that holds little similarity to the film, although the apartment building is similar.

** Early on, Yoshimi finds a hair inside her glass of water. [[spoiler:It later turns out that there's a decomposing corpse in the apartment block's water tank, [[{{Squick}} and has been there for years]].]]

** The title screen [[spoiler: is actually Mitsuko's POV in the water tank]].
** Early on, Yoshimi finds a hair inside her glass of water. [[spoiler:It later turns out that there's a decomposing corpse in the apartment block's water tank, and has been there for years.]]

** Your child going missing in a strange new environment, starts acting strangely, falls ill for no reason, and shortly after seems to be targeted by someone or something that means them harm.

* PsychologicalHorror

* FacialHorror: [[spoiler: ''Mitsuko''. When her face is finally revealed, it is horribly rotted from years spent decomposing in the water tank.]]

* FacialHorror: ''Mitsuko''.

!'''This film contains examples of:'''

* AdultFear: The fear of losing a child.

* CassandraTruth: When Yoshimi becomes convinced that she and Ikuko are being haunted, her fears are met with skepticism. Following a few logical explanations for the strange things she has experienced, she starts to hope that maybe everything is normal after all. [[FromBadToWorse It isn't]].

* DistantFinale: In the Japanese version.

* GhostlyGoals

** Both [[CrustyCaretaker Kamiya and Veeck]].

* LeaveTheCameraRunning: [[spoiler:When Ikuko returns to the apartment as a teenager, the camera stays on a single steadycam shot from the moment she enters the apartment up until she sees Yoshimi's ghost.]]

* NothingIsScarier

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Ikuko is usually called Ik-chan by her mother. Cecilia is usually referred to as Ceci.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Mitsuko.

----
<<|{{Film}}|>>

* ActingForTwo: Perla Haney-Jardine [[RuleOfSymbolism plays both Natasha and young Dahlia]].

** Kyle fits into this trope somewhat, but not quite to the same extent, and becomes far more reasonable towards the end.

* CassandraTruth: When Yoshimi becomes convinced that she and Ikuko are being haunted, her fears are met with skepticism. Following a few logical explanations for the strange things she has experienced, she starts to hope that maybe everything is normal after all.

* HauntedHouse - The entire apartment complex [[spoiler:feels Mitsuko's influence]], but Yoshimi's apartment suffers from it most of all.

* CassandraTruth: When Yoshimi becomes convinced that she and Ikuko are being haunted, her fears are met with scepticism. Following a few logical explanations for the strange things she has experienced, she starts to hope that maybe everything is normal after all.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The original short story, ''Floating Water'', isn't entirely clear if there is a haunting at all, or if it is all in Yoshimi's mind - however, the ending suggests it is the latter. [[spoiler: The US remake, however, is much more [[MindScrew vague]].]]

* ProductPlacement: HelloKitty and {{Barbie}} in the remake.

* [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice / TakeMeInstead: Yoshimi chooses to stay - and die - with Mitsuko, in order to protect Ikuko. Dahlia does the same to protect Ceci, although whether there actually is a haunting or not is left open to interpretation.]]