Dark Water

When you see the corridors of the megalithic concrete apartment block, streaked with soot-tinged water and dappled with mildew, you realise two things: first, that Yoshimi Matsubara and her daughter, Ikuko, aren't due for a happy stay, and secondly that Dark Water is going to live up to the hype.

The plot is simple. A nervous mother, undergoing divorce proceedings, moves into an apartment building that is haunted by a young girl, who disappeared years earlier. It feels close to The Shining, with its terrifying atmosphere and spectral twins, but also not dissimilar to Ring, with its story of a scorned daughter, psychological breakdown and watery graves.

It's not particularly subtle. At no time are you mystified, as to the fate of the little girl, who haunts the building, or to the origin of the dripping water from the ceiling. However, it still manages to build to a terrifying, if obvious, conclusion.

This is the new feature from the writer/director combination that brought us Ring, and it's almost as good. It manages to get you onto the edge of your seat for almost the entire duration, tension heightened through the use of dark industrial music, sliding strings and monotone locations, glistening with dark water.

Essentially, this is just another horror movie, albeit an effective one. It doesn't have the depth, or intrigue of Ring, and yet is satisfyingly unpleasant at times - you will only drink bottled water after this - with scenes that will have you screaming at the naivety of the heroine, as she wanders down dark, dripping corridors without turning on the lights.

Great fun!