Fascinating atmosphere Hideo Nakata would be proud!

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2002)

At this last year's Seattle International Film festival I saw "Honogurai mizu no soko kara" (Dark Water) which was written by the same author of Ringu (The Ring), Kôji Suzuki. Often called the Japanese equivalent to Stephen King, he masterfully delivers a stunning story through eerie visualization and plot twists. Verbinski brought his vision to the screen masterfully, and though I've heard it falls short of the Japanese original, I hesitate to say it falls short at all! In fact the mood and cinematography he brings to the story makes it that much more scary. When I saw "Dark Water" this last summer, I was moved for days by the story. I saw "The Ring" on a whim, saw the similarities to "Dark Water" and wondered...I confirmed when I got home and did some research on the internet that Kôji Suzuki did write it! I hope that the USA takes hold of Kôji Suzuki's refreshing take on horror and follows up with many more of his books being made into movies.