Delayed Reaction: Dark Water

The Pitch: What's the closest to The Ring we can get without being called a rip-off?

A mother and daughter move into a new apartment with a mysterious leak in the ceiling that keeps getting worse.

Let's get this out of the way. Dark Water isn't great. It's fine. That's as high as I can go with praise. The story kind of feels like it was generated by a computer after plugging in the words "water", "apartment", "divorce", and "supernatural". It's roughly assembled with too many moments that are more designed for scares than to make sense.

All that said, I had enough fun watching it. I'm happy to watch Jennifer Connelly in anything. John C. Reilly is an offbeat pick for his role, but it works. The whole movie is shot so that everything feels damp at all times. That made it uncomfortable - in a good way. I'm not sure what to make of Tim Roth's lawyer character. Did I miss the explanation about why he's lying about his personal life and having a family? I think that was a benign misdirect. It made his character more interesting though.

For a fairly lazy play off of The Ring, Dark Water could be a lot worse. It's more psychological thriller than horror and follows more of a formula than I care for. It's watchable, and sometimes, that's enough.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend