#21 - Dark Water (2002)
(dir. Hideo Nakata)
Yoshimi, who is going through a messy divorce, moves into a shoddy old apartment building with her young daughter Ikuko. Despite living on only the third floor of a seven story building, water is constantly dripping down into their apartment, even when it isn't raining. They discover that a girl who went missing two years ago used to live in the apartment above theirs, and Yoshimi fears that the girl's spirit is somehow trying to take Ikuko away from her.
I'm honestly not sure if I've seen this one before - I definitely know the story but may have seen the 2005 American remake instead. Either way, this is a really solid ghost story with some truly creepy scenes. The basic plot isn't far off from many other films of this type, but placing the characters in the middle of a custody battle adds another layer that works in the film's favor. Not only must Yoshimi deal with a terrifying haunting - she also needs to keep her composure enough so her daughter gets to stay with her instead of her asshole husband.
Director Hideo Nakata was also responsible for the better known J-Horror classic Ringu, and I'd say this film is just about as good as that one was. Hollywood kind of ran the "dead wet girl" trope into the ground with all kinds of unnecessary remakes and sequels, but when this film was made it was still a relatively new sort of horror (for Western audiences, anyway - this kind of ghost is common in Japanese folklore and I've seen it in movies going back at least until the '60s).
If you like Japanese horror films, this is a very good one and I recommend it.
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