The postal service sleeping in

The postal service sleeping in

Most problematic is that Dahlias backstory is far too thinly sketched to have much impact, so it becomes almost impossible to understand her motives. Connelly is also a bit too subdued here though a fine actress, she underplays Dahlias growing madness almost to the point of obfuscation. This lady is so damn depressed and we never know why I just wanted to give her a bottle of sleeping pills so the movie would end already. But my biggest gripe is the derivative iconography of all of these Japanese horror remakes. Once youve seen one creepy mute kid in the hallway, or an overflowing bathtub filled with ghost hair, the postal service sleeping in seen them all. I also hark back to a 1979 film called The Changeling. This underrated little gem starred George C. Scott as a widower who, after being visited by the apparition of a dead boy, must work to solve his murder and release his tortured spirit. If that plot sounds vaguely familiar, it is because it seems like The Ring and The Grudge and Dark Water all ripped it off. Im only inclined to give Dark Water a barely passable grade because diehard genre fans may still want to give it a rent based on pure atmosphere alone. But while this stuff may have been creepy once, or even twice, by the time we get to the climax of Dark Water, it is almost impossible to imagine that the filmmakers actually believed wed fall for it again. Dark Water was released in both the theatrical PG-13 and an Unrated version on standard-def DVD, but alas we only get the 105-minute theatrical cut here. Truth be told, the Unrated version was hardly any scarier, but still this is Blu-ray, and we should get the coolest version of the flick available. That said, this is a very solid 35:1 widescreen, 1080p/MPEG-2 transfer. Dark Water may be the most beautifully-photographed bad-looking movie ever, and I was generally impressed with the stability and consistency of this image. The source material is in excellent shape, with perfect blacks and intentionally muted if strong contrast across the entire grayscale. Granted, colors are confined to various shades of bile green, vomit yellow and poopy brown, but they are free of any apparent smearing or chroma noise. Detail ends up being quite good all things considered the transfer boasts a visible sense of depth throughout. Shadow delineation is also superior for a film this dark. I was generally able to make out fine details even in the darkest interiors. I cant say that I really enjoyed looking at much of Dark Water, but given its intended oppressive visual style this transfer delivers the goods. While I was satisfied with the video, the audio left me wanting for more atmosphere. Certainly, this is another very fine effort from Disney, and I continue to be thankful they are supporting uncompressed PCM 1 soundtracks on their Blu-ray releases. But the sound design of Dark Water is like its story a bit too subdued for its own good. Dynamics are perfectly respectable. Dialogue is always clear and distinct, even with Jennifer Connelly practically mumbling all of her lines. Frequency range is robust and natural across the board, and low end is healthy for this type of moody genre material. Surround use is a bit dull, though. I wanted more ambiance in the rears, and I have to ask if you could get Angelo Badalamenti to score your movie, wouldnt you want to exploit that to your fullest advantage? Alas, most of the mix here is undefined, with effects bleeding into the score, and little of it the postal service sleeping in to the rears. This is far from a terrible soundtrack, but it is also only slightly better than average for a horror flick. The extras on the standard-def DVD release of Dark Water werent extensive in the first place, so its something of a puzzler that Disney didnt just port them over to the Blu-ray. I must also lament once again the lack of the Unrated cut of the film, as a horror film as weakly received as Dark Water needs all the help it can get if it is going to be sucessfully resold to high-def enthusiasts. Go figure. Anyway, we do get one of the four featurettes included on the DVD release.