Dark Water(2002)
2002 · Hideo Nakata · 101 min
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
Horror · Mystery · Thriller
6.8751 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
0/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How Dark Water scares
Dark Water builds its fear out of damp hallways, stained ceilings, and a sense that something is wrong long before anything actually happens. The scares come slow and quiet, relying on mood and a growing feeling of dread rather than jolts or shocks. It leans heavily on sadness and helplessness, tied to a mother's stress and guilt, so the fear feels emotional as much as scary. There's almost no blood or violence here; the horror sits in the atmosphere and the heartbreak underneath it.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Dark Water rates psychological 5/5, visceral 2/5, gore 0/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 0 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 10 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 15 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 75 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, melancholy simmer of unease that gradually thickens into dread before a heavier, more unsettling final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5.
How scary is Dark Water?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Dark Water rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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