Dark Water (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

The director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) remakes Hideo Nakata's original fright-fest about a woman and her young daughter moving into an apartment where the dodgy plumbing hides a horrifying secret. Jennifer Connelly, cinema's loveliest mater dolorosa, is cast as the oppressed woman, first by memories of her abusive mother, second by her aggressive ex-husband (Dougray Scott), and third by whatever force is making mischief with the elevators and running water in her building. Tim Roth provides good support as a kindly lawyer (a New York first?) but the contrast with Nakata's film is significant: Dark Water simply isn't disturbing. It's as if Salles is too tasteful a director to put the frighteners on us, though confronted with 105 minutes of permanent rainfall and ill-lit interiors, you would welcome a few good scares.