Dark Water

Recent years have seen a wave of Americanized remakes of Asian horror films, most notably "The Ring" and "The Grudge."

But while the Hollywood makeovers have boasted slicker effects and more star power, inevitably much of the originals' eerie edge gets lost (and dulled) in translation.

Not so with Brazilian director Walter Salles' "Dark Water" (Touchstone), a stylish and smartly crafted psychological thriller that is both sophisticated and suspenseful.

The movie, a remake of a film by Hideo Nakata, is based on a story by Koji Suzuki -- known as "the Stephen King of Japan" -- whose other novel was made into "The Ring," also directed by Nakata in its original Japanese version.

Like "The Ring," "Dark Water" features yet another child who "can see dead people" and a ghostly girl who met a watery grave (here at a water tower instead of in a well). But what makes Salles' film a cut above the average is its well-developed story and characters.

Set in a perpetually rainy New York City, "Dark Water" centers on recently separated single-mom Dahlia (convincingly played by Jennifer Connelly), who is struggling to keep hold of her sanity and her 5-year-old daughter (Ariel Gade) after moving into a dilapidated apartment with a creepy chronic ceiling leak and a dark past.

Almost immediately, things start to go bump -- or drip -- in the night, causing the emotionally fragile Dahlia, who is still dealing with unresolved issues involving her own mother, to question her slowly fracturing mental state.

To make matters worse, she is also locked in an ugly custody battle with her estranged husband (Dougray Scott), and suspects he may be trying to help drive her crazy.

John C. Reilly plays the building's oily managing agent, and Pete Postlethwaite its cranky super. Tim Roth makes the most of limited screen time as Dahlia's lawyer.

The film is an old-fashioned ghost story, only its haunted house happens to be a drab apartment complex on Roosevelt Island, a boney finger of land in the East River that runs parallel to Manhattan. (The island was originally used to house the city's dispossessed, an appropriately purgatorial backdrop for a yarn about restless spirits.)

At its heart, "Dark Water" is about a mother-daughter relationship. It also explores themes of isolation, abandonment and parental anxiety.

The film's symbolic use of water should resonate with Christians; only here it is not a sacramental signifier of grace and cleansing, but -- black and ominous -- a metaphor for madness, sin and despair.

Deftly directed by Salles ("Central Station" and "The Motorcycle Diaries"), from an intelligent screenplay by Rafael Yglesias, "Dark Water" evokes the films of Hitchcock and Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby." Its carefully calibrated balancing of bleak realism and spooky supernaturalism echoes fellow South American-born director Alejandro Amenabar's "The Others."

Though the film's otherworldly outlook doesn't necessarily gel with the church's teaching about our souls' final destination, the hauntingly poignant final moments speak beautifully to the Christian hope of love's ability to transcend death.

Full of moody, claustrophobic atmospherics, "Dark Water" takes a more subtle psychological approach to maintaining its taut-nerve tension, massaging the imagination and keeping viewers' cold sweat on a slow drip rather than going for cheap jolts with lots of gore or computer-generated tricks.

The film contains mature thematic elements, recurring menace, some frightening moments, child peril, including a disturbing drowning sequence, a brief implied sexual situation and scattered crude language and profanity and an instance of rough language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Fantastic Four

"Fantastic Four" (20th Century Fox) is anything but fantastic. At times it borders on schlock, though it's not a complete failure as summer popcorn entertainment.

There have been far better comic-book adaptations such as "Spiderman" and "Batman Begins." But, then again, this isn't a flat-out turkey like "Daredevil" and "The Hulk." Directed by Tim Story, the film involves a close-knit, if dysfunctional, clan of spandex-clad superheroes: One can stretch like rubber, one can disappear, another is superstrong and one can burst into flames at will.

Pixar's "The Incredibles," whose quartet of do-gooders had similar abilities, was clearly inspired by "The Fantastic Four," the longest-running Marvel comic-book series, created in 1961 by Stan Lee (who has a brief cameo) and Jack Kirby.

Like the comic book, the film centers on four scientists who become genetically endowed with superpowers while studying solar flares in outer space.

They include: egghead and team leader Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), the elastic "Mr. Fantastic"; brainy love interest Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), the "Invisible Woman," who can also project impregnable force fields; her hotheaded young brother, Johnny (Chris Evans), the self-combustible "Human Torch"; and lovable lug Benjamin Grimm, aka "The Thing" (a heavily latexed Michael Chiklis), a walking wall of orange rock with superhuman strength.

When not bickering among themselves, they battle archnemesis Dr. Doom (played with villainous glee by Julian McMahon), a billionaire industrialist -- and former colleague of Reed -- who finances and accompanies the foursome on their ill-fated expedition to outer space. He also gains super capabilities. His conversion to evil conjures Hayden Christensen's descent to the dark side in "Revenge of the Sith" (he even ends up donning a Vaderesque iron mask to cover his scarred face).

Yet it isn't world domination that fuels Doom's megalomania -- at least not initially -- but his unrequited love for Sue. (Ain't it always about a girl?)

"Fantastic Four" isn't helped out much by its ham-fisted dialogue, bad acting, chintzy sets and, at times, cheesy special effects.

But there is also a goofy campiness to the film that precludes it from taking itself too seriously (and cues viewers to do the same). It has what the superior films "X-Men" and "Batman Begins" lacked: precisely the sense of lighthearted fun that attracts kids to comic books.

The movie has some amusing sight gags, as when Johnny uses his palm to heat-up popcorn. It also has moments of pathos, mostly involving Ben, who, like countless movie monsters, suffers rejection -- even by those who supposedly love him -- because of the way he looks. Themes include teamwork and accepting those who are different.

There is quite a bit of consequence-free comic-book violence -- lots of cars are tossed around, but no casualties -- which some viewers may feel sends the wrong message.

What makes "Fantastic Four" appealing is that it is about something most moviegoers can relate to: a squabbling family. As with all families, even though they argue, in the end their greatest "power" is the bond of love that holds them together.

The film contains intense comic-book action violence, some sexual innuendo and brief mildly crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

David DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.