Murky memories.

Call me slow, but it wasn't until we watched Dark Water that I recognized the trend of Japanese-inspired horror movies featuring young female protagonists.

The Ring (and its sequel), The Grudge (and its forthcoming sequel) and Dark Water all feature young, white women as the protagonists. In and of itself, this isn't necessarily odd -- women are often preferred as protagonists in horror movies because, according to the logic of patriarchy, audiences would never find a panicked man plausible or sympathetic. For a recent -- and chilling -- rebuttal to this chauvinistic notion, see Bill Paxton's performance in Frailty.

Still, the theme of isolated young woman is interesting: in all three movies, the protagonists are either alone after a divorce (The Ring, Dark Water) or culturally isolated in the heart of a foreign country and struggling to maintain a relationship with a partner (The Grudge). I wonder if the filmmakers are just mining a archetype of vulnerability or if there's something else going on here. Hm.

Anyway, Dark Water didn't impress me so much, though I suppose it's worth the price of a rental if you're a genre fan. More tragic than terrifying, this haunted-apartment story revolves around a mysterious injustice and a tortured little girl (also elements of The Ring and The Grudge, come to think of it). The aesthetic is appropriately damp, dank and claustrophobic, and the performances are solid. I appreciated the director's decision to add a little texture and nuance to the relationship between the two divorcés, refusing to allow a simplistic assessment of their motives and past.

My main problem was with the "bad mother" theme that totally permeates every frame of this movie. Maybe I should take it in stride, given the genre, but it really bugged me. Mothers are weak, selfish, hysterical, delusional and ultimately a danger to their children -- unless they're dead martyrs in which case they're sanctified, untouchable and harmless.