Dark Waters

This week's movie Dark Waters (1993) is a re-watch. Back in the mid 90's, I watched this movie a couple of times and had in fact almost forgotten it until I read an article in an old horror magazine. Armed with the name and some vague memories I sat down and took a trip down memory lane.

Dark Waters is probably the first foreign movie filmed in the Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union. They were plagued by problems throughout and a crew member was nearly killed in a cave in. It was a seriously tough shoot for everyone involved but in the end they created an interesting movie.

Mild spoilers ahead, not that it matters in this case.

Our main character Elizabeth travels to a monastery on a remote island to investigate her own past, some cryptic clues left by her dead father and to figure out whether she should keep up with the payments to the monastery as her father had done. This is the only part of the story that truly makes sense.

For some reason a friend of hers had gone ahead which isn't properly explained. She wrote a letter urging Elizabeth to travel there but it may have been a fake, I'm not sure.

Once there, Elizabeth is welcomed by the Mother Superior and told that she will have access to all their books and rituals in order to prove that they are worthy of receiving further money. They assign a novice, Sarah to help her and guide her around. Then the nuns promptly try to murder her on multiple occasions. They never said she couldn't look around and they never tried to stop her. They simply go from Hello to Murder just like that.

There seems to be a monster trapped under the monastery and the nuns are fond of performing rituals on the beach, on the cliffs and in the catacombs, but we never find out why. Is it an obscure version of Orthodox Christianity, some way to subdue and contain the beast? We're never told.

The plot unravels and Elizabeth discovers a bunch of things while dodging murderous nuns, culminating in some form of climax leading to an unsatisfying ending. I'm all for not having the plot spoon fed to me and I don't need closure on every little thing, but a movie should probably try to explain something at the very least. Dark Waters apparently disagrees.

So if this is the bad part of the movie, what is the good part? The visuals!

Dark Waters is crystallized style over substance. The story is bland and uninteresting, yes, but the visuals from start to finish are incredible. In the beginning, the bus she travels on drives down a seemingly endless road bisecting empty fields. The road is studded on both sides by power lines whose poles mimic the long crosses the nuns carry, creating a foreboding religious vista as the sun sets and a storm rolls in. Scene after scene of rituals, crumbling corridors, a beach covered in dead fish, grim dreams and flashbacks weave together into an amazing visual feast that are well worth the tedious plot.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, to horror fans I do. It's little wonder that I remembered so little as the movie as such is forgettable but the visuals are a blood-spattered and gruesome joy. Non horror fans should probably avoid it as there is nothing for them here.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!