1993 Victor Zuev Production
A young woman named Elizabeth (Louise Salter) goes to a convent on an 
isolated island, after her father dies, to find out why he regularly donated money to it. While there she finds out the truth about her mysterious past and about an evil which threatens to consume her.
Dark Waters is a strange and very surreal movie. That’s not a bad thing, but at times it’s hard to figure out exactly what the hell is going on. There are several plot holes that kind of bother me but the great visual themes going on pretty much make up for that. It’s a very atmospheric film to say the least and very much fits into the Euro-horror niche that it lies in because of that.
The screenplay by Mariano Baino and Andy Bark is pretty good, but I am left with some questions concerning the plot. Elizabeth’s friend Theresa (Anna Rose Phipps) travels to the convent before her to do research about it, but why since she’s going to be going there anyway? Also, I am very curious about the beast which appears towards the end of the film. Where did it come from and why exactly did it want what it wanted? Also, how exactly is Elizabeth tied to it? These may seem like small questions, but they each tie into the plot pretty thickly and bother me since their answers are not made clear at all. The story idea itself is pretty original and is a different take on religious devotion. Instead of just worshipping Christ the nuns of the convent are in obviously in part praying that this really bizarre beast doesn’t reappear.
Mariano Baino directs Dark Waters in a very visual style, meaning that there are many symbolic things happening in the film. For instance, in the beginning, there is rain water falling upon a crucifixion statue of Christ and also into a communion cup. What I got from that is that the religious protection of the island is going to be breached in some manner. There are scenes such as this sprinkled throughout the entire film. You really have to sit down and pay attention as to what is going on because if you don’t you might miss the meaning of a future event that is going to happen. One of the most arresting scenes for me is when the nuns are standing in a row upon a cliff holding burning crosses aloft in the air, as to guard the island from the beast. One of the only problems that I have with Dark Waters are some of the effects. Without giving away too much the makeup on one of the main characters in the important final scene is pretty bad. Considering that the film was shot in the Ukraine and had some major production issues I am not going to totally hold that against it as a whole.
There are no famous actors in this film so you won’t recognise anybody in
it. Louise Salter, who plays Elizabeth, does a pretty good job and I have no problem with her performance at all. I have tried to find more info about her but the only other thing she has ever appeared in is as a Parisian vampire in Interview With The Vampire. A lot of the bit parts in this are characters who are off in one way or another; one eats raw fish and another chops off parts from…um….I’m not going to tell. I’m guessing, probably correctly, that almost all of the actors in this are from the area in which this was filmed.
Bloofer Lady thinks that this is a pretty good surreal type horror film despite the somewhat confusing screenplay. If you do not like to think critically while watching a horror film then I warn you that this probably isn’t going to be your cup of tea. If you do like to put those brain cells to use then I think you will enjoy Dark Waters very much.
Bloofer Lady
