Careful…stabbing nuns could become a nasty…habit!
Dark Waters is a title which has been used so often by other filmmakers that I’ve read about numerous instances where people discovered Mariano Baino’s evocative film merely because they were sent it in error instead of Hideo Nakata’s 2002 horror, or even the films by Walter Salles and Todd Haynes. Far be it for me to criticize Argento, but this is perhaps the Mother of Tears film we should’ve gotten after Suspiria and Inferno; clearly films to which Dark Waters owes it’s inspiration, along with nunsploitation films of the 70’s like Alucarda and Satanico Pandemonium, though titillation is nowhere to be found here.
Visually, it’s exemplary. Prolific first assistant camera/focus puller Alex Howe’s sole cinematography credit is utterly bewitching and contains striking and haunting imagery. Sadly, the story, while seemingly simple, is vague and borderline nonsensical. It’s more of a mood piece.The script does include some appreciably knowing jabs at the “stranger in a dangerous place” trope by having our heroine almost immediately distrust anyone and everything; pointing out that she has zero reason to trust even the kindly nun who appears harmless. Good enough as an exercise in style and considering the up-and-down state of horror in the 90’s after the high watermark of 80’s horror, Dark Waters is worth a look, but more as a sensory experience rather than an emotional one.
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