Mizuchi (Death Water)

Not to be confused with Dark Water, Mizuchi, aka Death Water, is another Japanese "horror" film. We're using the term "horror" lightly here; while the director (Kiyoshi Yamamoto) seems determined to shock the audience with some gory scenes, the scariest part of the movie is at the end, when you realized you just lost an hour and a half of your life watching it.

The plot goes something like this: some very thirsty people are committing suicide, usually after destroying their eyes in some way, or by jamming things through their eyes into their brains. Meanwhile, for reasons that aren't clear, reporter Kyoko Togakure visits a nursing home where she finds a dead man with a note that reads, "Death Water." She asks a professor about it, and he tells her a story about a fountain connected to the netherworld. Of course, this professor winds up committing suicide, and being a reporter, Kyoko decides to investigate his suicide, and the other similar cases. When she decides that something in the water is driving people to commit suicide, she enlists the aid of her ex-husband, who works at the water treatment plant. Although he doesn't find anything, he still wonders if it could be some new, undocumented disease. Kyoko, on the other hand, begins to think it something supernatural.

While you might think that your faucet becoming a link to the netherworld and dead spirits driving people to commit suicide could provide for some scares, the main fault of the movie seems to be that it never really explores the supernatural link. In fact, as the closing credits roll, the mystery remains unsolved. While the characters in the film do seem to be seeing some disturbing visions, the visions seem to be the result of insanity, not anything supernatural. And despite the gore and even the creepiness of some of the visions, you're ultimately left unfulfilled.

Final Score: D-

IMDB link