Jennifer Connelly does her woman-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown routine in Dark Water. Fans of Hideo Nakata's original Japanese horror were disappointed by this Hollywood remake, which director Walter Salles pitched as "a dark family drama". Thrill-seeking moviegoers were inevitably put off and, despite great performances, this wound up being a box office washout.

Getting In Deep

The Making Of Dark Water is split into five bite-sized featurettes where Connelly admits that she wasn't a fan of horror movies, but was attracted to the script because, "It's a really moving story about this woman and her daughter." Delving deeper, screenwriter Rafael Yglesias describes her character as "a woman in emotional jeopardy" - as opposed to the standard sort of jeopardy - while Salles identifies the monster as "psychological angst". On a more practical level there's explanation of the urine-coloured production design and the unusual setting of Roosevelt Island. There's also word from diminutive actress Ariel Gade who signed up despite a pathological fear of water. After shooting the bathroom finale, she proudly exclaims, "Now, pretty much nothing scares me!"

Although there's thoughtful contribution from everyone, more behind-the-scenes footage and general insight into the day-to-day practicalities of working on a flooded set would've made this section watertight. Conversely, a featurette on casting lasts almost half an hour for what is essentially an actor's love-in. Thankfully Salles talks a little about other components of the filmmaking process, explaining that, "50 per cent is the choice of the story, 50 per cent is the screenplay, 50 per cent is the choice of the actors...and 50 percent is the camera, music and editing." Clearly he's no maths wizard, especially since all these factors add up to less than the sum of their parts.

Making A Splash

The Sound Of Terror speaks loudest in the bonus menu. It offers a thorough and engaging breakdown of all the intricate audio effects that are used to maintain an eerie atmosphere throughout the film. Between all the obvious dripping, plinking and inevitable plopping, the most effective sounds are the ones that are just barely perceptible. Of course the most frightening of all is a moment of "dead silence" accompanied by total blackness.

Echoing the importance of sound design is the interactive bathroom scene, which isolates every splash, whoosh and muted scream. An additional scene, which finds Dahlia between four "bleeding walls", is also deconstructed and shown in all its macabre glory. After months of creative to-and-fro, Salles discarded it because it served no other purpose than to look good. Elsewhere, two more deleted scenes serve no purpose at all.

There are no audio commentaries to accompany the film, but despite its leaks, this collection of extras does reveal the hidden depths of Dark Water.

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