I saw this first on a VHS in the mid 90s. I never understood the film then. Found it to be one helluva weird stuff. Revisited it recently on a pirated DVD after reading many glowing reviews n the cult following. Honestly, now i found it to be meh. As i mentioned in my review of the movie A cure for wellness that cinematography n atmosphere ain't enough to save a bad film. Apart from the imagery like the cathedral's location, the village, the atmosphere of constant raining n murky weather, the weird characters, the leaking cathedral with its dripping water, the cliff n the setting sun, the catacombs with their candles n the enigmatic passageways, there ain't anything good about this film. In fact, there is no music, very few dialogues n the story is really confusing. Strange things seems to happen for no reason. The actress was attractive though.

The great horror directors of the nineties are sort of the genre's "lost generation," in that they were never given the opportunity to expand their visions into full bodies of work like, say, Argento or Carpenter. Filmmakers like Richard Stanley (of Hardware and Dust Devil fame) and Michele Soavi (the genius behind Dellamorte Dellamore) seemed set to create a new tradition of visionary horror, but somehow fate conspired against them; Stanley fell out with the industry after his attempt at filming The Island of Dr. Moreau went absurdly awry, while Soavi gave up a promising career in cinema after his son fell ill. I now think we can add another name to that sad list: Mariano Baino.With most of the great Italian horror directors either retired or dead, and the other greats like Argento and Lamberto Bava starting their sad declines, Soavi and Baino seemed set to inherit the throne. While Soavi cut his teeth directing films for Argento, he finally found his own voice with Dellamorte Dellamore. With Dark Waters, Baino also introduced his own unique vision. While parts of the film pay tribute to the old masters (an early murder scene recalls Pupi Avati's The House with Laughing Windows, and one image is an exact quotation from Suspiria), Baino's approach to horror is more reminiscent of Tarkovsky (who is also a huge influence on Stanley, incidentally).The narrative of a girl returning to the sinister convent where she was born, only to find the nuns guarding a sinister abomination, is reminiscent of Lovecraft, but Baino is more interested in creating astonishing images and a dank atmosphere than in his derivative plot. Some memorable visuals include nuns bearing burning crosses down stony beaches; a monstrous, crucified nun floating down a foggy corridor; and a mural of atrocities painted by a blind oracle.Though the film isn't bloodless, the approach is more stately and subdued than that of most Italian horror directors. As I said, the long tracking shots down rainy corridors and the ambitious imagery are more Tarkovsky-like, though this film is definitely more accessible than any of his works. Some people might lose patience with the meandering narrative, but I found that Baino's astonishing visuals powered it through the slower stretches; the first half hour in particular is a real tour de force of visual storytelling, with almost no dialogue. I also enjoyed the bizarre performances by the supporting cast members. Likely cast in the Ukraine, where the film was shot, most of them seem to struggle with their English-language dialogue, but it only heightens the oneiric atmosphere Baino was going for.As I said earlier, the story on hand isn't particularly original, but in every other respect this is really an undeservedly obscure masterwork, which makes the fate of its director all the more disappointing. While Stanley directed at least two great movies before vanishing into documentary hell, and Soavi gave us four really interesting horror films, this is Baino's only feature film to date. Thus we may never know what Baino would have been capable of had he been given the opportunity to hone his skills as a storyteller. He supposedly wrapped a film last year, but I can't find any concrete info on it, and it's been my experience that once promising directors tend to disappoint when they jump back into the saddle after a decades long absence. True inspiration unfortunately tends to be a limited time offer, and it's sad that these great artists were not allowed to create when they still had their inner fires; Richard Stanley's The Mother of Toads, for instance, proved to be sadly embarrassing. Still, I'd like to be proved wrong.

It is not a bad movie. I just wasn't as interested as I thought I would be. The movie moves very slowly in the first half and I was actually losing interest in the proceedings. I was not able to understand the English accent and I was having some difficulty with the plot. The dialogue was often muted. Maybe they should have just hired some American guys to dub for these guys and make it clearer. I am not such a fan of the visual style. Honestly I am never a fan of this grainy dark style anyway. The old Argento/Fulci/Bava movies were always bright and beautiful to look at. The visual style was a major reason for my lack of interest at the start.The second half really gets going and we get a sequence of weird scenes. It didn't make sense at first but I just read a blog which details the story and the intricate plot points. The ideas are very intelligent and many scenes towards the end are quite creepy. The dream sequence is also quite creepy and the ending is done very stylishly. This is one of the few movies where the idea of the evil child actually creeped me out. The concepts involved are actually disturbing (cannibalism??). The child actors have done very well. Louise salter is good in her role as well.Considering the budget and all, I thought they did well with the ending and it doesn't give the impression of a low budget movie.I liked it but there are many elements that could be improved.6/10

A horror fan who claims to love Argento and Fulci shouldn't have anything but love for this film... it draws on the same creative Muses while somehow managing to have a coherent plot. The director is a fan of Lovecraft and the story does have elements of 'The Dunwich Horror'... but it's not overtly Lovecraftian and the monster seems more traditionally demonic than any of Lovecraft's undead alien gods. The best thing about it are the very un-Hollywood faces of the local Ukrainians used as character actors... and the odd accents generated by their phonetic readings of the script... giving the setting an otherworldly atmosphere. I'd like to see more of this director's work because he definitely has some interesting ideas in his approach to movie making.