Dark Water (literature)
Dark Water (German Dark Water ) is a collection of short stories from the genre of psychological horror of the Japanese author Koji Suzuki (Heyne Verlag, December 1, 2004 ISBN 3453565002 ). The book contains a total of seven independent short stories, the only connection between them being the use of the element water.
Short stories (content)
- Dark water
The mentally unstable Yoshimi Matsubara has recently been living in a tenement with her daughter Ikuko. At first she pays no attention to the strange taste of the tap water, but after strange events such as the appearance of a children's handbag on the roof and the elevator seemingly independent, she realizes that the daughter of a previous tenant who disappeared years ago seems to still exist.
- The lonely island
The teacher Kensuke Sueshiro is given the opportunity to take part in an expedition to an island in Tokyo Bay that is actually not allowed to be entered. He had long dreamed of getting there after a friend named Aso claimed that he had left his unloved girlfriend there. A short time later he died of cancer, which means that Kensuke was never able to verify whether a girl actually lived there. On the island he and his companions find living proof of the truth of the story.
- punishment
Hiroyuki, a fisherman who is prone to violence against his family, is looking for his wife, who has disappeared without a trace since the previous night. When he goes back to sea, he discovers something on his ship that he has forgotten and his life is in danger. The sea won't let go of him.
- Dream ship
Masayuki Enoyoshi received an invitation from a wealthy couple to ride on their luxury yacht. However, he realizes that the trip is more of a sales tour than a joint boat trip. Just before the three of them can dock in the harbor, the ship gets stuck in the middle of the fairway. When they check the propeller, they find a children's shoe in it. Since the yacht is not moving, the owner combines that she is stuck somewhere and submerges to free her. But when he shows up he is completely disturbed, because a lonely ghost does not want to let the people and the ship go.
- The message in a bottle
Kazuo Shiraishi, a worker on a fishing vessel that has been at sea for seven months, is looking forward to returning home when he discovers a driverless luxury yacht at sea. His captain decides to take the ship in tow and Kazuo volunteers to go on board in order to take control in an emergency. But when he spends the first night on board the yacht, he begins to wonder what actually happened to the crew. He finds out that they opened a message in a bottle that contained murderous hatred .
- Water theater
During a theater performance in a former disco, water suddenly drips from the ceiling. The highly ordered employee finds a completely flooded ladies' room upstairs and overlooks in his eagerness that he has some interested spectators.
- The underground lake
1975: The cave explorer Sakakibara is locked alone in an underground grotto. When, after four days, he was unable to escape, he worked up all his will to convey a message to his son. 1995: Said son returns to the cave where his father died in order to be able to process the images of his nightmares, in which darkness and water always play a role.
German translations
- from the English by Katrin Marburger . Munich: Heyne, 2004. 302 pages.
- from the Japanese by Burkhard Höfler . Berlin: Egmont, 2005. 126 pages. ( Manga edition.)
Film adaptations
The cover story Dark Water was filmed in Japan in 2002 under the title Dark Water . An American remake was released in German cinemas in 2005 under the title Dark Water .
review
An employee of the Fantastik-Couch website writes, among other things: " "; Real "; Spook is, by the way, rather rare in Suzuki's stories. At most,"; Dream Ship "; and"; The Message in a Bottle "; can count on guests from the hereafter, who meanwhile only play a supporting role, only appearing in the corner of your eye and therefore appear all the more emphatic when you get involved in this game. "; Water Theater"; simply presents a grotesque story whose "; resolution"; surprises above all because it is with the means of fantasy is told. "; The underground lake"; is pure psychological horror. Here Suzuki is indeed walking in the footsteps of Stephen King - and his shoes are by no means too big for him ... "