ANY SCARES STAY SUBMERGED.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

'DARK WATER'' may be long on atmosphere and short on genuine horror (or even surprises), but there are three reasons to eventually check out Walter Salles' remake of the 2002 Japanese horror movie of the same name.

The first reason is the setting: the creepiest, foulest apartment building seen on film in quite some time. Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly), a single mother struggling to hold it all together, picks this pad on Roosevelt Island, a short tram ride to well-heeled Manhattan, because it's near a good public school for her young daughter, Ceci (Ariel Gade). And her daughter's welfare is important to Dahlia, whose own alcoholic mother abandoned her as a child.

So, Dahlia rents an apartment in a building that a carny would flat-out refuse. There's the nightmarish lobby, a study in the wonders of florescent lighting and faded lime green decor, the death-trap elevator with buttons that have been burned by God knows what, and the surly super (the great Pete Postlethwaite) whose presence goes a long way to explain why there are no other children in the building.

The apartment itself is a hell hole, but Dahlia, fixed on the bargain price and the good school nearby, doesn't make much of an inspection and somehow misses the gruesome water splotch on the bedroom ceiling. She discovers it about the same time she notices the brown water and human hair that comes out of the bathroom faucet every time she turns the handle.

Production designer Therese DePrez's work here is a horrible dream come to life, a place that oozes bad mojo from the minute you lay eyes on it. And cinematographer Affonso Beato (``Ghost World'') captures the putridness of the place in ways that give shape to the accumulating dread.

So, there you have reasons No. 1 and 2. Reason No. 3 is John C. Reilly, having great fun playing the tour guide to this house of horror. Benignly evil and an expert glad-hander, Reilly's building owner (or manager, it isn't quite clear) is a masterful, darkly funny creation, an expert at evasion and doublespeak. Reilly has never been better.

As for the film itself, Salles (``The Motorcycle Diaries'') wastes a promising set-up by indulging in time-tested ideas culled from Japanese horror (all that water imagery) and American suspense (no more kids who see dead people ... at least for awhile, please). The movie's climax, long in coming, is clunky and preordained, not frightening and affecting as it needs to be. But that water stain on the ceiling ... that's a thing of beauty.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

DARK WATER - Two and one half stars

(PG-13: mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images, brief language)

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Pete Postlethwaite, Ariel Gade.

Director: Walter Salles.

Running time: 1 hr. 45 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: A psychological horror movie long on atmosphere, but short on horror and surprise.

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Jennifer Connelly plays a newly separated single mother who needs more than the plumber's help in ``Dark Water.''