Natasha Rimsky

"Don't go, I want you to be my mommy..."

- Natasha's first real words in the film.



Natasha Rimsky is the main antagonist of the 2005 film Dark Water, a remake of the 2002 Japanese film of the same name.

She is the ghost of a little girl who drowned, and during the movie, was shown to have become vengeful and angry. Her primary goal was to find a replacement for her mother and become that person's daughter. With this goal in mind, she acts as a serious threat to Dahlia and Cecilia.

She was portrayed by Perla Haney-Jardine, who also portrayed a young Dahlia in the beginning of the film.

Appearance
Natasha is said to be one year older than Cecilia when she died. She looks the same as a ghost as she did in life, sporting long brownish-red hair, a reddish-pink coat, and was revealed to have owned a Hello Kitty backpack with Barbie dolls inside it. Her corpse was seen to have had pale skin, most likely from decomposition.

Before the Story
Natasha is presumed to have had neglectful parents in life. One day, her father abandoned her, and then her mother did the same. It's revealed later that her mother believed she was with her father, and her father thought she was with her mother. In that same sense, she was left to fend for herself.

During this time, her backpack fell into the water tank of the apartment she lived in. She went to the top of the tank to retrieve it, but fell in the water and drowned, due to not being able to swim or due to becoming trapped.

From that moment onward, she became bound to the apartment complex as a ghost, and haunted the apartment room she used to live in. With her new power over water, she scared residents of the complex by appearing in water or creating leaks with no source.

During Dark Water
A woman named Dahlia, and her husband, Kyle, are in the middle of a divorce and are fighting over custody for their six-year old daughter, Cecilia. They each have conflicting areas about where to live, but for the most part, Cecilia (also called Ceci) lives with Dahlia, who chooses a cheap but run-down apartment in Roosevelt Island. It is there that Ceci discovers Natasha's backpack, which is pink and has Hello Kitty on the front.

After they move into their room, 9F, an area in the roof begins to leak dirty brown water. Dahlia snoops in the above room, 10F, and discovers it is flooded from every faucet with no explanation. She discovers the potrait of Natasha and her family, but none of them look happy to be near one another.

She complains to the building superindendent, Veeck, about the water, but he insists he is not a plumber and can't fix the problem. He only shoddily fixes the leak in the roof, but it only lasts temporarily, and the problem grows worse. At the same time, Dahlia is intimidated by teenagers in the apartment, and sees a girl scream in the washing-machine water.



Meanwhile, Ceci is starting to interact with an imaginary friend named Natasha at school, which concerns her teacher. She is told to stop talking to Natasha. Ceci attempts to, but in school, Natasha disturbs her hand while painting (though it's seen as purposeful to others in the room), and is asked to wash off in the restroom. While doing so, Ceci is confronted by Natasha. She barricades herself in a bathroom stall, but water floods around her, causing her to scream and faint off-camera. Kyle is able to pick her up, as Dahlia is in a meeting with her lawyer, Jeff Platzer.

After having several nightmares, Dahlia follows footsteps all the way to the rooftop of the apartment, and upon opening the water vat, discovers Natasha's corpse. Veeck is arrested for negligence, as it's revealed he knew about Natasha being in the vat, but refused to do anything about it. Platzer also tells her how Natasha was abandoned by her family, leaving Dahlia to realize Natasha is likely trying to harm Ceci so that Dahlia may become her new mother-figure.

After a bit more time passes, the leak is patched permanently, and Dahlia assumes all business with Natasha is gone. Dahlia is alone for a bit, but soon sees Ceci in a hooded bathrobe asking for a story. She begins to read, but then hears Ceci is really in the bathtub, and the girl she is reading to is Natasha herself. Hurt by Dahlia's apparent "refusal" of motherhood, she vanishes from the room and to the tub, where she faces Ceci with a blank stare.

The door to the shower becomes locked, and Dahlia witnesses Natasha is trying to drown Ceci. She bangs on the door of the shower, and begs Natasha to not kill Ceci if they would all live together, but it does little to stop her. Realizing the true request, Dahlia tells Natasha she will be her mother, but only if she spares Ceci. Natasha asks her if she promises: Dahlia says she does, and that she'll be her mother forever. Natasha smiles and vanishes, but floods overflow from the shower and engulf Dahlia, killing her. Now ghosts, the two are seen holding hands as they walk across the hallway of the apartment before fading.

Near the end of the film, Ceci and Kyle are getting the last of their things from the apartment. While trapped in the elevator, Dahlia's ghost appears from a leak of clear water (hinting she now has the same powers as Natasha) and braids Ceci's hair for presumably the final time, telling her that she loves her and that she'll always be with her.

Personality
Natasha's personality in life is not entirely known, but it could be presumed she was not happy with her parents, considering that they didn't love each other, and that they didn't love Natasha: if they did, they would not have left her.

In death, she was likely a passive spirit until she encountered Dahlia, from which she became fixated with somehow obtaining her love and becoming her daughter.

She initially hated Ceci because she was an obstacle to becoming Dahlia's daughter, and didn't wish to be "sharing" Dahlia with her.

Though her plan was to kill Ceci, it seems she is capable of compassion, as she smiles at Dahlia when she promises to be her mother, and spares Ceci as part of the bargain. She also seems to be somewhat emotionally damaged, when she sadly asks Dahlia not to tend to Ceci, as she wants her to be her mother. After obtaining Dahlia's love, she becomes nothing more than a harmless spirit, as she now has someone to care for her.

Powers and Abilities

 * Water Manipulation: Natasha can appear from any source of water, and can cause water-related instances to happen (ex: flooding rooms, causing sinks to turn on, causing leaks) due to having died in water.


 * Manipulation: Natasha only demonstrated this briefly, such as delibrately messing up Ceci's painting and locking the shower door.


 * Shape-shifting: Natasha only demonstrates this once, near the end of the film. She uses this power to take on Ceci's form in an attempt to recieve Dahlia's love, but her face isn't seen, and when Dahlia realizes the real Ceci is in the bathtub, Natasha's real form is exposed.

Trivia

 * Natasha is based off of Mitsuko Kawai, the antagonist of the original Japanese version of Dark Water.
 * Even though she was abandoned by both her parents, it seems that Natasha still loved her mother somewhat, as seen during Dahlia's nightmare, she activates her powers while whispering "Mommy, come back to me."
 * Natasha initally "befriended" Ceci in the beginning of the movie, possibly to learn more about Dahlia.
 * Natasha's death may have occurred recently in the film's timeline, as the Rimsky family was stated to have been living in 10F only "up until a month ago".