The 2013 death of student Elisa Lam has been an enigma of a case since it happened. It's bizarre, kind of confusing, and of course incredibly sad. True crime fans have long debated what actually happened to her and who might have been involved, but the case became especially popular with the recent release of Netflix docuseries Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. It also sparked some conversation around a specific film, and its creepy yet coincidental ties to the case.
The body of 21 year old Elisa Lam was found at the infamous Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on February 19, 2013. She had been missing for close to 2 weeks and was discovered in the water tank atop the hotel after guests had been complaining about the water. Ultimately, the case was ruled an accident, but the circumstances are kind of strange and some remain suspicious. She was found nude, with her belongings and clothes in the tank with her, and the last time she was seen before her death was some very odd elevator security videos. The videos show her talking to someone inside, walking in and out of the elevator, and seemingly hiding. It's very creepy to watch, and something was clearly off with her, but majority of experts tragically think her death was an accident potentially caused by her mental illness or drugs and alcohol.
There is one very strange thing about this case that people thought was weird back in 2013, but has gained even more attention since being mentioned in the docuseries. That would be the case's similarities to 2002 Japanese horror film Dark Water, as well as its American remake. It's kind of striking actually, there are similarities in both the plot of the film as well as a lot of the imagery. While all of this is of course completely coincidental, both films came out long before Lam died, it's very weird and knowing the case makes watching the films even creepier.
The plots of both the original Japanese version and the American remake of Dark Water are pretty much the same. It was actually originally a short story from a book published in 1996 by Koji Suzuki before being adapted to a film in 1992 by director Hideo Nakata who is probably best known for directing Ring. In both versions, a single mother moves in with her young daughter to a run-down apartment. At the apartment, they experience some paranormal activity. A lot of it has to do with their water, including a very strange leak in their ceiling.
There are several points throughout the films where the imagery is very reminiscent of the Elisa Lam case. The first thing that shows up in both films and is very eerie, is elevator footage that looks almost identical to what was released by police. When the mother and daughter arrive at their new apartment building they are shown an elevator, and that elevator not only looks just like the one in the Cecil, but the security footage being taken of the mother and daughter, and later the little girl on her own, is at the exact same angle as it was taken of Elisa Lam. In the American remake, the character is even shown wearing a red jacket as Lam was in real life, making the comparison even more uncanny.
Separate from the similarities between the films and what's known of the death of Elisa Lam, is the connection with the actual storyline of the movie. Towards the end of the film, in both versions, the little girl ends up on the roof of the apartment building, climbs the water tank, and falls in. She does of course get rescued, she doesn't die in the tank, but it's still a very creepy coincidence.
It almost feels too similar to be an accidental connection, and if a viewer didn't know that both of these films pre-date the accident by a significant amount then they might think this movie was inspired by the case. A water tank seems like such a random thing to include in a movie, and combining that with the previous imagery and even the clothes the characters wear makes this so close to real life that it's chilling.
It can't be stressed enough that this is all coincidental, the case is officially closed despite the speculation of the public, and that it can come off as disrespectful to Elisa Lam and her family to invest too much in conspiracy theories. However, from a completely non-biased and factual perspective, it's still very weird. Some do believe that the film is somehow connected to the case, that the film predicted the future similarly to what people believe of The Simpsons. Generally, though, it is recognized that this is an overall pretty dreary and sad, though actually very good, film with some pretty unfortunate ties to a pretty dreary and sad real-life situation.