Customer Reviews

Gothika [VHS]

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(68)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(41)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Miss Halle portrays a prison psychiatrist, Charles S. Dutton her boss, husband & love of her life, Robert Downey, Jr. as her peer/collegue, & Penelope Cruz as an inmate/patient with some schizophrenic delusions of the devil, himself, burning/entering her body.

As it starts - It was a dark & stormy night...

From there things get really creepy & all mixed up. What is true? What is imagined? Who is crazy? Who is not? A dead girl, a tatooed man, an invisible being, blood written messages on a wall, an axe...Lots of really graphic images PLUS totally spooky lighting all add to the experience.

This film has you trying to figure out the plot from the get go & has many "red herrings"... Once the plot is alluded to, however, the film starts to unravel faster and faster to it's eventual, but not totally predictable end.

The only thing that I couldn't figure out is why they titled this movie, GOTHIKA. It is only said a total of ONE time in the whole of the film.

Regardless, this movie has plenty of punch, a couple of jumpy parts, some sado-masochism and at the end it is actually left open for a possible sequel, which I wouldn't mind seeing...

If you liked Stir Of Echoes, The Sixth Sense, or The Others, you will certainly enjoy this gem! Happy Watching!

I was really looking forward to watching and liking Gothika, since I enjoy good ghost stories on one hand, and have a soft spot for French directors in general on the other. And being Mathieu Kassovitz's first English language film as a director (the same director who brought us the excellent La Haine and The Crimson Rivers),my expectations were built even more.
But I have to admit that I was sorely disappointed with the film, and this is why,
Although Kassovitz's direction was not bad , the main problem I believe, lies firmly at the hands of screenwriter Sebastian Gutierrez (who has directed Judas Kiss and is now writing the remake of the masterpiece The Eye). He managed to write a script that is totally predictable,lacking any originality or a fresh treatement of old plotlines.
In any horror film, there is a moment early on,when the tension starts to build up, gripping the viewer increasingly until the end. I kept looking for that moment in Gothika to start, where I would be totally immersed and involved in the story, but it never came.
Moreover, I am surprised how bland the whole film is..The evil girl/ghost who has comeback to seek revenge on her killer through someone else is a concept that is still very fresh in viewer's mind from quite recent films, (The Ring, What Lies Beneath, The Eye!!), while the girl looks exactly like the ghost in The Ring but with blond hair..She even has the same expressionsand look!!!
The script also has unforgivable flaws..For instance the ambiguous relationship between Berry and Downey Jr was badly treated, and at the end he just disappears when I expected a proper conclusion that will clear it.
The ending was quite silly!! (and I thought De Niro's tattoos in Cape Fear were over the top!!!)...the Scream reference was quite obvious but very weakly done.
There was also a reference to Sixth Sense right at the very last scene, but it was too predictable and also very silly..So was the supernatural writing on the arm (Not Alone) straight from the 'Help Me' in Exorcist..
Halle Berry 's acting was good as you expect from this wonderful actress, and it is always good to see such a fine actor and actress like Bernard Hill and Penelope Cruz who is gorgeous and sweet in whatever role she is in, but all these talents were sadly wasted.
I know Mathieu Kassovitz can deliver a much better film than this with a good solid script, which unfortunately he did not have.
If you love ghost stories as much as I do, then by all means stick to the classics of the genre like The Innocents, The Others, The Eye or even BWP and forget about this one because the only tension and anxiety you will feel is through constantly looking at your watch, hoping time might pass just quicker.

Director Mathieu Kassovitz pours on the atmosphere (literally) in this sci-fi thriller set in a dreadfully gloomy mental institution that needs a serious makeover. It seems to never stop raining or lightning - ever! It's dark and scary and the lights are always on the kaput. Can't someone change those light bulbs! Won't somebody check those darn circuit breakers? Halle Berry acts herself crazy (again, literally), but hey, Halle, lay off that Botox if you want some more facial expressions! Halle sees a beaten woman driving home one (stormy) night and crashes into a tree. She wakes up in the same hospital as a patient and a criminal for killing her husband (her boss). Is she really crazy or is this a plot? Did some coworker inject her with mind-altering drugs? Why is Robert Downing, Jr. playing a smaller role here? Why is he speaking with that weird accent? Did Halle imagine that girl on the road? Oops! - remember "What Lies Beneath? I think it's the same girl! The rest of the film is a run and chase sequence where Halle discovers who is really dead and who should be. There are also some really disgusting revelations as to what happened to some missing people and it's all gleefully recorded on film! Remember the movie, "8MM"? Eeewww! There is somewhat of a happy ending (if only because it finally stops raining!), but then Halle sees another child in a dangerous situation - or is it a ghost? Or, is it Haley Joel Osment? Is she seeing `dead people' too? Why do their first names sound the same? Is that part of the plot too? Remember "The Sixth Sense"? Remember every other horror movie cliche from the last ten years? What in God's name is happening here???

Gothika is the latest from Dark Castle Entertainment, specializing in horror movies with updated special effects, including House on Haunted Hill and Thir13en Ghosts, two of my favorites. So I wasn't expecting much, but I figured a movie like Gothika would be, well, gothic. I was not disappointed.

Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a monotone-voiced psychiatrist consulting with a patient (apparently, she only ever talks to one), Chloe Sava (Penelope Cruz), in a sanitarium. Chloe believes she is being raped by the devil in prison. Miranda is the wife of Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles Dutton), a blubbery man that you can't believe is married to such a delicious package. Doug is also the mental hospital's chief psychiatrist. When the two kiss, it's squeamishly unnerving-kudos to the director (Mathieu Kassovitz) for telegraphing the awful while filming something as mundane as a spousal embrace.

Miranda works with another psychiatrist, Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.), a mumbly, ferret-like character who lusts for her from afar. The three characters casually discuss psychological problems as if they were discussing the weather. There's no warmth in any of the relationships, even though a storm rages in the background, crackling with thunder at appropriate moments.

Then weird stuff happens. Miranda crashes her car in an effort to avoid running over a woman (Kathleen Mackey) she sees standing in the road. The woman touches Miranda's face and the two burst into flames...

Miranda wakes up in the same mental hospital she once worked at. She's now a patient, accused of hacking her husband to death with an axe. Pete is her psychiatrist. And just like that, Miranda's world falls apart.

The movie strains credibility with the absurd notion that Miranda would be placed in the very same mental facility that she worked at. No effort is made to explain this particular plot point, so integral to the horror Miranda experiences. Similarly, Miranda doesn't act particularly professional or even argue her case very well. She collapses into a shrieking mess and pretty much stays that way throughout the film.

Complicating matters is the ghost that haunts the facility. In a refreshing horror movie turn, this is no Capser the Friendly Ghost. She possesses people, she uses said possessed people to do awful things, and beats the crap out of anyone who doesn't do what she wants them to do. In fact, she's so powerful and intrusive that you can't help but wonder why the ghost just doesn't do everything herself.

Unfortunately, there are lots of problems with Gothika. Halle Berry is too pretty for the role and lacks sufficient warmth to bring any real emotion to the screen but shrill hysteria. Pete is so mush-mouthed, so wandering in his conversations, that he seems more like a patient than a doctor at the hospital. But the real villain is the writer (Sebastian Gutierrez), who filled the plot with holes (security guards hand over their car keys to Miranda for WHAT reason exactly?), ridiculous punch lines (think Trinity from the Matrix's maxim "Dodge this" thrown into a movie that's supposed to be all about psychological horror), and awful dialogue.

Gothika is one of those movies that is defined primarily by its lensing; everything is a bluish gray. This is obviously intentional to set the mood of a dreary psychological horror. The relentless blue is punctuated by are occasional flashes of red-red lights, a red nametag, red outfits. But unlike Sixth Sense, the red doesn't have any real symbolism behind it (except, perhaps, "DANGER!"). It's as if Kassovitz liked the idea of putting a blue lens over the film but didn't know what to do with the technique.

And yet, Gothika has genuinely creepy moments that caused my various family members to jump out of their seats. The horror, both of role reversal (the psychologist becomes the patient) and of the capacity of normal people to commit acts if horrible violence, is striking. The insane asylum is its own character, a gaping series of hallways with wide-open spaces and cold glass walls.

Gothika is no Sixth Sense or Stir of Echoes, and a little too slickly produced for its own good. It's hampered by high-minded goals, burdened with a patchwork plot, and really, really blue. But it's just scary enough, just freaky enough, and just interesting enough to make it worth watching.

One of the truly great features of this movie is how confusing it is during the first half. Halle Berry, playing Miranda Grey, is struggling to know whether she has suddenly become insane, or whether something else is going on. It takes her a while, but eventually she realizes that, as improbable as it seems, a ghost is haunting her.

Miranda Grey is a psychiatrist. She deals with people who behave strangely and often have a hard time dealing with reality. She drives home one day and encounters a girl in the road, but her encounter is weird. The next thing we know, Miranda is waking up in a hospital, accused of murdering her husband. The next portion of the movie is designed to make you confused, mirroring Miranda's own confusion. Who really killed Miranda's husband? Why was Miranda's husband killed? Is there really a ghost or is Miranda insane? Why does the ghost keep writing "Not Alone?"

The movie does plod a bit, but the plodding is intended to give you time to think about the movie and what is happening, allowing you to add to your own confusion. It takes about half the movie for the viewer to become convinced that a ghost really haunts Miranda, which is about the time that Miranda herself realizes that she is being haunted. Once Miranda catches on that the ghost wants her to do something, then the movie enters a whole new phase. Fortunately the ghost is working with her to help answer all the questions that the viewer asks in the first half of the movie, including what I thought was a chilling ending that I did not see coming.

Portions of the movie are predictable, and we are left with a plot hole big enough to drive a bus through, but I still found the movie enjoyable and would recommend it to people who like horror movies that make you think. Even if you find the ending predictable, then you can pat yourself on the back about how well you figured it all out from the clues sprinkled throughout the movie. A solid four star effort.

Somewhere in this gloomy picture they're may be a decent women's prison exploitation flick. But as a horror film, the movie seems unable to settle into a niche of the gender before abandoning it and exploring another. At once, film noir, simple detective, horrific, "Gothika" changes hands like a deck of flip cards out of chronological order, finally settling on a bizarre plea of social conscience. Before then the movie is often just flip. When a local newspaper's banner front page headline reads, "Local Girl Commits Suicide", the fine line between black and white isn't grey, but completely colorless.

A seemingly ordinary psychiatrist finds herself locked up in her own mental institution for a murder she can't remember, and with a ghost that won't leave her alone. The background music creeps and skulks and spasms, as the camera undulates, but the content is scattershot and laughably melodramatic. Add to that a doozy screenplay that skips between the natural and supernatural with such wild abandon that you never quite know where you are. If the director had been less interested in getting Berry out of her baggy hospital costumes, perhaps we could have savored a thriller with some coherence.

In this horror/thriller, Halle Berry stars as Dr. Miranda Grey, a Psycologist at a women's prison. Charles S. Dutton is the Prisons Administrator. Or at least I THINK it is a prison as opposed to a mental hospital...it's never really explained and is one of the very mind numbing problems you encounter while watching this movie.

Anyway, on her way home from work on a "dark and stormy night" Gray swerves her car to miss a girl standing in the middle of the road. When she approaces the girl to see if she is OK, the girl bursts into flames and Gray wakes up three days later, locked in the very prison she worked at. What's more, she is accused of murdering her husband.

OK...now I finad it hard to believe that she would be remanded to a prison IMMEDIATELY...would she not be held in jail to await trial? Would it not take more than a few days for her to be examined by psychiatrists to determine her mental well-being?

And even if she was locked up, does anyone think that she would be locked up and put in with the very inmates who she used to work with? Gothika pushes logic to the limits.

Well, while locked up she begins getting ghostly visions of this girl. Of course her former co-worker Dr. Graham played by Robert Downey jr., believes these are just delusions.

The ghost is more than helpful, twice freeing Gray from her cell so she can pursue clues about the spirit. This leads to the revelation that a man with a tatoo of a woman on fire, is somehow raping women inside the prison and Gray is next on his list.

In yet another incredible stretch of logic, while gray escapes from her cell pursued by dozens of guards, she finally makes it to the guard at the front desk who she is friendly with. Rather than turn her in the guard not only keeps quiet, but actually gives her the keys to her car!!! Evidently he seems to have no problem throwing away his car and aiding an escaped inmate.

Well the clues all come together and reveal some shocking revelations about her husband and the identity of the rapist. But how can this rapist just come and go into high security areas of the hospital/prison? Don't ask...it's another one of brain dead plot threads.

Finally we see that Gray never does go to jail for her husbands murder. Evidently possession by a vengeful ghost is a viable murder defense these days. Incredible.

The ghostly images provide a few chills but you've seen the plot before about the dead wanting the living to solve the mystery of their deaths and bring the guilty to justice. Stir of Echoes did it much more skillfully.

Berry made a poor choice of scripts to follow up on an Oscar win. There is little suspense and it's very easy to early on to figure out who is rapist. Couple this with one of the dumbest scripts ever and this is one that is worth a rent only.

This was one of those movies that somehow, I'd never even heard of it when it was in the theaters but when strolling through a DVD store one day and seeing Halle Berry on a cover, it immediately drew my attention to this great movie. That being said, this is a fairly good psychological/super natural type thriller that doesn't suffer greatly from the predictability factor and in general entertains from the first scene to the last with some seriously intriguing twists.

Performance wise, Halle Berry definitely gives and outstanding performance in this film showing a range of acting I'd previously not thought her capable of. Everybody's favorite addict in Robert Downey Jr. performs well in this movie albeit a somewhat subdued role for him in comparison to previous roles I've seen him in. Charles S. Dutton's role in this film is fairly limited which unfortunately doesn't give him much opportunity to show off his talents. Penelope Cruz's performance is fairly limited in this film as well!

This is the first film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz that I've watched and I would definitely have to say that his films may be ones to watch out for as this film is presented in a wonderful manner from beginning to end.

The Premise:

Halle Berry plays criminal psychologist Dr. Miranda Grey who works at Woodward Penitentiary for Women. She appears to be a highly respected employee at the prison and is married to her boss, Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton). Not long after leaving work and heading home in a storm she nearly runs someone over in the middle of the road and has an accident... She wakes up a few days later to find that she's now a patient in the penitentiary that she worked in and she's been accused of killing her own husband...

What follows from there is a well made psychological/super natural thriller that will, as stated above, entertain from the very first scene to the last as the story is extremely well scripted, directed and played out by the actors. I highly recommend this film to any and all who enjoy films in this genre! {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

-Commentary by Director Mathieu Kassovitz and Director of Photography Matthew Libatique
-Limp Bizkit "Behind Blue Eyes" Music Video

I'm not an aficionado of scary, slasher flicks. But Halle Berry is too much of a Babe to pass up in GOTHIKA. Besides, my Mom, a former prison psychiatrist, wanted to see it.

Berry plays Dr. Miranda Grey, a shrink on the staff of a women's penitentiary that has all the ambience of a Transylvanian castle. Driving home on a dark and stormy night - hey, is there any other kind in this genre? - Miranda swerves into a ditch to miss a young woman standing in the road. Upon asking the near-victim if she's OK, Miranda observes that she's been physically abused. Then, the woman undergoes spontaneous combustion. Miranda next wakes up to find herself an inmate on her own psycho ward, under arrest for chopping her husband (Charles Dutton) up into little pieces, and in the care of a former colleague (Robert Downey, Jr.).

Berry's performance makes the film great fun to watch despite a preposterous storyline that, at the end, had me saying "Yeah, but ..." about too much of what I'd seen. And the set designers weren't at all subtle in their use of flickering lights, shadows, and general gloominess. I had to check to see if I'd inadvertently left my sunglasses on for the show. Perhaps the prison was economizing on the use of electricity after being forced into the California Plan. Really scary stuff is sometimes more effective in full daylight because it's less expected.

Penelope Cruz, another hottie in my book, appears as Chloe Sava, an inmate accused of cutting her stepfather's throat, and who claims to being repeatedly raped by the devil in her prison cell. While this is a clue to the endgame, it added nothing to the plot's credibility. In retrospect, it was just another "Huh?" that defies understanding if you think about it too much.

Downey's performance was unremarkable, and his Dr. Graham character serves only as straight man to Miranda's more frenetic moments.

GOTHIKA is a chilling ride on which Halle Berry is pretty much the only driver. Keep the DVD release in mind next Halloween as something to watch while waiting for those pesky trick-or-treaters.