Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Supernatural, Murder, Ghosts, Suspense, Serial Killer, Mental Illness, Disturbing, Occult, Mental Institution, Psychos, Marriage, Gore, Demonic Possession
Tagline: Because someone is dead doesn't mean they're gone.
Plot: A brilliant and respected criminal psychologist, Dr. Miranda Grey (HALLE BERRY) is an expert at knowing what is rational. What is logical. What is sane.Under the direction of her husband (CHARLES S. DUTTON), the chief administrator of the psychiatric ward at the Woodward Penitentiary for Women, Miranda treats dangerously disturbed patients like Chloe (PENÉLOPE CRUZ), an intensely charismatic murderess whose confessions of satanic torture are dismissed by the judicious doctor as the psychotic meanderings of a paranoid mind. But Miranda’s comfortable marriage and stable life are thrust into terrifying jeopardy after a cryptic encounter with a mysterious young girl leads to a nightmare beyond her wildest imagination. When Miranda awakens from the horrific incident, she is shocked to discover that her husband has been murdered – and the bloody evidence points directly at her. Unable to fathom having committed an unmotivated act of such sheer brutality against a man she loved and admired, Miranda suddenly finds herself confined to Woodward alongside the highly unstable patients she used to treat with methodical detachment. With no memory of the night in question except for fractured visions of the hauntingly enigmatic girl, the doctor’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Her
More Plot Descriptions
 |
Behind the Scenes:
Read more about the production
| | Download Movie Script
For entertainment and informational purposes only. |
 Discussion forum for this movie
|
| |
 I can think of no reason other than Berry for anyone wanting to see "Gothika," a B ghost movie of such solemn awfulness that a little gratuitous nudity from her would have been much appreciated.  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
Unfortunately, no number of "boo!" moments and interesting camera work can patch up a screenplay that is so fatally flawed. Gothika is handicapped by a B-movie conclusion to something that starts out with an A-level sense of suspense and mystery. There'snothing worse than watching an involving motion picture collapse into rubble before your eyes, and that's exactly what happens here. Like a train wreck, it's not a pretty sight.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
What happened to Halle Berry's memory? Why is her wardrobe so bad? Is this a ghost movie or a women's-prison movie? Open the flower of your boredom and find out.--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
Any criticism of this movie that says it doesn't make sense is missing the point. Any review that faults it for going over the top into lurid overkill is criticizing its most entertaining quality. Any critic who mocks the line "I'm not deluded, Pete -- I'm possessed!" should be honest enough to admit that, in the moment, he liked it. It takes nerve to make a movie like this in the face of the taste police, but Kassovitz and Berry have the right stuff.  --ROGER EBERT (Chicago Sun-Times)
"Logic is overrated," Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) icily declares after a psychotic episode has landed her in the asylum over which she used to preside and a violent ghost has shattered her entire belief system. That's fine as a response to extreme psychological trauma, but not as an apology for deficiencies in this paranormal thriller's credibility.--Christine James (Boxoffice Magazine)
"Girl, Interrupted" meets "The Ring" that, for a while there, sucks the viewer into the story's hellish vortex.--Michael Rechtshaffen (Hollywod Reporter)
Basically, Gothika is very similar to its Dark Castle Entertainment cousins: if you enjoyed the scares in The House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts and Ghost Ship, then Gothika will fit right in with your large popcorn and your giant-sized cola.--Staci Layne Wilson (Horror.com)
All that to say that despite the film "looking" pretty wicked and offering a great performance by its supposedly psycho leading lady, it didn't really offer many thrills, other than a handful of "boo scares" and concluded with a weak, over-the-top and let's face it...unbelievable ending. 5/10-- (JoBlo.com)
Long story short, Gothika has some creepy moments, great atmosphere, some fun red herrings and is the first so-called "supernatural thriller" that really is more that than a straight horror film, though it's been such a cliche for horror folks to use when trying to "re-classify" their movies as something other than horror in order to try and manufacture crossover appeal. What that implies, of course, is that Gothika isn't really a horror movie. 5/10-- (CHUD.com)
Yet, what's really frightening are the outrageous plot solutions, laughably cliché scenes and sudden shifts in tone--all of which don't amount to too many thrills. C+-- (E! Online)
This plane-crossing load of malarkey is not altogether awful until two-thirds in, the exact point when the music stops, you see the abysmal finale coming at you like a brick-loaded train, and you wish you'd rented The Ring instead. --Stacie Hougland (Hollywood.com)
For the diehard horror buffs, "Gothika" may not be enough, but for the general moviegoers looking for a fun time, it should deliver on the goods. In either case, I'd definitely rent this on a dark and stormy night. It's a guaranteed couple of genuinely good scares, and for that it succeeds as a modern American-made horror. 7/10--Scott Spicciati (Movie-Vault.com)
|
| Cast |
|
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | Bernard Hill
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Titanic |
 | |
 | | |
[more] |
|
However, for all its glossy sheen and pedigreed cast, Gothika can’t quite recover from the fact that the scares it provides are of the grab-your-boyfriend’s-arm-and-then-laugh variety, as opposed to the quieter, psychological sort of horror it thinks it is providing; this isn’t The Sixth Sense, no matter how gloomy everybody acts.  --Chris Barsanti (FilmCritic.com)
Generally does its job well, delivering thrills and creepiness with a great look and a high-energy Halle Berry performance. 73/100--Brian Webster (Apollo Guide)
"Gothika" is one of those horror movies that starts by weaving an intricate and elaborate mystery, then suddenly gives up and writes the whole thing off. It raises but never answers a very good question: Why would anyone go to all this trouble?--Jeffrey M. Anderson (San Francisco Examiner)
Derivative mish-mash of other, better chillers, with performances by Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jnr that are better than the material deserves.  --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
Kassovitz must have been mad (or possessed) to assemble this lumbering, derivative collection of creepy moments, manipulated moods and cheesey shocks. 4/10--Anton Bitel (Movie Gazette)
The truth is, Gothika isn't all that much different from House On Hanted Hill to begin with -- a slick, glossy horror film with a very strong opening, a satisfactory middle, and a disappointing end. There's even a moment of eye-rolling inducing computer graphics; only this time around it involves fire instead of a black blob of tormented souls.--Mike Skinner (Diabolical-Dominion.com)
A decent film, but nothing original or special. Starts off good, but as the film goes on the story gets less and less complicated and tries to me too many films at once. Check this film if you want, but don't expect anything too good. 6/10--FrighT MasteR (UHM)
|
|
Movie Database
In Theaters
