Gothika

Review by Clint Morris

Prison therapist, Miranda Grey [Halle Berry] is about to find out what it’s like to be on the other side of the bars for a change.

While driving in a freak rain storm, she swerves for what she believes is a young girl standing in the middle of the road.

She gets out of the car and approaches the girl, only to witness the freaky little lass turn into a ball of flames.

Seconds later, Grey awakens in the mental hospital, unaware what’s happened.

She’s informed that her husband and boss [Charles S.Dutton] is dead, and she murdered him. How? Why? When? But…?

If you’ve seen the one about the guy whose seeing ghostly apparitions requesting him to unravel the truth of said dead person’s murder (Stir of Echoes), or the one about the kid that must help the dead people he sees (The Sixth Sense), even the one with the ghostly video tape and the dead girly (The Ring), you’ve seen Gothika.

The problem with many ‘all-star’ films such as the film on hand is that it’s seemingly preconceived that the cast is alone enough to draw in audiences in, and therefore you don’t need to try very hard at writing a good movie.

That could be true, but boy is a cheat to walk into a film that, well, in many ways you’ve already seen. Gothika is still a good movie, albeit past its expiry date. It’s a Xeroxed copy of every other good horror movie of the last couple of years, but it’s still a good movie. It’s visually stunning, with frighteningly good performances and an indisputably scary template.

Most of the scares you’ll see coming, as you will the twist of the film, but Gothika might still entertaining those with a penchant for having a girl jump in their lap or laughing madly at the rehearsed scares.

It’s still fun in other words. Just having us believe Halle Berry and the rather portly, older Charles S.Dutton is amusing enough in itself.

3 out of 5

Gothika
Australian release: Thursday April 29th
Cast: Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Charles S. Dutton, Robert Downey Jr., Bernard Hill, Dorian Harewood.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz.
Website: Click here.

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