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Gothika (2003)
Front Cover Actor
Halle Berry
Robert Downey Jr.
Charles S. Dutton
John Carroll Lynch
Bernard Hill
Penélope Cruz
Dorian Harewood
Bronwen Mantel
Kathleen Mackey (II)
Matthew G. Taylor
Movie Details
Director Mathieu Kassovitz
Language English
Audience Rating R (Restricted)
Running Time 98 mins
Country USA
Color Color
Plot
The title of Gothika prepares you for a spooky, atmospheric thriller with an emphasis on supernatural mystery. The best way to appreciate the movie itself is to understand that it's a waking nightmare that needn't make sense in the realm of sanity. Making a flashy Hollywood debut after his superior 2000 thriller Crimson Rivers, French actor-director Mathieu Kassovitz pours on the dark and stormy atmosphere, trapping a competent psychologist (Halle Berry) in the prison ward where she treated inmates (including Penelope Cruz) until she was committed for killing her husband (Charles S. Dutton), who was also her boss. Did a car crash cause her to suffer ghostly delusions, or is a young girl--dead for four years--sending clues from beyond the grave? Berry has to prove her innocence while Kassovitz keeps everything--including the viewer and costar Robert Downey Jr. (as Berry's colleague)--in the dark about just where the nonsensical plot is leading. There's a better movie in here somewhere, among the catwalks and crannies of the impressive prison-castle setting, and Berry gives 100% in a performance that's consistent with the movie's overwrought tone. Attentive viewers will identify the killer early on, and the ending is anticlimactic, but Gothika serves up a few good shocks for ghost-story connoisseurs. --Jeff Shannon
Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 247
Collection Status In Collection
Links Amazon US
Product Details
Edition Full Screen Edition
Format DVD
Region Region 1
UPC (Barcode) 085392837922
Release Date 3/23/2004
Subtitles English; French; Spanish
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1