"Gothika" review

Gothika (2003)

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz Thom Oliphant
Writing credits Sebastian Gutierrez

Halle Berry.... Miranda Grey
Robert Downey Jr..... Pete Graham
Charles S. Dutton.... Dr. Douglas Grey
John Carroll Lynch.... Sheriff Ryan
Bernard Hill.... Phil Parsons
Penélope Cruz.... Chloe Sava

Halle Berry gets thrown into the nuthouse. She claims she's seeing ghosts. She feels a Stir of Echoes and her Sixth Sense tells her to listen for the Ring. Halle cries a lot. Halle runs down corridors in a tight white t-shirt. Halle tries to escape. See Halle do a lot of things. "Gothika" is the Halle show.
First off, speaking as long time admirer of women's prison flicks, I was quite saddened at the lack of breasts in this movie. Halle Berry has two bathing scenes. One scene has her participating in a mass shower. How the filmmakers were able to screw up having no close-ups of naked breasts in a women's prison mass shower scene is something too shameful to contemplate. Another scene has her coming up from a bath and the camera zooms in on her neck and face. For shame. What a tease.

I was very worried at the beginning of the movie. I thought "Gothika" was heading down a path of destruction. Halle was crying way too much. Soon Halle puts on her "13 Ghosts" glasses and sees dead people. The mystery surrounding her ghost takes some sleazy turns which saves the movie.

Sure "Gothika" is a movie you've seen a few hundred times before. But this time it stars Halle Berry! If she excites you, I say go for it.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 4 Berrys behind bars