Gothika

Plot synopsis:
Psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) who works at the Woodward Penitentiary For Women, has a car accident after trying to avoid a girl (Kathleen Mackey) on a road during a stormy night. She rushes to try to help the girl. The girl turns out to be a ghost and possesses Miranda's body. Miranda next wakes up in the very hospital she works for, but as a patient treated by her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey, Jr.). Drugged and confused, she remembers nothing of what happened after the car accident. To her horror, she learns that her husband Douglas (Charles S. Dutton) was brutally murdered and that she is the primary suspect. While Miranda copes with her new life in the hospital, the ghost uses her body to carry out messages (most noticeably, she carves the words "Not Alone" into Miranda's arm), which leads her former colleagues to believe Miranda is suicidal and is inflicting the wounds on herself.
Meanwhile, Miranda bonds with fellow inmate and former patient, Chloe Sava (Penélope Cruz). Several times in sessions, Chloe had claimed that she'd been raped while in the hospital, but Miranda had always attributed these stories to mental illness. One night, the door to Miranda's room in the hospital is opened by the ghost that has been haunting her. When she passes Chloe's room in the hospital, she can hear the rape occurring and momentarily sees a man's chest pressed against the window. The man's chest bears a tattoo of an Anima Sola. Miranda realizes that Chloe was not making up these stories and, when she sees Chloe the next day, she apologizes and the two embrace. Chloe warns Miranda that her attacker said he was going to target Miranda next. Miranda begins regaining some of her memories bit by bit and slowly comes to remember herself killing her husband. She realizes that the ghost had used her body to murder Douglas, thus making Miranda the patsy for his murder. This is why all of the physical evidence points to Miranda.
Miranda escapes from the hospital, having recognized the girl as a ghost. Seeking clues to the mystery of why she killed her husband, she goes to a farmhouse in Willow Creek, Rhode Island. In the cellar of the barn, she discovers a room containing a blood-stained bed, what appears to be a box containing drugs, restraints, and video equipment. She watches the tape that is still in the camera and the viewer hears a woman screaming as if tortured or raped. In the final seconds of the video, Douglas walks into the shot, covers a woman's lifeless body on the bed with a sheet, and winks at the camera. At this point, police arrive and one officer comes closer to Miranda and draws a gun on her while she is holding a knife to him. Miranda backs up to a staircase and, all of a sudden, an injured, frantically screaming girl grabs hold of her from the adjoining crawlspace. The police release the girl, and Miranda is taken to jail. While she is in jail, Sheriff Ryan (John Carroll Lynch), who was Douglas's closest friend, talks to Miranda and quizzes her on how she knew all these things. He does not believe her claim that ghosts told her everything and asks her what sort of person the accomplice would be. Miranda uses her experience as a psychiatrist to give a psychological profile, and as she does so, realizes that Ryan fits the profile perfectly. He attacks her and, in the fight, reveals his tattoo (an Anima Sola). Miranda kills the sheriff in an act of self-defense with the help of the ghost. Pete, just a few seconds later, shows up at the station, worried about Miranda's safety after he solves the mystery himself. He looks relieved to see Miranda safe and, through the soundproof window, mouths the words "I'm sorry, Miranda."
Approximately a year later, Miranda is seen walking with Chloe on a city sidewalk, discussing how each helped the other come to terms with her experiences. Miranda claims to be free of the ghost's influence and sends Chloe off in a taxi. Miranda then sees a young boy standing in the middle of the road who appears as though he is about to be struck by a fire truck. Miranda yells for the boy to move but, after the fire truck passes through the boy without harming him, she realizes he was only a ghost. As Miranda walks away, a poster with the words "Have you seen Tim?" and a picture of the same boy is shown taped to a pole next to the street on which Miranda is walking.

Tags: psychological, neo noir, gothic, murder, paranormal, violence, horror, flashback, insanity, romantic, suspenseful

Review:
What's more, Berry and Cruz signed onto a film made by a production team which has typecast itself with some fairly disappointing ghost stories / horror films involving big-names in the recent past.Finally, this is one of those cases where the trailer was so good that the film could not possibly follow it.
What saves the film is the excellent acting of Halle Berry, Penelope, Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., and all the rest of the cast, the haunting setting, and the way the atmosphere is being build.
and the truth isn't quite as gripping and terrifying as we would have hoped(although thats not tosay it is pleasant).Robert Zemeckis was one of the producers and i think it shows..there is some great camera work and some really interesting ideas but gothika doesn't have some of the subtle touches that What Lies Beneath had, but its easy to see some of the parallels between the two films.Even though halle berry wears the same look of shocked disbelief throughout the film, she plays it with conviction.
and a supporting role from penelope cruz certainly doesn't take anything away from berry.all in all, gothika provides a good story, an average screen play and enough innovative ideas to keep its audience.
I am a great fan of horror movies and I liked "Gothika", even with such a silly end, but it could have been better and better.
If this statement were an exact science then "Gothika" would be one movie to avoid at all costs, with its all-star ensemble cast including Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penelope Cruz, Charles S.
Gothika is an exploration of what happened to Miranda, as she gradually uncovers a mystery.This was a very effective combination of a horror film and a suspense/thriller for me.
It creates an atmosphere that works very well for a horror/suspense film of this type, and that is heightened by the Gothic sets and production design (the one shot we get of the exterior of the psychiatric prison makes it look like an old castle).
The characters were great, Miranda and Chloe heading a thoroughly good cast that carried a more than decent movie.
Dutton) and she has been seeing a Violent Spirit (Kathlenn Mackey) trying to help her to see the truth what happen to Dr. Grey and the Violent Spirit.Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (The Crimson Rivers, Hate) made a extremely familiar but a well made stylish supernatural horror film.
Berry gives a good performance but she surrounded by an solid supporting cast like Robert Downey Jr., Penélope Cruz, John Carroll Lynch and Bernard Hill.
In Mathieu Kassovitz's Gothika, Penélope Cruz and Halle Berry share a shower, but DON'T soap up each other's jubblies; that glaring goof aside, the film is a worthwhile supernatural thriller—smartly written, with slick direction, solid acting, and some effective shocks—one that should pass the time fairly painlessly for fans of mainstream horror.Halle Berry plays penitentiary psychiatrist Miranda Grey who winds up as an inmate herself after she inexplicably chops up her hubby with an axe.
With no memory of the murder, Miranda begins to suspect that there is a supernatural reason for her brutal act.Although the story evolves in a predictable Hollywood manner, the well developed atmosphere, stylish visuals, and some great supporting performances (the aforementioned Cruz, Robert Downey Jr. and Bernard Hill) all go to make this an enjoyable, if not exceptional, creepy murder mystery.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb..
In addition, it stars the Spanish Penelope Cruz and Bernard Hill, the famous captain of the well known "Titanic¨ picture.It's a good spooky film which begins with Berry as a physician happily married, who is later locked in a jail framed to kill his husband .
The film was lavishly produced by Dark Castle , production specialized on terror genre and in charge of Joel Silver , Robert Zemeckis and Gilbert Adler ; both of them have produced successful terror movies dealing with eerie tales about horror , grisly killings and lots of blood and gore such as ¨House of haunted hill¨, ¨Return to house of haunted hill¨ , ¨13 ghosts¨ , ¨Ghost ship¨, ¨House of wax¨ , Whiteout¨ , ¨Splice¨ , ¨The reaping¨ , ¨Orphan¨ , among others .
There are elements of the supernatural mixed into the plot to be sure, but it is the lovely and talented Halle Berry that makes this film memorable..
Lights flicker menacingly and steely grey corridors echo with the sound of Ms. Berry crying 'help, I've fallen down another plot hole'...Whilst French actor-director Kassovitz has assembled an interesting support cast (Dutton, Carroll Lynch, Hill, Harewood), as with his previous thriller Les Rivières Pourpres (The Crimson Rivers) he is completely hamstrung by a ludicrous and implausible story.
Often an interesting actor, here Downey Jr. tries for ambiguous but ends up just plain creepy (contrast with Jeff Bridges in Jagged Edge) although Cruz fares better, playing against type for once to some effect.And Ms. Berry?
Other characters, include Robert Downey Jr. as "the colleague/friend (who happens to be the 2nd best doctor at the prison) who becomes her doctor and wants to help her because he loves her even though he doesn't believe her story", and Penelope Cruz as "the crazy inmate/ex-patient of Miranda's who becomes her only friend on the inside when everyone else thinks she's guilty and/or crazy."  There are more, but I won't name them all.The scares in this movie were cheap and blatantly telegraphed to the point where I laughed out loud at the people in the theater who jumped.
Even the ghost does not understand the plot !.The majority of scenes do lend themselves to a slightly uncomfortable mood , but most of the shocks are just the same old build up of dramatic music then the compulsory pop up scare.I love a good scary phsycological thriller but this one left me confused and laughing at the suddenness of the ending.
A movie that can put the viewer in with the actors, has to be a good one!I do not understand why the IMDB customers are only voting Gothika a 5.6, when Gothika was very well written, directed, had great special effects, and I must say that Halle Berry needs to win another "Best Actress" Oscar after seeing this film!
Gothika is a new-fashioned ghost story in which a conscientious, well-liked criminal psychologist (Halle Berry) wakes up in a cell in the very insane asylum in which she works - and she's accused of a heinous crime.
If you stop to think about what Miranda's doing, you'll realize how little of it makes any real sense.Gothika is overwrought; its twists are broadcast so blatantly that you'll feel like the electroshock therapy some of the patients at the institute receive.
Oh boy, I don't even know where to start.Basically, Halle Berry stars as Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist in a creepy mental hospital who one day wakes up in one of the cells, apparently for violently killing her husband (Charles S.
There's also horrible dialogue ("I'm not deluded...I'm possessed!"), Berry's thoroughly underwhelming running-and-shrieking performance (Robert Downey Jr. is the only actor to escape with his dignity), the HUGE holes in the plot, and the movie's portrayal of the mentally ill, which is crude and offensive.
This is a decent supernatural thriller with good acting performances by Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz.
Although without mentioning my flatmates' DVDs, obviously."Gothika" tells the tale of brilliant psychiatrist Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) who works at an asylum so dark and Gothic that you imagine it right next door to the Addam's family.
Downey Jr looked like he needed a little more rehab time in some scenes while Penelope Cruz (as one of Grey's patients / best buddies) plays the part exactly the same as anyone if they'd read "Acting Like Mental Patients For Dummies".
Halle Berry stars as a psychatrist who during a dark and stormy night (this cliche is appropriate for this movie) sees a woman in the street, blacks out, and wakes up in the psychatric ward she works in as a patient accused of killing her husband.
Halle Berry portrays Dr. Miranda Richardson extremely well, waking up suddenly one day as a patient in the very institution she worked, accused of murdering her husband.
As a supernatural movie, Gothika actually moves way beyond what viewers may think, but this doesn't mean the film should be ignored: the story can actually keep us guessing as to what happens next, and that's what makes Gothika more interesting to me.A great performance from Robert Downey Jr., although Penelope Cruz seemed an odd choice to play patient Chloe.
Great eerie atmosphere created by the ominous dark settings though.Gothika was the first movie in which I'd seen Halle Berry in, and she carries her role off significantly well.
A repressed female psychiatrist (Halle Berry) wakes up as a patient in the asylum where she worked, with no memory of why she is there or what she has done.How do you put John Carroll Lynch and Robert Downey in a movie and have it be bad?
Halle Berry is a beautiful woman, but here she spends most of the movie weeping, grieving, scared to death, and otherwise emoting in such ways as to undermine her natural good looks.
The acting by Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., and Penélope Cruz are all great.With intriguing characters and original plot, this movie delivers the thrills and chills and will keep you entertained throughout.
Set in a female psychiatric institution, Gothika tells the story of Dr Miranda Grey (Berry), a criminal psychiatrist who suddenly finds herself as in inmate of the institution she works at, with no memory of a murder that she is accused of committing.
Add to this the buzzing and flickering of florescent lights within the tiny psychiatric cells gives you an also clichéd, but very effective 'dirty' and uncomfortable feeling  very reminiscent of B-Grade horror movies.Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (who played the role of 'Nino Quincampoix' in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Amelie'), Halle Berry's portrayal of her character is well done as is the performance by Penelope Cruz who plays Chloe, Dr Grey's abused patient.
About Gothika: A brilliant and respected criminal psychologist, Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is an expert at knowing what is rational.Under the direction of her husband (Charles S.
Dutton), Miranda treats dangerously disturbed patients at the Woodward Penitentiary for Women.But Miranda's life is thrust into terrifying jeopardy after a cryptic encounter with a mysterious young girl leads to a nightmare beyond her wildest imagination.Xcellent movie to own or just watch,  This movie is great for those that need lots of action to stay awake!Gothika keeps your mind working and you toes curled!Unlike most "wanna-be" thriller movies Gothika has a great cast, great story line and leaves you in suspense on more than one occasion.Gothika only has one fault that I can find, being that I cant figure out why its called Gothika, but none the less.....ENJOY THE MOVIE!!!.
It feels like a mix of horror flicks in their most seen parts, that ends up being offensive for its shameless rip-offs (John Ottman's score is a carbon copy of James Newton Howard's "The Sixth Sense"), utter predictability (c'mon, how many countless times have we seen the lonely character driving at night beneath the soaking rain and thunderstorm?), and many serious plot holes (can anyone explain how that final coda can exist?).
Dr Miranda Grey (played by Halle Berry) is a highly respected psychologist and works the mental asylum section of a prison.
The supernatural stuff was vastly overdone: if it had stuck to being a mystery-drama it would have been much more believable and interesting.Decent performances from Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr. Penelope Cruz was wasted in such a minor role though..
The third horror outing from Dark Castle productions (following on from HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and THIRTEEN GHOSTS) and the first NOT to be a remake, GOTHIKA is a surprisingly serious mental-institute thriller which eschews the rubbery gore and bloodshed of the previous two movies in favour of psychological shocks and a "I'm losing my mind!" scenario.
The final half hour of the film has some neat twists and is pretty eventful, but viewers must endure an hour of tedium before the payoff.Oscar-winner Halle Berry reveals a poor choice in movies (something proved by her turn in the following year's CATWOMAN) and, whilst adequate in this turn, she's hardly outstanding.
Halle Berry plays Dr Miranda Grey a psychiatrist working in a female asylum with her husband.
I doubt a psychiatrist is likely to end up as a patient in her own hospital but Berry tries to be believable but the script can be preposterous and dialogue is not always good.Yet the film is engaging enough with enough thrills and chills to keep it going although you kind of guess what the dark secrets could be..
Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a psychiatrist who works in a prison mental institution.
With an all-star cast this film was, almost inevitably, not given the best reviews when it was released.Gothika follows the story of a psychiatrist, Miranda Grey, whose life suddenly becomes a lot more complicated - but why?
I think that they made this movie just to fit in with the recent slew of psychological/supernatural thrillers involving a creepy ghost girl and a twist ending.
Robert Downey Jr., and Halle Berry held this picture together, although I doubt if either one of these actors enjoyed making this film..
Gothika is not a great film by any standard but it does have some real creepy scenes and a pretty good story where mental patients and their plight are concerned.
However, the dark, brooding promise of the film was excellent and Halle Berry and Robert Downing Jnr put in two good performances.
The sign of a great actress, although this is not the best film she will ever act in and it will not win any Oscars, I predict that Halle Berry will win more awards than the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball.After seeing the final scene with the ghost of the little boy standing in the road and the poster asking if anyone had seen him, poor Miranda appears to be the chosen one to champion those who have met untimely and horrible deaths.
A psychological horror movie with a surprisingly good story, Gothika (Whose name's relevance is not clear) manages to avoid being predictable from the outset and gives a decent couple of hours of entertainment.Halle Berry is criminal psychiatrist Dr Miranda Grey, happily married to the penitentiary boss Doug.
The rest of the movie is a mystery of her trying to figure out what is happening to her.This essentially got slated by the press, and IMDb gives it about 6 or so out of 10, but while I can see why many people would take a dim view of it I also managed to find it half decent if you don't take it too seriously.It certainly helps that Robert Downey Jnr features as Grey's former colleague and now current doctor Pete Graham, because he truly is rolls royce in Hollywood.
"Gothika" is an above-average ghost story/mystery film, but has a really interesting ending.
The plot revolves around Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry), a very smart and successful person who works at a mental institution for women.
But soon after awaking in the institution, she is then plagued by visions of a ghostly girl that may have a connection to her - and it may just help her solve the mystery behind her husband's murder, and explain what really happened.A well photographed and moody horror movie, "Gothika" is an above-average supernatural thriller with a wonderfully executed twist and some great performances.
I was very impressed with the acting here, Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., and Penelope Cruz are all amazing in their roles.
The really fast ending was like pulling the power cord out of your DVD player while the credit titles were still rolling.The cast makes up 200% for this, especially Halle Berry of course.Now lets try to compare Gothika to a real world mental hospital.
In Gothika, Halle Berry plays criminal psychologist Miranda Grey.
Halle Berry especially stiff and colourless.Good effects is the only thing that made me not through my guts out when watching these movie.If you want to see this, reconsider!
Sorry, I didn't find it that scary, because I found myself trying to figure out what really happened.So whether you are a fan of Halle, a suspense movie buff, or even someone who likes cuddling up with a who-dun-it film, this one's for you!
the plot is full of everything you have ever seen in a ghost story/horror film before.
This one doesn't.In fact it's more of a whodunnit than a ghost story, and the ghost aspect is a lot more believable than the resolution - which frankly just doesn't work other than as a plot device.However the movie is still worth watching - but purely for Halle Berry.
Halle Berry stars as Miranda Grey accused of murdering her husband played by Charles Dutton.
"Gothika" has the promise of being a dark, Twilight Zone type story where a psychologist at an asylum played by the always beautiful, Halle Berry, drives home from work and finds herself having to take an alternative route and comes across a mysterious girl.
Halle Berry might have starred in worse films than this complete maudlin of a movie, but I very much doubt it.
How can I explain a movie like Gothika Ok. Take some parts of Stir of the Echoes and some Sixth Sense make Halle Berry give us and advance of her new Cat Woman and that's it.This movie just gives you some entertainment for a while, some good suspense but that's it.
Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penelope Cruz, and all the supporting actors gave great performances.