Gothika

Year of release : 2003

 

Run time : 1h38min

 

Genre : Thriller / Horror

 

Cast : Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr, Penelope Cruz, Charles S. Dutton, Bernard Hill

 

 

Gothika, which can also be spelled Gothica, is a term for a situation in which someone sees or feels things that no one else can. Another definition states that Gothika is a terrifying dream or vision. Source ScreenRant

 

Psychiatrist Miranda Grey is working for a mental institution where her husband is the boss. She is good at her job,respected and liked by all the personnel.

 

One rainy night,as she takes a detour,she encounters a beaten,bloody girl and she offers to help. She wakes up 3 days later in the psychiatric ward as a patient.

 

Her colleague and friend,doctor Pete Graham,tells her she was acting crazy and that she killed her husband. From here on,she starts remembering bits and pieces,as she is haunted by this girl,at the same time fighting to prove her innocence to her peers and friends.

 

Miranda keeps on seeing 'Not Alone' written on the murd3r scene and even on her body after the ghost attacked her, and she is trying to figure out what 'Not Alone' means.

The movie is beautiful, the visuals merge with the score in perfect symbiosis, as if the audio is the sound translation of the video. The movie was shot on this beautiful blue grey, it looks very stylish. I loved the way the movie was filmed,the angles.

Most of the time,until Miranda finds out what truly happened,it's raining,as if the ghost is in mourning,and its feelings bleed through the real world.

 

The acting was great,everybody was great,especially Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz. Halle had to scream a lot, her role was also very physical.

 

The visual effects are still great,I recall the producer of Matrix worked on this movie,so you see some visual effects inspired by it,like the rain scene.

The soundtrack was beautiful,eerie, haunting,setting the mood.

The movie received mostly negative reviews from critics, but it grossed 141.6 million dollars against a budget of 40 million. The audiences, however, gave it a B, on a A+ to F scale.

Nonetheless, the movie was nominated for Best Movie at the Teen Choice Awards and the Golden Trailer Awards, and Halle Berry was nominated for Best Actress at the Teen Choice Awards, Black Reel Awards,MTV Movie Awards and Image Awards.

Rating : It's so money !