MOVIE REVIEW

Gothika  (2003)

Starring: Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penélope Cruz
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz

Rating: R

Studio: Warner Bros.

Release Date: 11.21.03

Review Posted: 11.21.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

Dark "Gothika" Showcase for Gifted Berry

It’s nice to see people in Hollywood taking risks. Even when they don’t quite pan out or completely come together, risk taking in Hollywood is so unbelievably rare of late to see it happen is a fragrantly blissful breath of fresh air. So much pap and pabulum comes out of Tinsel Town, even a hint of intelligence and a bit of the unusual is cause for celebration.

This fall has seen just the sort of risk taking the major studios just don’t do anymore. From Peter Weir’s wondrous epic “Master and Commander” to Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” all the way to coming releases from Edward Zwick (“The Last Samurai”) and Anthony Minghella (“Cold Mountain”), there is a lot of money being spent on films that don’t fit the cookie cutter mold. How unlikely, then, to find the silly B-movie mavens over at Dark Castle getting in on the act. Known for low-budget gross-out duds like the William Castle remakes “The House on Haunted Hill” and “13 Ghosts,” Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis’ little company isn’t exactly a home for the avant garde.

Now comes the studio’s fourth - and by far most ambitious - offering, the paranormal suspense chiller “Gothika” starring recent “Monster’s Ball” Oscar-winner Halle Berry. What could have been a pale imitation of “The Shining” and “Jacob’s Ladder” under the assured hand of French director Mathieu Kassovitz (“La Haine”) instead becomes nearly something special. And, even if it is finally undone by supercilious final act that – rather unfortunately – almost drags the movie into the gutter, “Gothika” is a surprisingly smart and taut horror thriller atypical of Dark Castle’s other, almost unwatchable, fare.

Berry stars as noted criminal psychologist Dr. Miranda Grey. She works under the direction of her husband Dr. Doug Grey (Charles S. Dutton, “Get On the Bus”) in the psychiatric ward at the Woodward Penitentiary for Women. Miranda keeps an emotionally detached distance from her patients, especially the violently unhinged Chloe (Penelope Cruz, “All About My Mother”), incarcerated for the brutal and bloody murder of her husband. She claims to have been visited by Satan himself, possessed to carry out her gruesome crimes by a nefarious demon living inside of her.

But Miranda is too smart and sensible to believe such nonsense. Along with associate Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey, Jr., “Wonder Boys”), her thinking goes along linear tangents, trying to find the rational reasons behind outlandish claims such as Chloe’s. But all this changes when Miranda blacks out during her drive home one night while she’s caught in a blinding rainstorm. The last thing she remembers is finding a half-clothed girl covered in blood standing in the middle of the road, her piercing screams echoing unforgettably through her mind.

That’s unfortunate, for Miranda now finds herself on the other side of the glass at Woodward, accused of zestfully dismembering her husband with an axe and leaving his remains scattered about their residence. As Miranda starts to delve deeper into these events, she starts to discover her sober take on reality not all it’s cracked up to be, and Chloe’s ramblings of ghostly possession might be more apropos than she could have ever realized. It is as if Miranda is being haunted by a particularly pissed off specter; deep cuts appear on her arm spelling out the words “not alone,” Chloe looks as though she’s raped by a demon with a ghastly tattoo of a burning woman shackled in chains, ghosts of the long departed materialize wandering the halls of the penitentiary on a computer screen; and it has no intention of leaving her alone until it’s macabre plan plays out.

As things spiral out of control and Miranda’s hold on sanity starts to waiver, Pete tries to peal through her hysterical veneer for hint of mental normalcy. But his former colleague isn’t going to be able to help him in this theoretical give and take, her studiously fastidious former profundity for all that’s explainable slowly ebbing away. “I don’t believe in ghosts,” Miranda assures her friend, “but they believe in me.”

Kassovitz and writer Sebastian Gutierrez (“Judas Kiss”) get so much right with “Gothika” that it is truly a shame when the film completely goes off the rails during its final third. Until then, however, this is quite frankly one of the most stylish and intelligently made shockers to have come down the pike in years. Picking up right where he left off with the decadently gruesome “The Crimson Rivers” starring Jean Reno, Kassovitz makes a potently stinging Hollywood debut. He guides the first two thirds of the movie with masterful ease, echoing the gothic grace of Hitchcock and Kubrick. Scenes are set up slowly and with painstaking detail, Kassovitz allowing each corner of the screen to become a potential hiding place for the malevolent. He expertly utilizes the skills of acclaimed cinematographer Matthew Libatique (“Requiem for a Dream”), the camera gliding in and out of darkness like an arrow shot by an expert marksman focused solely on producing terrifying suspense.

But “Gothika” isn’t just a technical wonder; it’s also a strong showcase for the talented Berry. Justifiably lauded for her work in “Monster’s Ball,” she’s required to do far more in this movie than she ever was there. “Gothika” lives and dies upon the actress’ svelte shoulders, and Berry proves to be more than up to the task. Her Miranda is a tough nut; a logical thinker forced to rely solely upon her instincts for survival. Berry makes this transition not only believably, but palpable. The character grows during the film from timid academic to a forceful open-minded Ripley-like dynamo capable of taking charge and setting things right with her own two hands. It is a wonderful performance, the type of which horror films rarely see, and “Gothika” is all the better for it.

If only such wonderful things could be said about the rest of the cast. Gutierrez’s screenplay reduces great actors like Downey, Dutton, Bernard Hill (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) and John Carroll Lynch (“Fargo”) to stick figures, only necessary to provide the requisite clues that can lead Miranda to her elusive answers. In fact, only Cruz is given a chance to make an impression. As a veteran of other mind-bending chillers like “Open Your Eyes” (and its American remake “Vanilla Sky”) she knows her part in Kassovitz’ mousetrap of terror well, and her Chloe is an enigmatic enigma who’s role in the central conundrum only becomes clear as the film progresses.

But stock characters are the least of the problem. After setting the stage for one of the most intelligently plotted ghostly mysteries I’ve seen in years, the final third of “Gothika” descends into such mindless blood-spattering idiocy that I almost wanted to throw my hands up in disgust. The formerly intelligent Miranda starts acting like an imbecile, characters do things no one working in a prison would ever do and the resolution to the movie’s gothic mystery is so stupid it’s almost too much. Whereas Kubrick, Hitchcock or Roman Polanski would have had the guts to take the story to a more devastatingly horrific conclusion, Gutierrez wimps out, deciding it better to end his film with a coda of incorporeal revenge that’s just this side of banal. There’s more wit and risk taking going on in a weekly episode of “Angel” then there is going on in this film’s lame denouement, and my good will towards “Gothika” almost evaporated because of it.

I say almost, for Kassovitz and Berry do make the movie quite worthwhile much of the way through. This is a director of real talent, and it is a risky, unglamorous role for an actress of Berry’s renowned beauty. All in all, “Gothika” can be applauded for at least trying to lend legitimacy to a long-maligned genre and give a studio known for schlock horror a chance to break new ground. And even if the end isn’t worth getting to, the journey most of the way there is at least worth the effort.

Rating: êê1/2  (out of 4)

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