Gothika

Gothika is an average movie that won’t offend anyone, but will rather blend in with the crowd over time. The more reserved first half is saved by the thrilling second half, only for the whole thing to ultimately be sunk by the ridiculous climax. A class below The Eye and The Ring. (26.01.2004)

Kassovitz is certainly a talented filmmaker and he handled Gothika with great clarity and grace, but as is customary in ghost films, the precisely built atmosphere of most of the plot is completely walled off by a routine and far-fetched finale. As long as the unknown is conducted to the protagonist in terrifying visions, hints and excellently filmed "creeps", the atmosphere of Gothika is dense, electrifying and dark. As long as the interesting-looking plot, in which the subjective narrative of psychologist Miranda and the voice of an objective narrator are vaguely permeated, holds mysterious notes, everything is in perfect order. The viewer doubts where the truth is and teeters on the edge of doubt as to whether she is in fact crazy. Unfortunately, the ending offers a conventional bloody finale in which all mysticism disappears into thriller naturalism. It's hard to say whether there's more to be done with commercial ghost films than The Sixth Sense demonstrated, but Gothika is an example of a film that looks promising for 2/3 of the runtime to end up being a better Hollywood loop. It’s too bad. But thanks to the directing, camera, editing, music, Halle Berry and the rising atmosphere, it's worth seeing... Quite similar course and result to Zemeckis's thriller What Lies Beneath. The potential used is only 70%. (05.12.2005)

Gothika isn't boring, it's just relentlessly stupid in almost every way. The script in particular is enormously dull. From about a third of the way through, everything is clear and we watch the slow, poorly acted progression of the protagonist towards the "shocking" twist. (10.08.2004)

Gothika is a highly polarized film, where on one hand there is a below-average script with a lot of illogical constructions, and on the other hand, a solid cast and masterful direction. It depends on whether you want to think about how and why... or just surrender to the atmosphere and enjoy. If you choose the former, subtract 15-20% from my rating. I chose the latter and it gave me a 70% overall impression. It is a grateful role for Berry, which she handled with honor - in any case, her above-average performance, and Penelope plays her standard, which means well. In a few scenes, I was startled or had a feeling of unease, what more can one ask for in a horror film? Gothika will never belong to the genre's peaks, but it's worth watching once. (11.05.2007)

Mathieu Kassovitz's direction is very solid and dynamic, the cinematography and editing are ok, and there are a lot of directorial ideas, but what is utterly mishandled is the content. (05.08.2004)

If the movie "Gothika" didn't have such logical errors and if Halle Berry wasn't so annoying at times, it would be an extremely good horror, because there are scenes that are truly terrifying. Unfortunately, some of them are completely pointless, without any real explanation and not firmly integrated into the plot. I wonder if John Carroll Lynch's wife slept in the same room with her husband after watching the movie. Or in the same house. (05.02.2015)