Gothika film review

certificate_15

GOTHIKA

It seems a prerequisite for horror films that the generally reliable national grid is prone to failure at the most inopportune moments. It's invariably in conjunction with lightning and the presence of some paranormal activity or a prowling murderer. Over the years the genre has established an arsenal of tricks that alert audiences to impending danger. It's something director Mathieu Kassovitz is obviously well familiar with as Gothika boasts every horror cliché in the book in its shameless pursuit of seat jumping moments.

This may be enough for those content with being sporadically frightened, but for those looking for something in between the shocks, Gothika has little to offer. Too contrived and corny, it reduces the considerable talents of its cast to B movie status. Halle Berry fluctuates from overly earnest to hysterical while parading around in tight t-shirts, while Robert Downey Jr. is uncharacteristically shackled by his dour demands.

Had Kassovitz, best known to audiences as the object of Audrey Tatou's affections in Amélie, and writer Sebastien Gutierrez expended as much effort on creating a tenable story as they did on incorporating every horror gimmick, it might have helped. Alongside the inevitable lightning and flickering lights, there is plenty of loud banging, eerie music and bloodcurdling cries. While the film's dutifully sinister look comes courtesy of bathing everything in murky tones of grey and blue.

The somewhat indistinct plot involves "brilliant psychiatrist" Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) who works in a state prison for the criminally insane alongside her husband (Charles S. Dutton). After heading home one night in a storm she encounters an apparition. The next thing she knows she is being held in the same prison for the brutal murder of her husband. With no memory of events, her sanity is challenged by onetime colleague and admirer Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.). Prone to hallucinatory images of a dead girl, Grey implores, "I'm not deluded, I'm possessed" and escapes in an effort to find out what happened.

Gothika's other mystery is why the likes of Berry, Downey and Cruz would sign up for something so trite. The ghostly tale is not without its startling moments, but its loose story and unintentional laughs result in hands being used to stifle yawns and snickers rather than peeping through.