\Gothika,"" a new psychological thriller, does exactly what it sets out to do-it keeps viewers guessing, screaming and jumping out of their seats. However, the film does so at the expense of a logical and plausible plot. But perhaps a film about insanity should not have a plot that clearly lays out reasoning behind each twist and turn.
In the film Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is driving home one dark and stormy night when she swerves off the road after seeing a battered girl in her headlights. Attempting to check if the girl is hurt, Grey approaches the girl, who then bursts into flames.
Three days later, Grey wakes up as a patient in the same insane asylum where she left just days ago as the lead psychiatrist. Her former colleague, Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.), informs a terrified and flustered Grey that she killed her husband, Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton).
As Grey tries to remember, Chloe (Penelope Cruz), a former patient of Grey's and now a fellow inmate, informs Grey the more she tries to make sense of things, the less the doctors will believe her. Even after the battered girl's ghost carves ""Not Alone"" into Grey's arm during a distressing group-shower scene, the doctors do not believe a ghost is attacking her but rather punish her for attempting suicide
Through periodic assaults and shocking appearances, the ghost lures Grey out of the sanitarium, directing her toward the scene of the crime to reveal the dark secret surrounding Grey's husband's brutal murder. What Grey finds is the reasoning behind the ghost's appearances and the sadistic sexual rituals behind two murders.
Inside the bleak, dark setting of an asylum for the criminally insane, Halle successfully plays the vulnerable, ""wrong woman accused"" character of classic Hitchcock horror films. With the use of overstretched scenes and long silences to keep audiences jumping at any small sound or movement, director Mathieu Kassovitz creates a cross between a ""good ol'"" horror movie and a modern day, suspenseful thriller.
Berry and Cruz clearly are able to move beyond the Hollywood starlet roles and slip into the murky insanity within their characters in ""Gothika."" With arms flailing and legs kicking, Berry lures the audience into her mind, allowing everyone to try to figure out what is really going on. While usually intrigued by Cruz's beauty, most viewers will find her freakishly spooky with her beauty surpassed by her oversized stark white gown and her portrayal of a raging mad murderer.
Although some may still be intrigued to see the film solely for the group shower sequence with Berry and Cruz, it is still likely they will miss most the scene by covering their eyes or hiding in their neighbor's sleeve during this edge-of-your-seat thriller. The lack of logic works in this film, taking audiences on one traumatizing roller-coaster ride.
