Personally, I’m one of these people who applaud companies and film-makers to remake old and/or classic horror movies. On the one hand you could argue it’s because there just is no longer any originality or imagination out there to spew out new and interesting movies. But on the other hand it’s such an interesting experiment in the art of perception and just seeing the outcome of a different writer and a different director and how exactly they can manipulate and re-imagine an original story.
But what the hell am I talking about?, Gothika isn’t a remake. No, that’s true but it is the latest production from Dark Castle Entertainment. A production company who up to this point concentrated and was responsible for remakes, remaking notable William Castle movies such as Thirteen Ghosts and House on Haunted Hill. Gothika is the fourth release and such is the first to be an attempted original release. Or so you would think.
Gothika is by no means original. I think ghostly psychological chillers are becoming dull and repetitive. For it is director M Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Sixth Sense’ that I hold solely responsible for the new directions within this sub-genre. And unfortunately it becomes abundantly clear in so many mainstream ghost stories these days that everyone feels the need to live up to the success and style of the fore-mentioned ‘Sense’.
Halle Berry plays Miranda Grey, a female psychologist who after a stormy night drives home only to awaken and find herself a patient in the institution where she works labelled as a murderer. She can’t remember anything but quick dream like flashes, new information, and slow-mo reverse action soon help spell it out. She is possessed by a vengeful spirit.
The nagging though in the back of my head throughout this movie was how similar in so many aspects to director/producer Robert Zemeckis’ 2000 chiller ‘What Lies Beneath’ this was. And of course notably Zemeckis was on board to help produce this movie. But it was all a little run-of-the-mill for my liking and didn’t grab my interest in any particular way.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Again, like previous Dark Castle movies, the editing, sound and occasional manipulative sequences are slick and imaginative. However the story falls flat on its face. SPOILER: Remember the Penélope Cruz character being raped in her cell and Miranda spotting the tattoo. Well, the fact that it was etched onto the back of a large backed white guy kinda gave too much away for me :END SPOILER. So the eventual ending became a little too predictable from very early on.
