MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 44 this week

Gothika (2003)

5.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 5.7/10 from 63,837 users   Metascore: 38/100
Reviews: 365 user | 202 critic | 36 from Metacritic.com

Ghost story in which a repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the very asylum where she worked with no memory of why she is there and what she has done.

Director:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 2654 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 303 titles created 28 Nov 2010
 
a list of 1024 titles created 10 months ago
 
a list of 638 titles created 14 Mar 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Gothika (2003)

Gothika (2003) on IMDb 5.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Gothika.
2 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Case 39 (2009)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A social worker fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected.

Director: Christian Alvart
Stars: Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane
Mirrors I (2008)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6/10 X  

An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

Director: Alexandre Aja
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Cameron Boyce
The Ring (2002)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.

Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman
Hide and Seek (2005)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

As a widower tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide, his daughter finds solace -- at first -- in her imaginary friend.

Director: John Polson
Stars: Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen
Thriller | Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

After being hypnotized by his sister in law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.

Director: David Koepp
Stars: Zachary David Cope, Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe
Ghost Ship (2002)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.3/10 X  

A salvage crew that discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea soon notices, as they try to tow it back to land, that "strange things" happen...

Director: Steve Beck
Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

Four teens are in great danger one year after their car hits a stranger whose body they dump in the sea.

Director: Jim Gillespie
Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe
Saw II (2005)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

Jigsaw locks a few unlucky people in a booby trapped shelter and they must find a way out before they inhale too much of a lethal nerve gas and die. But they must watch out, for the traps Jigsaw has set in the shelter lead to death also.

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Stars: Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Emmanuelle Vaugier
Devil (2010)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

A group of people are trapped in an elevator and the Devil is mysteriously amongst them.

Director: John Erick Dowdle
Stars: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Bokeem Woodbine
Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

In this third installment of the Final Destination series, a student's premonition of a deadly rollercoaster ride saves her life and a lucky few, but not from death itself which seeks out those who escaped their fate.

Director: James Wong
Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche
6 Souls II (2010)
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6/10 X  

A female forensic psychiatrist discovers that all of one of her patient's multiple personalities are murder victims. She will have to find out what's happening before her time is finished.

Directors: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Stars: Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey DeMunn
Urban Legend (1998)
Horror | Thriller | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.3/10 X  

A college coed suspects that murders around her campus are connected to Urban Legends.

Director: Jamie Blanks
Stars: Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
Phil Parsons
...
...
Teddy Howard
Bronwen Mantel ...
Irene
...
Rachel Parsons
...
Turlington
Michel Perron ...
Joe
...
Anana Rydvald ...
Glass Cell Nurse
Laura Mitchell ...
Inmate
...
Inmate
Edit

Storyline

A criminal psychologist awakens to find herself a patient in the institution where she works, with no memory of the murder she's accused of committing. As she tries to regain her memory - and her freedom - a vengeful spirit manipulates her. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Not Alone. See more »

Genres:

Thriller

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, brief language and nudity | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

|

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

21 November 2003 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Gotika  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,166,125 (Australia) (30 April 2004)

Gross:

$4,220,276 (Australia) (28 May 2004)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Halle Berry broke her arm filming a scene with Robert Downey Jr.. Downey was supposed to grab her arm and twist but twisted too hard and the arm snapped. Production was halted for eight weeks. See more »

Goofs

When Pete talks to Miranda for the first time after the murder, and is crouched with his back to the cell door, two plastic cups are on the floor. As he rises, the cups have changed positions. One is lying on the floor, facing Pete. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Chloe: He came back again last night and tore me like paper. He opened me like a flower of pain, and it felt good. He sank into me and set me on fire, like he always does. Made me burn from the inside out.
Miranda: How did you know it was the devil?
See more »

Connections

Features Them! (1954) See more »

Soundtracks

"Reach Out I'll Be There"
Written by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland (as Edward Holland Jr.)
Performed by The Four Tops
Courtesy of Motown Records
Under License from Universal Music Enterprises
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Don't believe the hype, this is worth a look
12 February 2005 | by (Vulcan) – See all my reviews

Stars operating at the level of Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz are bound to disappoint critics along the way, especially when the critics are just waiting for some sign of weakness upon which to feed. While there is nothing wrong with any of the acting in this film - these are not the kinds of roles Oscar winners and nominees are expected to indulge in.

What's more, Berry and Cruz signed onto a film made by a production team which has typecast itself with some fairly disappointing ghost stories / horror films involving big-names in the recent past.

Finally, this is one of those cases where the trailer was so good that the film could not possibly follow it.

So what?

If you approach this film without expectations, and with an open mind, you will be entertained. It's a tight, disturbing psychological/supernatural thriller which, though a little predictable at times, nevertheless offers some frightening imagery and a few good solid scares. That said, this is not a film for people who have trouble paying attention or for people who need straightforward answers. If you don't really pay attention to what is going on in this film, you could easily dismiss it as a more adult version of Sixth Sense or just another dumb ghost story. This film deserves more credit than that.

Personally, I don't think it's a ghost story at all- but that is a question best left open.

I have seen a number of films by this team - House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts and Ghost Ship. Of these, I found 13 Ghosts and the House on Haunted Hill to be entertaining, but not very intelligent. Ghost Ship was tremendously disappointing - even Gabriel Byrne could not save that film. Gothika is easily the best of the lot, and also the darkest. The film is shot in dark blue, black and gray tones, and the use of lighting is nothing short of artistic. Despite the cliché title, the occasional plot clichés, and all the negative publicity generated by critics, I found this film to be surprisingly entertaining, intelligent, and disturbing.

Most of the 'plot holes' cited by some reviewers here on IMDb are more likely gaps in the attention spans of the viewers themselves or intentional ambiguities designed by the production team. This, unlike any of this team's previous work, does not provide unambiguous explanations.

Cruz and Berry are, respectively, patient and psychiatrist in a high security prison for the criminally insane. The Gothic environment of this facility is not meant to be realistic, but surreal, and the effect works. From the first time you see the place, you question its own reality. The film constantly manipulates mood through cinematographic techniques like this.

Shortly after the film opens, Berry finds herself experiencing what some of her allegedly delusional patients talk to her about. Robert Downey's portrayal of her friend and, now, therapist, is uneven, but satisfactory.

To describe the rest of the plot would require spoilers, so I won't bother. Suffice to say that even the occasional predictability of this film did not detract from my enjoyment of it.

The film uses just enough ambiguity to permit the audience to wonder whether what they are seeing is really happening or whether it is a product of our protagonist's subconscious mind. And then, in the end, the film makes you question whether it matters.


126 of 158 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
A therapist question surlyroo
most disgusting terrible movie EVER bannor216
Ending Help swolfcg
Worst kiss in cinema history bluesy-blue-sea
best part of the movie mslady89
Song during the end credits! umakrishna_uk
Discuss Gothika (2003) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?