Gothika is an all star mystery chiller with a dash of horror. Halle Berry plays Dr Miranda Grey a psychiatrist working in a female asylum with her husband. As a psychiatrist she believes in a rational expression which is sometimes at odds with her patients experience such as Penelope Cruz who claims she has been at the asylum.

Driving home one night during torrential rain Miranda gets involved in an accident and the sees a girl standing in the middle of the road. She then wakes up in the same asylum but not as a doctor but as an inmate and she is accused of killing her husband brutally.

Confused, delirious and in a state of shock she continues to have visions of the girl. Her former colleagues such as Robert Downey Jr try to do what they can knowing her husband was also an esteemed colleague of theirs, Dr Grey realises that the visions might be trying to her something and everything in the hospital is not what it seems.

The film tries to tread a line between keeping serious and falling off the rails and maybe does not always succeed. I doubt a psychiatrist is likely to end up as a patient in her own hospital but Berry tries to be believable but the script can be preposterous and dialogue is not always good.

Yet the film is engaging enough with enough thrills and chills to keep it going although you kind of guess what the dark secrets could be.

The third horror outing from Dark Castle productions (following on from HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and THIRTEEN GHOSTS) and the first NOT to be a remake, GOTHIKA is a surprisingly serious mental-institute thriller which eschews the rubbery gore and bloodshed of the previous two movies in favour of psychological shocks and a "I'm losing my mind!" scenario. Sadly, the film as a result is rather uneventful, with too much time spent on aimless wanderings through ill-lit corridors and too little plot to carry it through. The final half hour of the film has some neat twists and is pretty eventful, but viewers must endure an hour of tedium before the payoff.

Oscar-winner Halle Berry reveals a poor choice in movies (something proved by her turn in the following year's CATWOMAN) and, whilst adequate in this turn, she's hardly outstanding. Penelope Cruz does ugly and is pretty poor, it has to be said. Hats off to Robert Downey Jr who is decent and likable as the chief doctor, whilst ALIEN 3's Charles S. Dutton is excellent in the minor role he inhabits. The only other actor of note is King Theoden, Bernard Hill, but he's wasted in what amounts to little more than a cameo.

The most annoying thing about GOTHIKA is the lighting: every shot is dark, punctuated by the flash of broken fluorescent lighting, and the resultant gloom makes the viewing experience a bit of a chore. The horror-movie 'jump' sequences are rather predictable and the film as a whole has a feel of going nowhere. Too many scenes of Berry running through the mental institute seem to use similar, better moments from TERMINATOR 2 as their inspiration, and the mystery and ghostly goings on are kept too subtle, the mystery too inexplicable to care about. Sadly, these negative factors result in a less-than-impressive film; thankfully the guys at Dark Castle went back to the remakes with this year's HOUSE OF WAX.

Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a psychiatrist who works in a prison mental institution. Her husband Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton) is the chief. Her patient Chloe Sava (Penélope Cruz) is claiming that she is being raped by the devil in her cell. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.) is another doctor in the department. One stormy night, Miranda almost runs into a girl on the bridge who turns into flames. She wakes up as an inmate in the penitentiary. Dr. Grey tells her that she's been there for 3 days, and she killed her husband.

It's all mood and no thrills. It's a dark atmospheric movie. It's not really compelling after so much dark moody nothing scenes. It gets very boring. There are long scenes of slow moving uncut sequences. It just grinds on and on and on. I didn't care even when the movie reveals something. Just because the movie shows bad ugly things. It doesn't make it scary.