Metascore

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 36 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 60 Ratings

  • Starring: Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr.
  • Summary: This supernatural thriller is the chilling tale of a brilliant psychiatrist (Berry) who experiences an unwelcome awakening when she is accused of committing a heinous murder she cannot remember. (Warner Bros.)
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 36
  2. Negative: 10 out of 36
  1. 75
    In trash as in art there is no accounting for taste, and reader, I cherished this movie in all of its lurid glory.
  2. May try to revive the eerie spirit of the Gothic novel, but, unless you're suffering from amnesia yourself, it probably won't surprise or thrill you.
  3. For a while there, Mathieu Kassovitz's atmospherically charged direction sucks the viewer into the story's hellish vortex. That is until the film becomes possessed by an increasingly ludicrous beyond-the-grave element from which there is no rational return.
  4. French director Mathieu Kassovitz Frenches this flimsy tale to death. No scene goes underplayed, no performance (save one, from Robert Downey Jr.) lacks volume, no horror cliche is forgotten.

See all 36 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 42
  2. Negative: 15 out of 42
  1. If you are able to identify with Halle Berry's character and truly feel everything she feels, then this film plays on your emotions with an exhilaratingly force. If not, the film will seem scattershot and its mistakes will be all the more obvious. It all depends on perception. Expand
  2. RandyM.
    7
    Gothika was overall an average movie, but it proved to have some very terrifying moments witch will make your heart beat like you would not believe. It's that scary. Expand
  3. LearnFrenchWithGilbertMulroneycakes
    7
    Lots of dumb. Lots and lots and lots and lots of dumb. And on that level, lots and lots and lots and lots of fun as well. It's not very "good" in the classical sense, but you can't review a film in any terms but its own, and on the level it's shooting for - the juxtaposition of lots o'dumb and lots o'fun - it pretty much hits the target. Not the sort of thing that should have Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Downey in it, though. Not the kind of movie you'd pay the price of cinema tickets to see, either. One to rent (but not from Blockbuster), ideally on a dark and stormy night, in a darkened room with a truckload of popcorn and your girlboy next to you - because there's even a little bit of the Bruised Forearm factor going on here, and that's never a bad thing. Expand
  4. I'm not that into Horror flicks, but I think that this one is pretty decent. The script was a little bit weak and the talented cast was wasted on a so-so cliche plot. But, it was entertaining. This is a rare occasion when I disagree with the critics, but yes, I've enjoyed Gothika. Expand

See all 42 User Reviews

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