Critic's Grade: C+

It's not what "Gothika" possesses in spades that keeps it from being a top-notch camp classic. Heaven knows, there's enough cheese here to put Kraft Foods out of business: you know when your star actress spends the film uttering lines like "I'm not crazy; I'm possessed," you're dealing in pure, B-movie schlock. The fact that the material has not a wink of originality isn't quite so bothersome, though, as the filmmakers' intent to take things a little too seriously. Too much earnestness and not enough tongue-in-cheek make for an experience that isn't a complete waste of time, but once you've predicted the story's outcome (which, by the way, is handed to the audience almost outright), it's all a matter of praying for an impressive visual now and then to keep things lively.

As is the case with most movies of this ilk and breed, the visual integrity of "Gothika" has not been overlooked in the production process. Cinematographer Matthew "Requiem for a Dream" Libatique's dark, moody cinematography fits right into the pantheon of films that rely on style for scares and tension. It's only a shame that the material here is more concerned with trying hard to achieve what it simply won't allow itself to achieve, and that is a basic sense of terror or unease. I admire an emphasis on plot over superficiality, but here we have a case of way too much effort and nowhere near as much effect.

Think of "The Ring" with a far less creative plot: we're introduced to Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry), a highly regarded psychiatrist working in an asylum where lots of dimly lit hallways and corridors factor into the events to come. I'm always puzzled by settings of this sort: who constructs these facilities without even stopping to consider what could happen in the event of a complete power failure? But I'm getting ahead of myself here: after an encounter on a stormy night with an apparition in the middle of the road, Miranda awakens to find herself a prisoner in her own mental ward, guilty of butchering her husband (Charles S. Dutton) to death. Problem is, she has no recollection of her crime; to make matters worse, the prison guards and nurses have the brain capacity that allows them to believe her capable of carving the words "Not Alone" into her arm in a crowded shower in less than thirty seconds time.

You've gotta love how writer Sebastian Gutierrez and director Mathieu Kassovitz continually push their protagonist to the limit throughout the movie. Miranda goes through the motions of your everyday, typical female in distress; were it not for Halle Berry's well-wrought, convincing performance, we would otherwise give up on the character altogether. She manages to hold our attention even as the rest of the material crumbles around her in a haze of bad camp and absent creativity; I'm still left wondering why it was so important to Robert Downey Jr's and Penelope Cruz's characters constantly show up to share some screen time with Berry. The plot, in its own connect-the-dots form, is strictly for those who like their surprises miniscule, as the characters (or perhaps the actors?) display such an ineptitude when it comes to concealing the truth of matters; they're like little children who have a big secret.

Of course, all of this could have been alleviated were it not for the insistence that it be a serious-minded thriller. With such a goofy, redundant, over-the-hill setup and payoff, "Gothika" could have been one of the better campfests to come along in ages. As it stands, however, we have that rare breed of camp that isn't quite scary enough to make you feel like an idiot for jumping, and isn't quite funny enough to relieve you of your foolishness. You could do better, but then again, judging from the critical consensus of "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat," you could do worse.

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