Gothika

Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD

(Herald rating * *)

Halle Berry followed her Oscar-winning turn in Monster's Ball with this, for reasons best known to herself and her agent.

Berry plays Miranda Grey, a prison psychiatrist who is married to her boss, Dr Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton). Pete Graham is the third shrink in the triangle, and when the medical professional on the right side of the bars is Robert Downey Jr, both you and the movie are in very serious trouble.

Driving home one dark and stormy night, Miranda swerves to avoid a girl standing in the road. The girl bursts into flame. When Miranda wakes up, she is locked up in her own ward with all her old patients and, according to Pete, accused of her husband's brutal murder.

Miranda can't remember a thing but fortunately help appears to be at hand. Chloe is one of her former patients, now another inmate, and even more fortunately for the movie-
makers, played by the equally glamorous Penelope Cruz. And as Chloe will helpfully point out, now that Miranda is officially insane, it doesn't matter what she says.

So, who got Miranda into this fine mess? Could be Sheriff Ryan (John Carroll Lynch), could be Warden Phil Parsons (Bernard Hill), could be Pete. All will be explained, though you may have wandered off to make the tea by then. For this is a very badly plotted, very badly over-acted, and very silly excuse for a psycho-thriller.

DVD extras include an interview with producer Joel Silver, his cast and crew, who make a vain attempt to explain what this is all about; the usual hype about the special effects; and an extended view of Limp Bizkit's Behind Blue Eyes video, an insipid version that completely misses the point of the Who's original. Director Mathieu Kassovitz (the photo-booth obsessive in Amelie) and cinematographer Matthew Libatique provide a commentary, and there are strange and tasteless case files for three characters.

DVD, video rental