I was so excited to see Gothika. I absolutely love scary movies, and Gothika looked to be promising. So, I anxiously awaited the start of the movie, squinting my eyes to see the screen since my vision is so poor. Unfortunately, Gothika was not the scary thrill-inducer I had hoped it would be.

Not that it was a bad movie, however. Halle Berry plays a psychiatrist who takes a detour home one night and drives her car off a road to avoid hitting a girl who suddenly appeared. Next thing you know, Berry is in the same mental institution that she worked in, caught up in a mystery and trying to solve it without any help from the people around her. Other major stars that play in this movie include Robert Downey Jr, and Penelope Cruz.

It was an interesting story line. I must say it was a relief to see a scary movie where blood and guts thrown everywhere was not part of the plot. There were a couple of different stories that all came together to form the same conclusion in the end. Although some of the parts of the movie were predictable, for the most part I was at a loss for who the “bad guy” was. It was an easy story line to follow, and I believe it was the perfect length- an hour and a half at most. I must say, however, that the whole “ghost coming back to have a human find out who killed them” is a little bit old. “The Ring” already did this, but at least the plot differed in the two movies.

Thankfully, there was no twisted love story thrown into the plot as well. The movie kept me engaged, and even managed to pull a couple of gasps out of me. I do not have any idea where the title, “Gothika” came from, but still, overall I think I would give the movie an Advanced.