Gothika (DVD)

Gothika was not exactly a box-office blockbuster despite the fact it contained Oscar® winner Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr. I actually enjoyed the film for about the first hour, but the final half-hour or so really disappointed me.

After watching this DVD, which I made sure I watched late at night with all the lights off, I noticed that the majority of horror flicks always seem to be scarier when you are home alone in the dark. In the theater there is a certain level of safety you feel with other audience members around and so forth, but at home it is just you and your imagination.

This is not to say that this movie is all of a sudden a good movie in my mind, but its freaky factor did increase after my home viewing compared to when I saw it in the theater.

Now this is a DVD that does not come packed with a lot of special features. What you have here is a commentary track with director Mathieu Kassovitz and director of photography Matthew Libatique, which is actually a decent listen as they really give you a lot of insight into some of the effects shots and how they pulled off a lot of the eerie lighting necessary to bring this story to life. It was also nice to hear them say that the title of Gothika has nothing to do with the movie, although it is a great title.

They also touched upon the fact that the ending even bothered them, and apparently it was partially due to a lack of time to perfect the scene, but it really was the one area of the movie that really diappointed me.

The only other feature, besides the theatrical trailer, is the music video for Limp Bizkit's "Behind Blue Eyes" featuring Halle Berry, which played during the final credits. This is an okay song, probably the only good song of Limp's latest album, but it really isn't any added value to the DVD.

Overall there isn't a ton to tell you about here other than my opinion that Gothika is a so-so thriller with, what I deem, a very lackluster ending that really hurts the value of the entire production. Unfortunately I am a scary movie fanatic and I am sure I will pop this one into the DVD player again some day, but I don't think it is a film that I would be rushing to the store to buy.