Gothika poster

Gothika (2003)

Film · 1h 38m · Rated R

Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A criminal psychologist awakens in a mental institution, accused of murder, with no memory and a vengeful spirit.

Suspenseful and pulpy. A late-night trip at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Netflix, Hoopla (free) and The Roku Channel (free).

Gothika parents guide

The thing to know: strong sex and nudity, more than an R usually carries. Beyond that, real scares and several jump scares.

Scare
Properly scary
Frightening, not just tense.
Jump scares
Several
More than a couple of sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Strong violence
Violence is frequent or intense.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Gothika scary?
Yes, properly. Gothika is the real thing without being an endurance test.
How gory is Gothika?
Light gore and strong violence.
What is Gothika rated, and is it OK for kids?
No. It is rated R, with real scares, several jump scares, and strong sex and nudity.

What is Gothika about?

After a car crash, criminal psychologist Dr. Miranda Grey regains consciousness only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. She's been accused of murdering her husband Dr. Douglas Grey — but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham, of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

There is a twist, and that is all we are saying.

Cast and crew

Directed byMathieu Kassovitz
StarringHalle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Charles S. Dutton, John Carroll Lynch, Bernard Hill, Penélope Cruz

More like Gothika

Gothika is on our Ghosts and hauntings, Horror on Netflix, Horror on The Roku Channel, Thriller on The Roku Channel and Mystery on The Roku Channel lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Scary, not gory; and Late night.

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.