Gothika is a 2003 American horror film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, written by Sebastian Gutierrez, co-produced by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis, and starring Halle Berry with Robert Downey Jr., Penélope Cruz, Charles S. Dutton, John Carroll Lynch, and Bernard Hill.

Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist at Woodward Penitentiary in rural western Connecticut, crashes her car one night on a country road to avoid hitting a young woman.

When she awakens, she finds herself an inmate of the women's ward in which she works, receiving treatment from her colleague, Dr. Pete Graham.

One night, she witnesses Chloe being raped and glimpses a tattoo of an Anima Sola on the perpetrator's chest, though the guards do not believe her.

She identifies the mysterious woman as Rachel, the daughter of her superior, Dr. Phil Parsons, who had died in an apparent suicide several years prior.

One of the tapes is revealed to be a snuff film shot by Douglas, which shows him raping, torturing, and murdering a young woman.

Incarcerated in the county jail, Miranda speaks to Sheriff Bob Ryan, Douglas' best friend, about her belief that Rachel's suicide was staged and a second perpetrator was involved.

In a drugged state, he pursues her, telling her that Rachel was their first victim, and he and Douglas worked together to abduct, rape, and murder local women.

The fourth feature film produced by Dark Castle Entertainment, Gothika was the first to boast a high-profile leading cast, and was the company's largest-scale production at the time,[3] with a budget of approximately $40 million.

[6] Gothika was released on November 21, 2003, in North America, grossing $19.3 million in the opening weekend and ranking at #2, behind The Cat in the Hat.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Berry's acting talents can't save Gothika from its preposterous plot and bad dialogue.