Role reversal is a constant theme in film: a character put on the other side of the fence, sometimes to look at their diametric opposite across the barrier. The prey became the hunter in Surviving The Game, the wealthy became the impoverished in Trading Places, and parents became children and vice versa in several films (Freaky Friday, Vice Versa, etc.). Dark Castle Entertainment decided to take a stab at this idea with their Halle Berry vehicle Gothika, and produced amazingly average results. While certainly much better than their poorly done, gory remakes of William Castle cult classics, Gothika doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

Dr. Miranda Grey (Berry) is a respected criminal psychologist who works at the Woodward Penitentiary for Women (sadly, Jess Franco is nowhere to be found) with a fellow doctor and her husband the warden (Robert Downey Jr. and Charles S. Dutton, respectively). After another frustrating session with the patricidal Chloe (played menacingly by Penelope Cruz), Dr. Grey heads home, only to encounter a bloodied girl in the middle of the road. The girl touches Grey with flaming hands, and she blacks out.

Three days later she comes to, a prisoner in her own psychiatric ward. Confused, she finds out from her once-coworker-now-doctor that she is locked up for the brutal slaying of her husband. Not only that, but she is being haunted by visions of the girl she encountered, who tosses her about the cell, attacks her in the shower room (slashing "Not Alone" into the meat of Grey’s forearm), and finally releases her to find out the truth about who the spirit is and what her connection is with Dr. Grey and her husband.

While the opening of Gothika had me impressed (almost washing out memories of the House On Haunted Hill remake), it simply lost steam. After demanding our attention with great acting by all (especially Penelope Cruz), classy scares and bitter irony (watching Grey’s disgust at being on the receiving end of the treatment is quite degrading), we are led in circles for about a half-hour with meandering, pointless scenes before being given the obligatory plot twist (which will guarantee a groan of disbelief) to give Dr. Grey new motivation to discover the truth. It’s more disappointing than if the film had been outright crap, because then it would have had an excuse. However, the strong beginning simply stings more when the movie turns into an illogical, derivative tale of beyond-the-grave revenge which we’ve seen a million times before.

When I say we’ve seen it before, I’m dead serious. Mathieu Kassovitz’s MTV-Generation direction coupled with a chilly, sterilizing blue filter look like every other recent suspense-thriller I’ve seen. The storyline follows a familiar pattern, with revelations and plot twists happening almost as if on a timer. Not only that, but not even the dimmest of viewers will be genuinely surprised by the amazingly lame plot twists, no matter how little attention they paid during the previous hour. It’s all so familiar, all so clean, and all so average.

Presented in widescreen (don’t worry, there’s a fullscreen version for you crybabies out there) Gothika looks decent, although I was rather surprised by the number of artifacts that seemed to pop up during the more blue-tinged scenes (and there were a lot of blue-tinged scenes. The damn thing looks like it was filmed in a Smurf’s colon). Audio was extra clean with very nice use of the surround channels and crystal-clear dialogue. Extras are meager, with a commentary track, a theatrical trailer, and the ridiculously awful video for Limp Bizkit’s mangling of The Who’s "Behind Blue Eyes." They need to stop letting Fred Durst direct, sing, and do anything except stay the hell out of the public eye. Really.

For a company allegedly formed in the "spirit" of media pioneer William Castle, it’s upsettingly ironic that their films have been unremarkable at best. Gothika kind of shows a step in the right direction, away from tepid remakes and more towards their own pseudo-original movies. At least this way, they may escape the ghost of William Castle, his luminescent skeleton swinging from the ceiling, wearing a pair of Illusion-O glasses and brandishing an electric prod left over from theatrical showings of The Tingler...

Now there’s an idea for a movie!