I went into “Gothika” expecting to see a movie like “Shutter Island”, a clever mystery set in an asylum. When I finished watching “Gothika”, I realised I’d just watched a ghost film with a stupid mystery and some sadomasochism.

Halle Berry (“X-Men”, “Cloud Atlas”) stars as a psychiatrist named Miranda. She sees a mysterious girl bursting into flames and then wakes up inside the asylum where she worked with no recollection of how she got there. Instead of there being a genuinely interesting mystery, a ghost is thrown in to help to justify how outrageously dumb the rest of the film is but that only makes it even crazier.

Halle Berry probably gives a good performance but you become so distracted but how ridiculous the rest of the movie is. Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man”) stars as one of Miranda’s former-colleagues and he’s pretty dull. The ghost in the film is of a dead girl and makes you feel as if the filmmakers were trying to cash-in on the success of “The Ring”. The interactions between Miranda and the ghost are confusing because the ghost seems to be attacking her in one scene and helping her in the next. Penélope Cruz (“Vanilla Sky”) is awful as one of Miranda’s fellow inmates and an ex-patient. The villains of the movie are absolutely terrible and I just do not know what was going through the minds of the writers when they came up with them.

“Gothika” has a few claustrophobic sequences that are okay but aside from that, this is a dreadful picture. “Gothika” is one of the silliest thrillers I’ve ever seen with a plot that is all over the place. If you want a psychological thriller then stick with “Shutter Island” but if you want a zany ghost movie with some torture scenes chucked in, then I’m sure “Gothika” will fit the bill.