Gothika appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Due to the cinematographic choices, Gothika presented a bland picture, but one that the DVD represented fairly well.
For the most part, sharpness seemed positive. Some light softness crept in at times, but not with any real frequency. Instead, most of the flick appeared well defined and detailed. I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, but some mild to moderate edge enhancement popped up periodically throughout the movie. Print flaws seemed absent, as I noted no signs of specks, marks, or other defects.
Gothika presented such a limited palette that it barely qualified as a color film. I don’t know if I’ve seen such a monochromatic offering since Se7en. Much of the film came from scenes inside the prison, and those offered variations on the same blue-grey tones. These seemed acceptable, though they didn’t appear terribly deep. That factor affected black levels, which tended to be a little less rich than I’d expect. The tones were generally fine but without tremendous vividness. Shadow detail was clear but also a little flat due to the consistency of the dark images. Ultimately, the picture of Gothika seemed more than acceptable, but it never threatened to become more distinctive than that.
For the most part, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Gothika worked the same way, as the audio seemed good but rarely better than that. The soundfield mainly came to life on only a few occasions. It emphasized the impact of the thunderstorm well, and it also used the rear speakers effectively for the scenes that dealt with Miranda’s flashbacks and hallucinations. Those worked nicely, but they popped up fairly sporadically. Outside of those situations, the mix stayed fairly subdued. It offered nice stereo imaging for music and a general sense of ambience, but not much more than that.
Audio quality appeared solid. Speech consistently came across as natural and concise, and I noticed no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Music seemed clear and vivid, as the score presented firm tones. Effects also appeared clean and accurate. They suffered from no distortion and boasted fine bass response during the louder sequences like the thunderstorm. In the end, the audio of Gothika served the movie fairly well.
How did the picture and audio of the Gothika Special Edition compare with those of the original release? They appeared identical. In fact, other than new art on the disc itself, I saw no evidence that DVD One and the old version weren’t exactly the same thing. They both have the same content, so don’t expect any differences between the earlier release and this one in terms of visuals and sound.
As I just noted, the extras on DVD One duplicate those of the single-disc edition. Its major attraction comes from an audio commentary with director Mathieu Kassovitz and director of photography Matthew Libatique, both of whom sit together for their running, screen-specific track. Not surprisingly, the focus remains largely on nuts and bolts elements. The pair chat about photographic choices, sets, locations, and the general visual look of the film. At times they discuss factors like the actors and the script, but not with much frequency. That leaves this as a pretty lackluster commentary. It includes enough concrete material to make it moderately useful, but it does sag more than a few times, and it seems a little too bland to become a success.
In addition to the film’s theatrical trailer, we find a music video. This presents Limp Bizkit’s rendition of the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”. It’s a pretty terrible take on the song, and the video’s not very interesting either. However, I will give it credit for differing from the majority of movie-connected music videos; it includes no shots from the flick, as it presents all-new footage shot with Berry and Fred Durst.
Now we head to DVD Two, which consists entirely of supplements not found on the earlier release. This disc splits into two subdomains. When we go to the “Interview Room”, we get four components. First we find a documentary called On the Set of Gothika. It fills 16 minutes and five seconds with movie clips, behind the scenes shots, and interviews. We get remarks from Kassovitz, Berry, Libatique, actors Bernard Hill, Penelope Cruz, John Carroll Lynch and Robert Downey Jr., visual effects supervisor Erik Henry and producers Joel Silver and Susan Levin. We hear about what attracted Berry to the project and her approach to the role, the director’s approach, locations and sets, and general story and character notes. Those last two elements dominate the promotional “Set” along with lots of praise for Kassovitz and others involved. It tells us the usual bland information designed to tout the flick and little more. Skip this dull piece; it exists solely to tell us that the movie rules.
Another documentary appears via Painting with Fire. It goes for seven minutes, four seconds, as we get notes from Downey, Lynch, Silver, Kassovitz, Libatique, Henry, co-producer Richard Mirisch, senior visual effects supervisor David Ebner, digital effects supervisor Jeff Goldman, fire and explosion developer Timur “Taron” Bayal, and visual effects artist Votch Lei. They cover digital effects in general, with some emphasis on computer-generated fire and ghostly elements. A few interesting tidbits emerge, but it’s too short to provide any depth and seems glossy and superficial.
Taken from an MTV series, we see Making the Video. The 19-minute and 15-second feature shows bits from the video, behind the scenes shots, and soundbites from Berry, singer Fred Durst, and producer Joel Silver. They toss out some general information about the movie and the video, but we mostly watch them shoot the clip. It ends with the full video, which is superfluous for us since we already have it on DVD One. Some moderately interesting moments emerge, especially when Berry has trouble with the lyrics, but it’s mostly fluffy and not very informative.
Lastly, we get a snippet of MTV’s Punk’d. This three-minute and 58-second clip shows a prank in which they lock Berry out of the Gothika premiere. It’s cute but not terribly amusing, largely because Berry remains pretty composed and doesn’t go through the diva meltdown we want to see. On the other hand, she does almost pop out of her dress when she learns of the ruse, so not all is lost.
Next we head to the “Office”, where four smaller elements appear. Computer focuses on prison “inmates”. We get six clips related to three of these women, as they offer biographies and snippets of the characters. Half the pieces include narrated case studies, while the other three bits present videotaped “interviews”. They run a total of 11 minutes and 50 seconds. It’s a clever and potentially intriguing extra, but ultimately it doesn’t seem very interesting.
In Wanda’s Drawings, we get another supplement that presents faked material related to an “inmate”. The 29-second snippet shows art by “Wanda Clinton” while she talks on top of the montage. It’s pretty pointless. Candace’s Drawings (43 seconds) and Jeanne’s Drawings (50 seconds) follow along the same lines and don’t work any better.
A flawed and dull ghost story, Gothika paints a dark picture but nothing more. Packed with obvious plot twists and cheap scare techniques, the movie never threatens to turn into something powerful or involving. The DVD presents solid but unexceptional picture and audio along with some generally mediocre extras. For fans of Gothika, the DVD seems good enough to merit their attention, but I can’t recommend this limp horror tale to anyone else.
Since this two-disc release comes as the film’s second edition, I need to discuss whether it merits a repurchase by fans. Often a difficult question, here it’s simple: no way. Picture and audio quality are absolutely identical for both packages. I gave the first version a “C+” for extras and knocked that up to a “B-“ here, but the second platter’s materials are so weak that I almost left my rating the same. I learned almost nothing about the making of the movie from these pieces. Heck, the featurette about shooting the music video was probably the most informative component, and the bits about the inmates offered nothing of interest.
If you want to own Gothika and don’t have the prior disc, you may as well pick up the two-disc version. It’s got everything from the earlier set and maybe you’ll like the extras more than I did. However, there’s truly no reason to pick up this one in addition to the previous version, as it brings almost nothing new and useful to the table. It’s one of the worst two-disc “special editions” I’ve seen in a while.
To rate this film, visit the original review of GOTHIKA
