I have become so jaded with the horror/thriller releases of the last year or so. Incredibly predictable, anemic acting, all hat no cattle.

Gothika has restored my faith in the "jump out of your skin jesus did you see that oh my god how sick is that" kind of flick.

It exceeded my expectations, which may have been inappropriately lowered due to aforementioned crapola from Hollywood, but I went into it ready to besow the benevolence of my doubt, and WOW! I actually LIKED this one.

Creepy, dark, suspenseful and very well done. I could even get past the "um, wasn't that a little too easy?" parts. I highly recommend it.

Gothika has restored my faith

Glad to hear it. It's in my Netflix cue.

that was great wasnt it... I dont normally jump during movies but both my wife and I jumped at the exact same time..... like when the chick just appeared in the cell ....
had to be one of the best horror flicks in a long time ......

If you haven't already I can't reccomend the Chinese film 'The Eye' highly enough for squirmy jump out of your seat scenes. I've seen Ringu and a bunch of the other asian horror movies that claim to be so extreme and scary but none came remotely close to The Eye. One of the best horror movies I've seen in years.

But I suppose that won't help restore your faith in Hollwood. (Especially since I've heard Tom Cruise bought the rights up and I believe is preventing US distribution in favor of his eventual remake. )

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/combined

If you haven't already I can't reccomend the Chinese film 'The Eye' highly enough for squirmy jump out of your seat scenes. I've seen Ringu and a bunch of the other asian horror movies that claim to be so extreme and scary but none came remotely close to The Eye. One of the best horror movies I've seen in years.

But I suppose that won't help restore your faith in Hollwood. (Especially since I've heard Tom Cruise bought the rights up and I believe is preventing US distribution in favor of his eventual remake. )

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/combined

Would it be available in Japan? I have a friend there who I'm sure would pick it up for me and ship it over.

I agree about Gothika. The extra benefit was that my wife watched it with me. She usually avoids horror, but she liked this one. Maybe, I'm just wearing her down.

Would it be available in Japan? I have a friend there who I'm sure would pick it up for me and ship it over.

I rented The Eye at Blockbuster. I don't know about availability, but if you can catch it @ Blockbuster I would imagine it's relatively available. It even reads on the cover that Tom Cruise bought the American rights.

Just saw Gothica. Worked for me. A few surprises. Probably would have been more effective in a theatre, but well worth the rental

I thought it was merely OK. Some of it I saw coming while other parts were unpredictable because they hadn't been mentioned or alluded to previously.

SPOILER ALERT! (highlight to read)

And I didn't like the ending: shooting at the ghost, hitting the monitor, causing the conveniently leaking gas to ignite and then burn ONLY the bad guy before retreating. And then she just goes free?!?! She did still kill a man in cold blood (NOT as self defense or in defense of another). A little too tidy for me.

END SPOILER

I did like the mood and the atmosphere though. :p

I have Bride of Frankenstein to watch and Netflix just shipped Wes Craven's New Nightmare to me today.

If you haven't already I can't reccomend the Chinese film 'The Eye' highly enough for squirmy jump out of your seat scenes. I've seen Ringu and a bunch of the other asian horror movies that claim to be so extreme and scary but none came remotely close to The Eye. One of the best horror movies I've seen in years.

But I suppose that won't help restore your faith in Hollwood. (Especially since I've heard Tom Cruise bought the rights up and I believe is preventing US distribution in favor of his eventual remake. )

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/combined

I absolutely agree. The Eye was such a great movie. The scary parts actually scared me. I was so impressed. I also have been watching tons of Asian horror movies, but this was my favorite by far.

If you have an Xbox, you should play the game Fatal Frame. It is kind of like an Asian Horror movie, and it completely freaked me out.