‘Maybe I’ll do more,’ are the four words Halle Berry recently said when asked about starring in horror movies and, frankly, the only ones I wanted to hear from her.
The screen icon has played everything from a cat(woman) to a drug addict, a former assassin, a UFC fighter and even a Flintstone (sort of). She’s won a best actress Oscar and dazzled on-screen as a Bond Girl, ticking off almost every actor’s bucket list.
However, what is probably least appreciated in her expansive filmography are her appearances in the horror space, which, in my opinion, there are far too few of.
Our Hollywood darling is back on our screens this month in Never Let Go, a post-apocalyptic horror that is both Bird Box and A Quiet Place with a sprinkle of M Night Shyamalan’s The Village for good measure.
I had mixed feelings about Never Let Go itself as, while the acting was strong from the entire cast, the story showed a lot of promise before buckling in the second half, resulting in an ending that offered more questions than answers.
I may have wanted more from the conclusion but admittedly, I was kept on the edge of my seat anxiously waiting in suspense for the story to reveal itself throughout the runtime. That was largely due to Halle’s unwavering performance as a mother slightly unhinged from the world seemingly coming to an end.
So many of Halle’s roles have stuck with me for various reasons; she was fun and fierce as X-Men’s Storm – arguably the most popular Black female superhero, scarily convincing as a drug addict in Jungle Fever and harrowingly relatable in Monster’s Ball. But, as a lifelong horror fan, her haunting performance in Gothika is certainly up there.
At the time of its release in 2003, Gothika was written off as an uninspiring attempt at ghoul and even I can admit that Halle’s wig has not stood the test of time (something she laughs at herself). It currently has a rather depressing 15% on Rotten Tomatoes but, when films like the chillingly boring It Comes At Night, the laughable Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) and the downright ridiculous Piranha 3DD exist, that’s hardly a fair score.
Gothika sees Halle star as Dr Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist who awakens as a patient in a mental institution with no memory of the murder she’s accused of committing. As she tries to regain her memory, a vengeful spirit manipulates her.
It may not be a perfect horror but it does have all the ingredients for a sturdy mystery, including a deliciously generous level of suspense. I think I’ve actually come to appreciate the film now, more than 20 years down the line, as while brilliant, we’re now in the era of elevated horror that focuses on more complex narratives seen in modern gems such as Hereditary and Midsommar.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for elevated horror but sometimes you just want a good old-fashioned ghost story. Gothika offers just that with not only an bewitching performance from Halle but also the menacing John Caroll Lynch, whose presence is always heavy no matter what type of character he plays.
And if there’s anything Halle excels at on-screen, it’s being a hysterical woman in distress (hysterical in real life too if you count her iconically tearful reaction to winning an Oscar). Halle is always captivating even when working with a slightly dodgy script.
It’s a shame then that it took her 21 years to return to horror – in that time she’s appeared in a host of gripping psychological thrillers such as The Call (another questionable wig, sorry girl) and Kidnap, but horror is what we really want.
Never Let Go is definitely a worthy return to the genre and is a perfect exhibit of how much stronger her acting has become over the past two decades.
When asked why she hasn’t chosen more films in the horror space, Halle told Bloody Disgusting recently: ‘I don’t know, because those are films I really do love to watch! I’m a really big psychological thriller and horror film fan. So I don’t know! Maybe I’ll do more.’
It would be an injustice if she didn’t.
Halle may not be your stereotypical Final Girl i.e. one chased around by a mask-wearing, knife-wielding boogeyman or who has fought against intruders after a home invasion – or any other horror stereotype we love.
However, she has been an exciting scream queen in the few instances we’ve had the pleasure of nonetheless and that’s just what the genre needs.
Never Let Go is out in cinemas now while Gothika is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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