HOLLYWOOD -- Halle Berry's psychological thriller Gothika, which opens Nov. 21, is the fourth film from Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment company.

Its predecessors, which include The House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts and Ghost Ship, were all released for Halloween.

"We weren't all that ready with Gothika for Halloween and then when we saw that (horror spoof) Scary Movie was coming into the same slot, we knew we had to stay away," says Silver.

He points out that a horror film for the holidays is not a unique concept.

"Scream did well in a holiday slot and Gothika is more like The Ring than it is like Ghost Ship or Thirteen Ghosts."

At $30 million US, Gothika has the biggest budget of any of the Dark Castle films.

"It wasn't intended to be a $30-million film until Halle came on board," says Silver.

"I was in preproduction for Gothika when I met Halle after her Oscar win. I asked her what she was doing and she said she didn't have anything lined up.

"I told her I had a script for her. She agreed to read it and the rest is history."

Silver says his company will be returning to its original format with next year's offering.

"We're hoping to do a contemporary version of The House of Wax, which was a 3-D film with Vincent Price.

"We want to do ours in 3-D as well, but we're trying to see how the process will transfer into home video."

Silver says he and his special effects crew have been studying director Robert Rodriquez's Spy Kids 3D and are looking at how it will be released to video and DVD.


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