The Skeleton Key

An abnormally smart and classy ghost thriller from that time period. Great performances by Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands, spooky New Orleans atmosphere, and some great twists, too. If it has any flaws, it's that it's never really scary. Amusing and suspenseful, yes, but never really leap out of your seat or clutch your arm rest terrifying, but maybe it doesn't have to be since it at least presents us an interesting story and tells it well.

Here is One that is Not Let Down by its PG-13 Rating Because this is All Superstition and Such, All in the Mind of the Believer. It is a Swampy, Cajun Atmosphere of Dried Herbs and Bones with Rhythmic Chants and Rituals.

Kate Hudson is Fine as a Hospice Worker that Overcompensates for Not Helping Her Father Cross to the Other Side and Enters a World Where Medicine is Replaced by Potions and Doctors are Replace by Ju Ju, or Hoodo to be More Precise.

Peter Sarsgaard and Gena Rowlands Add a bit of Gravitas to what's Going On and You Have to Pay Attention to Know what that is. The Movie is Creepy Enough and Old Worldly and Other Worldly Enough to Keep You a bit Mesmerized.

Overall, Worth a Watch for its Twist Ending, that You Might Not See Coming, and for a Low-Key Atmosphere that Never Goes Over the Top, Just Up to the Attic a Few Times. You Might Want to Sprinkle Some Brick Dust About Before Viewing.

Horror movies have become a dime a dozen in the past few years. The watchable ones seem to fall into two categories of late: misguided psychological thrillers headlined by a consummate actress (witness Naomi Watts in "The Ring 2" or Jennifer Connelly in "Dark Water") or over the top slasher/gore-fests with serious kitsch value (witness Romero's enjoyable zombie flick "Land of the Dead" or Rob Zombie's sadistic "Devil's Rejects"). All of the rest have pretty much been unbearable cliché-ridden hack jobs ("White Noise," "Darkness Falls," etc...)

Oddly enough, "The Skeleton Key" doesn't fall into any of these categories and it comes across as a breath of fresh air, an old-fashioned throwback to the traditional Gothic mystery thriller, where a pretty female outsider (Kate Hudson acquitting herself rather nicely here as the hospice nurse traveling deep into the Bayou to care for an apparent stroke victim) moves into a big old house/castle that just might be haunted. The director and screenwriter start things slowly, and do a nice job of creating a realistic setting before letting all the mumbo-jumbo slowly and effectively creep in. Gena Rowlands and John Hurt (immobile and mute for most of the film) are fairly good in their respective roles as the married couple with more than just skeletons in their closets. We've seen this stuff all before, but it's done fairly well here with no sense of flash or pretensions, and as silly (and potentially offensive) as all this Hoodoo in the Bayou stuff is, the audience is treated to a twist ending that makes perfect sense in the context we have been given. This isn't a twist ending for twisting sake, but a fitting conclusion to the story.

"The Skeleton Key" tries to remind people of classics like "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Others." It may not ultimately hold a candle to those films, but it's a very entertaining way to spend a few hours.

A young woman takes a job caring for a stroke victim in his creepy, dilapidated home in New Orleans. She begins to get suspicious that something more is at play. Stars Kate Hudson.

I love the plot and also the location and it's quite creepy. It's not brilliantly put together somehow but overall it's a decent supernatural thriller (more than a horror) and worth a watch.

Caroline (Kate Hudson) is a 25-year-old hospice nurse who cares for the ailing and the elderly, a job she chose to atone for ignoring her own dying father when she was a rock'n'roll manager. After her latest charge dies, Caroline takes a job in Louisiana , the Devereaux house is situated in Terrebonne Parish, which is coastal and swampy. As she is caring for stroke victim Ben (Sir John Hurt), who is bedfast and can't speak. Caroline becomes suspicious of the house, and Ben's cold wife Violet (Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes's wife) dripfeeds hints about spirits that must be contained and away an attic room stuffed with mirrors and Hoodoo paraphernalia. Later on, a lawyer named Luke (Peter Saarsgard) fields the phone call from Caroline, and he sets up an interview with the family. It can open any door !. You will believe !. Fearing is believing !. What have we here -mind games, mumbo jumbo or creepy fact ?.

Set in in a Louisiana plantation house adding tension to the creepy atmosphere, this low key horror thriller draws on the local traditions of Hoodoo, a variation of the most known Voodoo. Nice performances from a great cast, such as: Kate Hudson gives a splendid acting as a hospice worker, she is an ordinary comedian actress and here revealing her serious side; John Hurt is the paralysed owner of the crumbling mansion; recently deceased Gena Rowlands as the prickly, suspect wife; Peter Sarsgaard as the rational state lawyer and Joy Bryant as Hudson's best friend. Strong interpretations fuse with atmospheric John Beard 's production design, also monochromatic and dark images from cameraman Dan Mindel, as well as Edward Shearmur's Southern-flavoured musical score. Nothing is forced least of all a sly conclusion that bubbles up from beneath the movie's shimmering surface.

The movie was professionally directed by Ian Softley. The motion picture failed to hit the box office, but was later reevaluated as a well-made horror film. Softley is a good craftsman, he was a member of the college's dramatic society, the Bats, and directed a number of highly-praised theatrical productions. He worked for Granada TV and the BBC before becoming a director of music videos and, eventually, movies. Ian often uses erratic black and white footage at key moments or flashbacks in his movies (Skeleton Key and Inkheart). His other films include Backbeat (1994), Hackers (1995), The Wings of the Dove (1997) in which he directed one Oscar nominated performance: Helena Bonham Carter , K-PAX (2001), and The Skeleton Key (2005). Rating: 6.5/10. Decent horror film that will appeal to Kate Hudson fans.