Director: Iain Softley
Writer: Ehren Kruger (Screenplay)
Starring: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, Maxine Barnett
Plot: A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house’s dark past.
Tagline – Fearing Is Believing
Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Little Ghost Investigation
Story: The Skeleton Key starts as we meet carer Caroline Ellis (Hudson) who has been working in a home, but wants a change. This leads her to a New Orleans plantation to helps the Devereaux family, Violet (Rowlands) and the paralysed Ben (Hurt) with the lawyer Luke Marshall (Sarsgaard) trying to strike a deal.
When Ben doesn’t seem as disabled as Violet appears to let on, Caroline finds herself investigating the house more, where she finds a secret room in the attic, she turns to her best friend Jill (Bryant) to help who teaches her about Hoodoo which is what could be haunting the home.
Thoughts on The Skeleton Key
Characters – Caroline is a carer, looking to study nursing, she takes this new role which offers her the freedom needed to do the studying. She starts questioning the strange goings on within the house, which leads her to go into full investigation mode. Violet is the lady of the home, she wants to keep everything the way it was inside the house knowing and believing the curse that roams the house. She doesn’t like people coming to the home disturbing the peace she has created with the ghosts. Ben is the disabled husband that has suffered a stroke, he is the reason why Caroline is hired but not everything is right for him as he tries to communicate without being able to use his words. Luke Marshall is the lawyer putting the affairs in orders for the Devereaux’s, he hires Caroline to help care for Ben while using his charm will get him through any situation. Jill is Caroline’s best friend, she fills the filling in the information at times roles and gives us the character that helps question whether she is making the right decisions.
Performances – Kate Hudson is good in this leading role, she is strong minded character which shows in her performance. Gena Rowlands enjoys her role in the film where she gets to play the twisted character. John Hurt gets to show of his acting skills in the supporting role, he doesn’t get any dialog in the film just gets to show the desperation he is feeling. Peter Sarsgaard is strong too, in a decade where he was always one of the go to guys in a supporting role.
Story – The story dives into elements of horror I enjoy the most, we have a new member of the household, in this case a carer, that finds out something is right and must figure out what is happening before it is too late. The film offers plenty off potential options to where the film could go, which is what we like even if it does suggest heavily in one direction, you will need to keep thinking as to where the film will end up going.
Horror/Mystery – The horror isn’t in your face jump scares, it is well created tension filled moments that help us get to the final outcome, the mystery does take center stage for the genres as we watch this get solved by Caroline.
Settings – The New Orleans settings helps us understand the Hoodoo idea that is surrounded by the characters involved in the film.
Special Effects – The effects aren’t used very often and to be honest the ones used don’t seem to come off very well.
Scene of the Movie – The Final night.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – I had an issue with just having one random friend who was only used to fill in the blanks.
Final Thoughts – This is a good little horror, it is nothing ground breaking, but it has good performances and a solid story that will keep you guessing.
Overall: Good horror mystery from start to finish.
Rating
