“The Skeleton Key” (Universal Pictures)
Kate Hudson enters the horror movie market with the new thriller “The Skeleton Key.” The film is one of those movies that incorporates things that go bump in the night and each time there is a bump there is a gasp from the audience. It might not be high art but movies of this type sure are fun.
Caroline Ellis (Hudson) is a hospice worker in New Orleans. She takes her job very seriously and is attentive and attuned to her patients. After her most recent patient dies, she answers an ad for a hospice worker who is needed at a decaying mansion located in the swampland around New Orleans.
Violet and Ben Devereaux (Gena Rowlands and John Hurt) are the owners in residence. Ben is the patient as he has had a stroke and is dying. Violet is very attentive to him but Caroline senses that Ben is afraid of his wife.
As the days go by Caroline gets more and more immersed in the relationship between Violet and Ben as well as in the history of the house. It seems the house was the scene of terrible murders, and the practice of hoodoo.
The one person Caroline can talk to is the Devereaux’s estate attorney Luke (Peter Sarsgaard). He is able to calm most of her fears and offers her a reassuring shoulder to lean on. Her best friend Jill (Joy Bryant) is another ally.
The longer Caroline stays at the house the more mysterious it and everyone inside it become. Finally the secret of the house emerges and when it does it is a dilly. It makes for an intriguing ending and one that stays with you long after the movie is over.
The film is rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and partial nudity.
Kate Hudson has a certain something about her that makes you want to protect her, and she has never needed protection as much as she does in this film. Gena Rowlands is powerful in her role as Violet, and John Hurt is weak and troubled as Ben. Sarsgaard is the weak link in the acting chain but he really doesn’t have much of a role.
If you like chilling thrillers then this is a movie you will want to see. “The Skeleton Key” unlocks two hours of solid entertainment for you. Enjoy!
I scored “The Skeleton Key” an unlocked 7 out of 10.
