A Review by Phil Calabro
2005, Universal, Dir. Iain Softley - Starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, Maxine Barnett, Ronald McCall, Fahnlohnee Harris, Marion Zinser, Deneen Tyler, Ann Dalrymple, Trula M. Marcus, Tonya Staten, Thomas Uskali
When I saw the words "from the author of The Ring" in the 'Skeleton Key' preview, my hopes sank like a lead balloon. Everything and anything since 'The Ring' that has associated itself with that movie has carried a timeless curse, a spell that gives that respective movie, despite what potential it may have, a terrible case of 'the sucks'. I'm happy to say that the infamous spell has been conquered with 'The Skeleton Key', a movie that relies not on the Samara-esque jolt scares, but on natural morbid frights involving witch doctors and voodoo sacrifices. The ending's still an obligatory downer, but the scares come at a steady pace - Kate Hudson works fine as the curious caretaker, and some haunting performances by Gena Rowlands and John Hurt make this movie a suitable alternative for the dog days of summer.
Caroline Ellis (Hudson) has just left her job at the New Orleans hospice center when she feels that the caretaking isn't personal enough, so she finds an advertisement for a caretaker of an old man named Ben (Hurt), who just recently suffered a stroke. At a thousand dollars a week, Caroline takes the job, not realizing what she's getting herself into. Ben's wife, Violet (Rowlands), runs a tight household, and keeps a close eye on her new nurse. But Caroline becomes curious with one particular room in the house, which is located inside the attic, but the master key - or skeleton key - cannot open. She finally makes her into the small enclosure, and finds records of old voodoo sacrifices, along with potions and other witching tools. Caroline learns that the house was once the sight of two lynched slaves, who possessed the house and everyone who inhabited the house - which explains Violet's occasional strange behavior.
How do you fill in roles like Caroline Ellis? Do you pick a generic A-list actress who hasn't done one of these movies yet? Because that's the idea I'm getting at - just shuffle around with a good actress who looks good and can act like she's scared enough. Someone with top-notch skills is bound to win over critics at some point in time, it just hasn't yet. All these roles still remain satisfactory, and Kate Hudson's just another egg in the carton. She's nosy enough and looks terrified at some points in the movie, so she's effective enough. Gena Rowlands is quite frightening as the housekeeper Violet, whose role in the movie changes slowly from innocent to repulsive. Her old age hasn't stopped her from being a gun-toting granny with a bad motive, and it's better her than some middle-aged actress. Classical actor John Hurt is convincing as Ben, our stroke-ridden victim of the voodoo spells, and is used as a tool to create a rivalry between Caroline and Violet.
There's some about Southern magic and occult that gives me the creeps, almost the same way that it did in the subpar Bond flick 'Live and Let Die', and Wes Craven's voodoo-related 'Serpent and the Rainbow'. Kruger focuses a lot on the connection between belief and disbelief, the time when one's judgment crosses that line. I think most of the fear isn't pent up on the weird going-ons that Caroline is encountering, but the journey that she's about to take into the supernatural - what is real, and what isn't. That is the climax of horror - stepping into the phenomena and letting it sizzle in your brain. Of course, it ends up being a disappointment, because you realize the entire horror just lets you realize that you've been played into a lousy ending anyway. The finales are never scary, just sad - you're starting to get tired of the bad guy always winning. At least Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees got slaughtered at the end of their movies, and they eventually found someway to live again in the next installation. There's never any hope left in today's horror genre.
'Skeleton Key' is promising for the first hour and 35 minutes. Then it tanks. It's still an interesting movie of sorts, but the genre continues to be riddled with more and more stereotypes. This manages to break out of the 'Ring' curse, but its impetus is the stupid twist. Let's cut the crap, Mr. Kruger, and enlighten us with something better.
