Real Review - The Skeleton Key HD DVD

The Skeleton Key is one of the those horror stories that just doesn’t quite live-up to its potential. Despite pretty good performances, a decent script, and a good, creepy setting, the various elements of the plot are not developed sufficiently for the big pay-off at the conclusion. With a bit more “ghostly” scares, The Skeleton Key could have hit the jackpot.

Kate Hudson plays the do-good nurse, Caroline, who signs-up to take care of a stroke-victim living in a big ol’ house in the swamp lands of Cajun-country, Louisiana. Kate has to live with the crippled Ben, played by John Hurt, and his doting wife, Violet, played by Gena Rowlands, who is suspicious of the young scrawny Caroline who “ain’t from the south.”

Caroline explores the house and finds the hidden attic room that hasn’t been opened-up for many years. Unexplained circumstances lead Kate to examie the mysterious room where she finds some fading photographs, a stack of 78 rpm records, and a book of spells by the long-deceased care-keepers of the mansion, Cecilia and Papa Justice; turns out that they were priests of hoodoo. Caroline becomes intrigued and wonders how Ben became crippled and why he keeps trying to get Caroline to get him out of the house and away from his wife.

Before long, the wife tells the whole story about what happened to Papa Justice and Cecilia and why the ol’ house needs to be respected. But Caroline comes to believe that Ben is not really crippled but under a hoodoo spell by his wife. Will Caroline rescue the ol’ man and get out of the house in time or will the distrustful Violet put a spell on Caroline?

For the most part, the plot was interesting, though after the setup it degenerates into a typical run-away before the bad guy catches you type of film. It’s too bad more of the hoodoo aspect of the narrative wasn’t explored in more detail. Nevertheless, I think the twist to the plot at the end of the movie was unforeseen and exciting.

I think the acting was decent enough, though the script limited the performances. Kate Hudson does well as does Gena Rowlands, though I found the rest of the cast to be average. The direction was okay, the cinematography okay, and the editing okay; all of which was nothing special. I just can’t help feeling that the potential for this movie wasn’t realized. I believe if the movie was twenty minutes or so longer, some of the backstory about Papa Justice and Cecilia could have been developed more. This would have heightened the horror of their “return” and made the movie a bit more spooky.

I watched The Skeleton Key on HD DVD and for the most part the PQ was pretty good. Some of the scenes looked a bit soft, though. The audio track was Dolby Digital Plus and it was serviceable but mostly front-heavy due to the dialog-driven script. The disc also includes a commentary track and a making-of documentary. Curiously, the disc also includes a segment for making gumbo, Kate Hudson’s personal ghost-story, and a short quip from John Hurt. The best little extra was an entirely all-too-brief look at the origins of voodoo and hoodoo. Like the movie, itself, the extras just don’t quite live up to their potential.

Rating: 7.5

Source Chuck’s Movie Reviews

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