The Skeleton Key

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Have you ever wondered what happened to Penny Lane after the film Almost Famous? Almost Famous, with its great, funny, emotional and entertaining script, was the only film I had ever seen starring Kate until I watched The Skeleton Key, in which she stars as an ex-Rock-and-Roll party girl, who decides to work as a live-in carer. She accepts a post helping a lady (Gena Rowlands) look after her husband (John Hurt) who has had a stroke in the attic of their very large house. I had been meaning to watch The Skeleton Key for quite a while; it is written by the guy who wrote the American version of The Ring - the only scary film that really really freaked me out when I first watched it. The story centres around the mystery surrounding the attic containing lots of scary artifacts, and the spooky reasons why the man has had a stroke up there. It also concerns itself with the history of black slavery and Hoodoo - the real practice of harmful black and helpful white magic - in New Orleans. The film does have some of the usual horror film clichés - no light in the room; turning around when someone is behind you - but with a difference. Unlike most scary films, Kate Hudson's character is realistic, and she has a strong believable personality. She goes into the dark attic because she is not scared and wants to have a look; she asks people straight away what is on her mind because she wants to understand what is happening; she takes the initiative and, where as in the usual scary films the pretty girl does exactly what no-one would ever do in real life, she does exactly what a lot of people would feasibly do in the same situation - how refreshing! Just as refreshing is to watch a film in the horror genre that has real substance, and quality acting from all concerned (John Hurt and Gena Rowlands are particularly impressive). The twist at the end of this film is as clever as The Sixth Sense, or The Others. And the film is as spooky as The Ring. Nevertheless, The Skeleton Key is not that scary. It was advertised as a 'scary movie' (I hate that term; it sounds so bad some how), but personally, I found it to be interesting, clever, well-written, well-acted and really quite compelling - but not very scary. To conclude, although it wasn't the film that I expected it to be, I wasn't disappointed - I was pleasantly surprised. This film was as great as I had hoped, but it is also an intellectual film, and refreshingly different!

Is it just me or are horror films getting worse? Films that are suppose to scare you are now just putting you to sleep. That's was my experience with The Skeleton Key. Girl hired to care for stoke victim, stoke victim tries to escape or get girl to get help, victim's wife keeping victim idle, victim's wife switches bodies with girl, lawyer in on whole thing, victim's wife and lawyer are actually bodies inhabited by spirits of dead black servants, etc. Oh, brother. Did ANYONE read this script? The ending looked like a last minute add-on totally out of place with the rest of the film. Kate Hudson is a really bland actress, Peter Saargaard needs to turn down scripts once in a while, and John Hurt and Gena Rowlands deserve better than this. The only redeeming thing about this is that you get some nice shots of Louisiana before Katrina hit. Other than that, this film is not worth your time or money.

THE SKELETON KEY is about the supernatural, magic and potions. CHARMED, the TV show, is about witches, magic and potions. CHARMED is fluff. It's often cringe worthy because it's so cheesy. But then it never takes itself seriously so the cheese factor sorta makes sense. For some CHARMED is entertaining, nothing more. Personally, aside from Rose McGowan (she was the only reason I watched the show), was extremely lightweight and superficial, bordering on god-awful. So when I watched THE SKELETON KEY, I just couldn't stop comparing both. This just to say that SKELETON KEY is so bad that it makes CHARMED look like CITIZEN KANE. Yes...it's THAT awful. Seriously, from the predictable storyline to the mechanical acting, everything in SK was sub-par. The "story" (more like how to stretch a CHARMED episode into a feature length story) was rotten, lacked style and was borderline repulsive, in the way it treats the victims of slavery. I don't understand why this movie was sorta popular. And I just don't get Kate Hudson. What a dull actress. This horror film is to real horror films what diet soft drinks are to soft drinks made with sugar/HFCS. It's bad and leaves a bad taste in your mouth and makes you wish you watched (or drank) a real horror film (or a real soda) instead of this diet crap. It's barely a movie. It's a skeleton movie.

When i see that this movie has a rating of 6,5 i get so dissapointed by ppl. Its a masterclass with an amazing story and twist where everything gets perfectly explained and the puzzles all come togheter so perfect at the end that it litteraly blew up my mind the first time i saw it.. ive watched it allready 4times i belive and its great everytime. Its a 9/10 movie. I give it a 10/10 because of all the ppl that dosent know what a good movie is and giving it scores like 1/10. I had a friend that gave this a 1/10 here because he found it crap. I asked him why... its a great movie.. he explained he watched 20min ish and was bored and couldnt be asked to watch till the end. And that is sadly the issue with ppl, they dont watch movies fully and give crap score based on 10-20 min of what they have seen. I recommend this movie so bad. Its one of the best movies i have ever seen.

Dreadful film. Kate Burton and Gena Rowlands deserved far better than this. A woman takes a job caring for a dying stroke victim. Much more than this is involved in this dreadful film. Seems that the wife, Rowlands, would like to get rid of the old boy. How could a supposed stroke victim survive a fall out the attic window? Was it really voo doo or what? Hudson goes from a dedicated hospice worker to a tyrant at the film's very end. This happened awfully fast with no explanation. The story line had some possibilities as it deals with a lynching of black servants in the house along the Bayou years before. Curses and looking through mirrors was so much more pleasurable with Alice in Wonderland. No wonderland here, just misery.

Hired to care for a stroke victim on an isolated plantation, hospice worker Caroline begins to suspect her patient's wife is responsible for his condition. Armed with a key that opens every door in the house, she uncovers a dark history of black magic, voodoo and ritual sacrifice. This gloriously silly ghost yarn is enjoyable thanks to an above-average cast and a script from The Ring's Ehren Kruger. However, Hudson is given little chance to display her natural vivacity, while the ending is beyond ludicrous but overall, it's a camp spookfest that's more entertaining than some of the horror movies doing the rounds.