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Skeleton Key, The
Skeleton Key, The
Stars: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, John HurtDirector: Iain Softley
Summary: After New Orleans hospice worker Caroline (Kate Hudson) answers a help wanted ad, she finds herself working as the live-in caretaker of Ben Devereaux (John Hurt), a stroke victim who has lost his ability to speak. Ben's wife, Violet (Gena Rowlands), presents Caroline with a skeleton key to open any door in the house with the exception of one, which she claims she has never been able to open. But curiosity gets the best of her, and Caroline opens the door to find a wealth of materials representing the old house's history of hoodoo, an ancient form of folk magic. She soon discovers that the house harbours a dark secret one that Violet knows more about than she first admits. Breaking her string of lighthearted romantic comedies, Kate Hudson gives a performance that proves she's more than capable of playing a feisty damsel in distress. Ehren Kruger's (THE RING) script gives her some physically demanding scenes, while providing the audience with a steady string of effective jolts culminating in a SIXTH SENSE-style twist that few are likely to see coming. Louisiana's swampy, heavy atmosphere is literally a character in the film, while Gena Rowlands, at age 75, astounds once again with one of her most surprising roles.
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Steeped in rain, humidity, and eerie bayou atmosphere, The Skeleton Key is an entertaining supernatural thriller that makes excellent use of its Louisiana locations. New Orleans and the rural environs of Terrebonne Parish are crucial in setting up the creepy circumstances that find compassionate caregiver Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) newly employed at the backwater plantation home of Violet (Gena Rowlands) and her invalid husband Ben (John Hurt), who's been rendered mute and seemingly helpless by a recent stroke. The place is rife with mystery, shrouded in the secrets of a suspicious past and, under Violet's stern supervision, plagued by superstition involving the use of Hoodoo magic spells (not to be confused with Voodoo, as explored in the similarly suspenseful Angel Heart) intended to protect the house from harm. But Caroline soon discovers the source of the mystery, and why Ben (who can barely utter a word) is so desperate to escape his seemingly comfortable domesticity. There are a few loopholes in the screenplay by prolific horror writer Ehren Kruger (The Ring and The Brothers Grimm), but director Iain Softley (Wings of the Dove) expertly emphasizes the edgy air of mystery, pushing some effective shocks while encouraging fine work from Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard (as Violet's lawyer) and especially Rowlands, who's genuinely disturbing as Skeleton Key nears a twist ending that's undeniably effective. --Jeff Shannon
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