Susan Granger’s review of “Skeleton Key” (Universal Pictures)
Usually bubbly and vivacious Kate Hudson finds herself mired deep in a Louisiana bayou in this supernatural thriller from the screenwriter of “The Ring” and the director of “K-PAX.” She’s serious Caroline Ellis, a 25 year-old hospice worker determined to make enough money to attend nursing school. When she’s offered $1,000-a-week to be a live-in caretaker for an elderly stroke victim confined to a wheelchair in an isolated plantation mansion an hour’s drive outside of New Orleans, she accepts. That brings her into the decrepit home of Violet (Gena Rowlands) and Ben (John Hurt) Deveraux whose Southern legacy runs deep, as the estate lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard) knows. Given an old-fashioned skeleton key that unlocks every door, Caroline becomes curious about this secretive family and discovers a hidden room behind a bookcase in the attic that’s filled with sinister hoodoo paraphernalia. (Hoodoo is not voodoo; it’s different. Not a religion, hoodoo is primarily witchcraft with spells, potions and personal conjurations.) Writer Ehren Kruger has fashioned a taut, creepily American ghost story which, although it is unfortunately quite formulaic, derivative and predictable – with a ludicrous conclusion, director Iain Softley milks for all the moody, menacing flavor inherent in the psychological horror genre, proving, “This house has been nothing but blood and tears.” Count on compelling performances from veterans Gena Rowlands and John Hurt and, after years of lighthearted romantic comedies, Kate Hudson is quite ready to tackle something darker and more provocative. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Skeleton Key” is a shallow, spooky 6, finding bizarre, brooding tension in what’s behind that ominous, forbidding door to scare you on a hot summer’s night.
