The Skeleton Key
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Website: http://www.theskeletonkeymovie.com/
Release Date: 2005-08-12
Cast: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant
Director: Iain Softley, Daniel Bobker, Stacey Sher
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger
WorkNameSort: Skeleton Key, The
Our Rating: 3.00
I liked it when it was called Burnt Offerings, and by God, there’s no reason for me to stop liking it now. Totally derivative but still a respectable genre exercise, this thriller has a New Orleans hospice worker (Kate Hudson) taking an assignment in a crumbling bayou mansion and running into all the usual obstacles: terrified, mute patient; hoodoo rituals; Gena Rowlands. The movie is awfully slow to get going, dawdling through about 45 minutes of tepid setup and peekaboo shots of Hudson’s Hawn-spawned bod (what God gave her in lieu of a legitimate career). Fortune, though, favors the intrepid, as the film’s initial doldrums and reliance on cheap scares gradually give way to a commendably sinister denouement. (The storyline also bucks the annoying, reverse-racist trend that nowadays denies black actors the fun of playing genuinely malevolent characters, limiting their options to wronged victims of white injustice.) All in all, it’s fit material for a weekend matinee at your nearest second-run grind house; just don’t pay full price. Plus, it’s given me an excuse to use the phrase “crumbling bayou mansion,” which is always a good time. (PG-13)
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2005.