The Skeleton Key

A young woman discovers a terrible secret while caring for an elderly man in this supernatural thriller. Caroline (Kate Hudson) is a care provider for the aged who is hired away from the hospice where she works by Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands). Violet needs someone to help take care of her husband, Ben (John Hurt), who is in poor health and doesn't have long to live. Violet and Ben live in a decaying rattletrap mansion not far from New Orleans, and as she settles into her work, Caroline spends her spare time exploring the house. It isn't long before Caroline discovers evidence that suggests Ben and Violet are members of a sinister voodoo cult, and that ghosts walk in the Devereaux mansion. The Skeleton Key also stars Peter Sarsgaard and Joy Bryant. — Mark Deming

AMG Review
For an hour, Iain Softley's The Skeleton Key gives off the buzz of a genre film pulled off with great craft. The spooky Southern gothic setting oozes menace, and the art direction of the spooky house itself seems appropriately sparse, until one realizes how detailed the little details are. The actors all understand what is required of them, and Softley gives them just enough room to find the right pitch for the performances. Gena Rowlands and Peter Sarsgaard walk the line of overacting without ever crossing it, and many of their moments offer the simple pleasure of watching very gifted performers enjoying themselves. Sadly the screenplay is unable to match their level of skill. Ehren Kruger's "twist" ending should be easy for any regular moviegoer to figure out, but that would be easy to excuse if there were any thematic weight to the film. Sadly, there is nothing for the viewer to take from the film other than the most surface of surface pleasures. Everything about The Skeleton Key is well-crafted, except the screenplay. — Perry Seibert