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The Skeleton Key (Frank's Take)
01/09/2005 . Source: Frank Ochieng 
In Iain Softley's preposterous Cajun creepfest The Skeleton Key, Frank says we get another variation of a formulaic terrorizing tale that spotlights the voodoo vibrations below the Mason-Dixon Line. Buy The Skeleton Key in the USA - or Buy The Skeleton Key in the UK  The Skeleton Key (2005) Universal Pictures
1 hour. 44 minutes. Starring: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant, Maxine Barnett, Fahnlohnee Harris, Ronald McCall. Directed by: Iain Softley.
Audiences might recall the hedonistic hocus pocus outrageousness of Alan Parker's glossy but incredibly laughable Angel Heart. Parker's atmospheric and Southern gothic black magic drama captured the absurd religious slant of its cockeyed convictions. Although Angel Heart tried to be a provocatively moody meditation of African-American spirituality, the film was perceived as an uneven and exploitative exposition soaked in its sensationalistic silliness. In Iain Softley's preposterous Cajun creepfest The Skeleton Key, we get another variation of a formulaic terrorizing tale that spotlights the voodoo vibrations below the Mason-Dixon Line.
Much like the aforementioned Angel Heart, The Skeleton Key clumsily examines the racial landscape while trying to delve into the ethnic spooky subtext of the supernatural. Unfortunately, The Skeleton Key is a callow and creepy country-fried caper that engages in cheap-minded scare tactics. Ehren Kruger's spotty script enhances the predictable clichés that abound in this Old South hollow haunted house horror show. The screwy story trudges along and Softley's pedestrian direction along with Kruger's meagre screenplay is a jumbled mess while never quite accomplishing the homespun hysterics of its ghostly gumption.
Northerner Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) is a white hospital caretaker based in a New Orleans hospital unit. Tired of the medical facility's idle bureaucracy and sheer negligence of its patients, Caroline decides to split the scene and head to the rural outskirts of New Orleans. There, she could practice her craft as a hospice care worker. But little does our medical-minded diva realize is that this swampy venue happens to be crawling with disgruntled ghosts that show no mercy toward its living counterparts.
Finally, Caroline settles down and applies her hospice services to a haunted house where two partying black servants were dubiously lynched years ago. Despite the hostile histrionics of this place, there are two inhabitants living there in the form of Violet and Ben Devereaux (Gena Rowlands and John Hurt). Violet calls the shots as poor Ben is a stroke victim and cannot express any independence on his own. Strangely, Violet is very opportunistic and controlling and doesn't seem to mind acting on behalf of the decision-making for the feeble Ben. In fact, one could interpret her misguided actions as purposely manipulating her crippled kin.
In an effort to access the abundance of rooms in the vast house, Violet gives a skeleton key to Caroline. It doesn't take long for the curious Caroline to stumble across a "special area" in the attic where the hoodoo happenings are occurring. Incidentally, the term "hoodoo" refers to a folksy brand of voodoo without so much of the emphasis steeped in the religious ritual connotations.
Thus, Caroline finds confronting this kooky-minded mystical belief system a bit challenging but must acknowledge this foreign concept in order to prevent the likes of a scheming Violet from manipulating its empowering forces. Can Caroline gain a grip on these hoodoo activities before it can cause regional havoc? Will she be able to rescue Ben and other invalids from its potent influences? And how will outsider Caroline fare while looking inside to some insidious practices that she finds quite daunting?
The Skeleton Key tries desperately to be a literate goose bump sleeper where a sense of mystery and intrigue is at the moral center of this banal bayou backwoods boofest. However, Softley's pseudo-spine-tingling narrative manages to conjure up a shallow and sluggish tension-building tale without much bite.
The film sheepishly invites the spirituality of racial/religious mysticism then turns around and doesn't know what to do with the conception it awkwardly hints at in the first place. Softley does soak up the scenery somewhat with a brooding and bizarre approach that's almost hypnotic in its presentation. But the silly-minded theatrics and lightweight nightmarish nuances deem this vapid vehicle about as exciting as sipping mint julep on a scorching August afternoon.
It's nice to see Hudson branch out and leave behind the repetitive romance comedies that have been dominating her cinematic resume as of late. Still, she seems lost and uncomfortable in this Southern-based spook sideshow involving ghosts and an assortment of crazy-minded kooks that crosses her path.
Rowlands is inspired as the possessed Violet Devereaux and does have some fun even in middling material that doesn't support her campy turn adequately. And the always reliable Peter Sarsgaard (who plays the assisting real estate attorney) isn't allowed to make that much of an impact in an outlandish chiller that wastes his considerable time.
Here's hoping that some might want to consider locking the doors permanently to this flimsy frightfest and throwing away the remaining skeleton key as soon as possible!
Frank Ochieng
(c) Frank Ochieng 2005
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