Movie Review

The Skeleton Key

Can Ehren Kruger write anything else? The Skeleton Key is yet another ?creepy? thriller from him after writing The Ring (B+) and Ring Two (C+), and he also wrote Imposter and the genre flick Scream 3 (B-); he seems to have gotten lucky with craft just once. Dark Water (C+) had also been marketed as being "from the author of The Ring," when really Kruger wasn't behind it; only the producers were. But even so, it is very logical to suspect he was involved given the mediocrity. With The Skeleton Key, Kruger has delivered a screenplay that is on par with expectations: it?s nowhere near as smart and creepy as the first Ring and is merely an average by-the-numbers horror movie ? what a surprise.

The movie stars Kate Hudson as a hospice worker (Caroline) who takes a job at a creepy house in New Orleans to care for a stroke patient (Ben, played by John Hurt); he is immobilized and cannot speak, as he just hangs on until it is his time to pass. In the midst of her stay, Caroline rummages through the attic (having used a skeleton key) and finds remains of voodoo practices, which Ben?s wife suspiciously denies the usage of (noting that it was probably the previous caretakers). It seems the practice might have something to do with Ben?s condition (he was in the attic before the stroke), and Caroline is determined to figure out the secret behind this house.

While The Skeleton Key has a more thought out story than Dark Water (which was merely an exercise in mood), it still suffers from the formulaic trend that so many horror movies have taken to since The Ring. If you have seen the trailer, most of the story is given away there, and even if you haven?t its outline can be figured out just by knowing your basic ABC?s about the genre. The ingredients are all here: A house with a deadly secret, an immobilized old patient thus allowing the filmmakers to go for cheap jumps at close-up shots when the protagonist nears, and a protagonist who believes she is onto something while everyone gives her mysterious looks. Gee, I wonder if she?s right, and I wonder if the voodoo really did cause the stroke! And I really wonder what this ?secret? is of the past; I won?t be fulfilled until I know.

The script just didn?t allow me to care about the aforementioned details. The characters are as thinly laced as the skeletons in the attic, and Caroline?s only backbone is that she ignored her father when he was dying, and caring for this new patient is her way to compensate for the past (how creative, and I already feel sympathetic!). It all just adds up to a collection of cheap scares (and quick close-ups of skeletons and things that are supposed to be creepy?to maybe five year olds) that are backed up by the classic cueing of heightened music, and your reaction to the secret will largely depend on your tolerance of traditional horror flicks. Some people don?t mind easy thrillers, but they don?t do much for me. But as this lackluster year continues, I can safely say that I?ve seen worse; The Skeleton Key is merely average.

Lee's Grade: C+

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%