The Skeleton Key Movie Information

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Movie Information

Overall Rank: 7176

Average Rating: 2.5/4

# of Ratings: 118

Theatrical Release Date: 08/12/2005

Language: English

Genre: Drama, Horror

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Director: Iain Softley

Actors: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, Maxine Barnett

Plot: A hospice worker in an old plantation house in New Orleans comes across a mysterious Hoodoo ritual. The magic will only work if she believes in it and as she delves deeper into the mystery, she starts to believe. -- Chris Kavan

Indyfreak - wrote on 06/13/2023

A suitably creepy atmosphere helps this supernatural thriller. There is a terrific plot twist but it doesn't compensate for the slow pace. Kate Hudson is not bad I suppose, but Gena Rowlands is good at this kind of movie.

Bribaba - wrote on 05/03/2011

If the visual clichés don't get you, then the aural ones will. I don't think I've ever come across a film with so much superfluous noise, which constantly reminds you that you are watching a soundstage and not an old mansion in New Orleans. This robs the film of the atmosphere necessary for a tale of the supernatural to succeed. The cast do their best but lose out to the big noise from New Orleans.

Freddie - wrote on 01/26/2009

It's not like this is a bad movie, but I don't know what there really is to say about it. It exists. Kate Hudson does her job well as she usually does. There was nothing too spectacluar about this, but nothing that made me so miserable that I'd rather switch bodies with a 75 yr old woman so I could get outta here faster.

Yojimbo
Movie God

"The Skeleton Key" by Yojimbo

Yojimbo - wrote on 01/30/2012

A young care worker takes a live in job looking after an elderly lady's ailing husband but comes to suspect that she is the one responsible for his condition. As the DVD cover screamed "FROM THE WRITER OF THE RING"!!!! I was pretty sure what to expect from this film, but it actually doesn't really fall into the generic J horror category at all. Having some of the feel of the "enemy within" Hitchcock thrillers such as Suspicion and Rebecca, it also has a some nice local deep southern colour, the photography is quite atmospheric and although it isn't exactly full of surprises, there are enough twists and turns to keep your interest. Not exactly a cornucopia of originality and invention but it is a decent piece of Twilight Zonery that's a lot better than the similar The Others.

TheWolf
Movie God

twisted thriller

TheWolf - wrote on 08/09/2007

"The Skeleton Key" is about a young hospice worker named Caroline Ellis who decided to take a caregiving job outside of New Orleans deep in the bayou. She will be working for Violet Devereaux, and will be taking care of her bed ridden husband, Ben. Caroline senses something eerie about the old plantation house, and begins to uncover a strange chain of events and incidents after opening a secret room within the attic. In the attic are all kinds of strange things, and strangest of all and old record called 'The Conjure of Sacrifice'. Caroline begins to suspect something isn't going right within the home. She asks her friend Jill who explains that the attic is probably a Hoodoo room, and tells Caroline that Hoodoo is folk magic, and it can't hurt you if you don't believe in it. But if …