"The Skeleton Key" has a good cast: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt. And a pretty good premise: A young hospice worker (Hudson) goes to spooky old mansion way back in Louisiana swamp country to care for a dying man (Hurt) and his eccentric wife (Rowlands) and falls into a nether world of bayou black magic. Regrettably, though, the Hollywood cliche factory got its mojo working overtime on this one. Read the full review
Caroline is a live-in nurse hired to care for an elderly woman's ailing husband in their home, a foreboding and decrepit mansion in the Louisiana delta. Intrigued by the enigmatic couple and their rambling house, Caroline beings to explore the mansion using a skeleton key that unlocks every door — and leads to a terrifying secret.
Director: Iain Softley
Starring: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant
Run time: 104 minutes
Release date: August 12, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, some partial nudity and thematic material.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: D
"Softley's attempts to slowly build a sense of Gothic doom come off as hackneyed — with the obligatory blues tunes, crackling thunderstorms and off-kilter camera angles that frame all sorts of Deep South exotica, from gnarly, mossy oaks to nasty, fleshy things floating in jars."
Middletown Journal: D
"I was so bored that the twist ending completely eluded me — and I didn't care."
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