The Skeleton Key

Last updated
The Skeleton Key
Skeleton key.jpg
Promotional poster
Directed by Iain Softley
Written by Ehren Kruger
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Dan Mindel
Edited by Joe Hutshing
Music by Edward Shearmur
Production
companies
Shadowcatcher Entertainment
Double Feature Films
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • July 29, 2005 (2005-07-29)(United Kingdom)
  • August 12, 2005 (2005-08-12)(United States)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$43 million [1]
Box office$94 million [1]

The Skeleton Key is a 2005 American Southern Gothic [2] supernatural horror film directed by Iain Softley, written by Ehren Kruger, and starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, and Joy Bryant. The narrative follows a New Orleans hospice nurse who begins a job at a Terrebonne Parish plantation home, and becomes entangled in a supernatural mystery involving the house, its former inhabitants, and Hoodoo rituals and spells that took place there.

Contents

Plot

Caroline Ellis, a hospice aide, quits her position at a nursing home and is hired as the caretaker of an isolated plantation house in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. The aging matron of the house, Violet Devereaux, needs help looking after her husband Benjamin, who was mostly paralyzed by an apparent stroke. At the insistence of the family's estate lawyer, Luke Marshall, Caroline accepts the position.

After Ben attempts to escape his room during a storm, Caroline investigates the house's attic, where Violet said Ben suffered his stroke; she uses a skeleton key which Violet gave her. She discovers a secret room filled with ritual paraphernalia. Caroline confronts Violet, who reveals that the room used to belong to two African American servants who were employed at the house 90 years before. The servants, Mama Cecile and Papa Justify, were renowned hoodoo practitioners; they were lynched after conducting a ritual with the owners' two children, from whom Violet and Ben later bought the house. Violet tells Caroline that they keep no mirrors in the house because they see reflections of Cecile and Justify in them. Caroline borrows a phonograph record from the attic: Conjure of Sacrifice, a recording of Papa Justify reciting a hoodoo ritual.

Caroline surmises that Ben's stroke was caused by hoodoo, but believes that his paralytic state is a nocebo effect induced by his own belief, rather than something supernatural. Taking advice from her friend Jill, Caroline visits a hidden hoodoo shop in a nearby laundromat, where a hoodoo woman gives her tools and instructions to cure Ben. After she conducts the ritual, Ben regains some ability to move and speak and he begs Caroline to get him away from Violet.

Caroline tells Luke she is suspicious of Violet, but he remains skeptical. They travel to a gas station that Caroline previously noted was lined with brick dust, which she was told is a hoodoo defense; supposedly, no one who means one harm can pass a line of brick dust. She asks one of the proprietors, a blind woman, about the Conjure of Sacrifice, which she learns is a spell wherein the caster steals the remaining years of life from the victim. Increasingly convinced of hoodoo's authenticity, Caroline fears that Violet will soon cast the spell on Ben.

Caroline discovers that Violet is unable to pass a line of brick dust laid across one of the house's doorways, confirming her suspicions. She incapacitates Violet and attempts to escape the house with Ben, but the front gate is chained shut. Caroline hides Ben on the property and enters Luke's office for help. Luke, revealed to be Violet's accomplice, brings Caroline back to the house. Caroline escapes, gets into a fight with Violet, and violently pushes her down the stairs, breaking her legs in the process. With strategic use of brick dust, Caroline flees to the attic, calls 9-1-1 and Jill for help, and casts what she believes is a protective spell. Violet, having caught up with her, reveals she actually trapped herself inside a protective circle. Violet pushes a full-length mirror at Caroline, which reflects the original owner's daughter, then Violet, and lastly Mama Cecile. A recording of the Conjure of Sacrifice plays, and the two switch bodies.

Violet (revealed to be Mama Cecile, who had been occupying Violet's body through the Conjure) wakes up in Caroline's body, and force-feeds Caroline (now in Violet's body) a potion that induces a stroke-like paralytic state like Ben's. Luke (actually Papa Justify) arrives upstairs, revealing that Mama Cecile and Papa Justify have been conducting the Conjure of Sacrifice on new people since their supposed deaths; they had swapped places with the two children just before the lynching. Because hoodoo is supposedly only effective on those who believe in it, Cecile and Justify had to wait for Caroline to come to believe in hoodoo through her own investigation.

Emergency services arrive the next morning and take Caroline and Ben away, trapped in the paralyzed dying bodies; when Jill arrives, "Luke" tells her that the Devereauxes left the house to Caroline, ensuring that Cecile and Justify will continue to occupy the house.

Cast

Production

The Skeleton Key was filmed at the Felicity Plantation, located on the Mississippi River in Saint James Parish, Louisiana. [3]

Release

The Skeleton Key was released in the U.S. on August 12, 2005, after having received an earlier release date of July 29, 2005 in the United Kingdom. [4] It grossed $92 million worldwide. [1] In the U.S., it took in $16.1 million in its first weekend, reaching number 2 at the box office; the total US gross was $47.9 million. [1]

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 37% of 149 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Thanks to its creaky and formulaic script, The Skeleton Key is more mumbo-jumbo than hoodoo and more dull than scary." [5] Metacritic rated it 47/100 based on 32 reviews. [6]

Most of the reviews were mixed. Roger Ebert's review wrote, "The Skeleton Key is one of those movies that explains too much while it is explaining too little, and leaves us with a surprise at the end that makes more sense the less we think about it. But the movie's mastery of technique makes up for a lot." [7] The Guardian 's Peter Bradshaw awarded the film three out of five stars, noting: "It's a pretty thankless role for poor John Hurt, and there are some plot holes. But there's some shrewd satire of racism as the modern south's persistent, dirty little secret and screenwriter Ehren Kruger's third act conjures up a neat little shiver." [4] Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times praised the film, calling it "tightly plotted and suspenseful enough to keep you guessing until the satisfying, unexpected end, which is worth suspending disbelief for," adding that "Hudson holds her own among impressive company. Not that Hurt has a whole lot to do other than grab an occasional wrist and recoil at his face in the mirror, and the usually measured Sarsgaard oversells it a bit, but Rowlands takes to the part like a fly to a shucked oyster." [8]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times criticized the film for its plot, describing it as "enjoyably inane," and also noted that the film "indulges in almost every conceivable regional and [Southern Gothic] genre cliché." [9] USA Today wrote that the film "employs intriguing camera angles to heighten some of the suspense. It's too bad the movie goes over the top and falls apart in the last third." [10] Stephanie Zacharek wrote in Salon : "Softley, working from a script by Ehren Kruger, puts so much care into layering moods and textures that he doesn't always scoot the action along as briskly as he should." [11] In The Seattle Times , Moira McDonald wrote that the film is "occasionally scary but more often silly." [12] In her review for The Austin Chronicle , Marjorie Baumgarten wrote: "Director Softley again shows his gifts for creating atmospheric milieus...Yet the movie, overall, lacks tension and suspense. [13] In Film Journal International , Edward Alter wrote that, "Iain Softley ( K-Pax ) and cinematographer Dan Mindel make the most of the setting," but concluded that the film was, "a paint-by-numbers supernatural thriller that's more interesting for its locations than for its story." [14]

Connie Ogle in The Miami Herald wote "it's reasonably entertaining despite an abundance of haunted-house cliches, the usual inexplicable scary-movie behavior, and an almost-naked John Hurt." [15] Jennie Punter in The Globe and Mail called the film, "stylishly made but disappointingly lightweight." [16] Writing for the Chicago Tribune , Jessica Reeves called the film "serviceable but ultimately disappointing". [17] In his annual film guide, Leonard Maltin rated the film mediocre, stating that it was "well-produced and occasionally suspenseful, but populated by unpleasant characters and a story that moves too slowly." [18] In the annual DVD & Video Guide, Marsha Porter wrote, "A few good scares can't compensate for a sluggish pace, and the climactic twist comes as a surprise only because it doesn't make sense." [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dangerous Liaisons</i> 1988 film by Stephen Frears

Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play Les liaisons dangereuses, itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi and Keanu Reeves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoodoo (spirituality)</span> Spiritual practices, traditions and beliefs

Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs that were created by enslaved African Americans in the Southern United States from various traditional African spiritualities and elements of indigenous botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure men or conjure women, and root doctors. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include rootwork and conjure. As a syncretic spiritual system, it also incorporates beliefs from Islam brought over by enslaved West African Muslims, and Spiritualism. Scholars define Hoodoo as a folk religion. It is a syncretic religion between two or more cultural religions, in this case being African indigenous spirituality and Abrahamic religion.

<i>Suddenly Last Summer</i> 1958 play by Tennessee Williams

Suddenly Last Summer is a one-act play by Tennessee Williams, written in New York in 1957. It opened off Broadway on January 7, 1958, as part of a double bill with another of Williams' one-acts, Something Unspoken. The presentation of the two plays was given the overall title Garden District, but Suddenly Last Summer is now more often performed alone. Williams said he thought the play "perhaps the most poetic" he had written, and Harold Bloom ranks it among the best examples of the playwright's lyricism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gena Rowlands</span> American actress (born 1930)

Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands is an American retired actress, whose career in film, stage, and television has spanned nearly seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977). She is also known for her performances in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), and her son Nick Cassavetes's film, The Notebook (2004). In 2021, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, “The most important and original movie actor of the past half century-plus is Gena Rowlands.” In November 2015, Rowlands received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her unique screen performances.

The Three Bears (<i>Looney Tunes</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon characters

The Three Bears are animated cartoon characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. The dysfunctional family consists of Henry "Papa" Bear, Mama Bear, and Junior Bear. The characters were featured in five theatrical cartoons released between 1944 and 1951, based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Gyllenhaal</span> American actress and filmmaker (born 1977)

Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs, and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Phillips</span> American folk rock singer, songwriter and actress (born 1944)

Michelle Gilliam Phillips is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame as a vocalist in the musical quartet the Mamas & the Papas in the mid-1960s. Her voice was described by Time magazine as the "purest soprano in pop music". She later established a successful career as an actress in film and television beginning in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sarsgaard</span> American actor (born 1971)

John Peter Sarsgaard is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television.

Iain Declan Softley is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films include Backbeat,Hackers, The Wings of the Dove, K-PAX, The Skeleton Key, Inkheart and the BBC adaptation of Sadie Jones's novel The Outcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Voodoo</span> African diasporic religion in Louisiana

Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion that originated in Louisiana. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Haitian Vodou. No central authority is in control of Louisiana Voodoo, which is organized through autonomous groups.

<i>Elegy</i> (film) 2008 film by Isabel Coixet

Elegy is a 2008 American romantic drama film directed by Isabel Coixet from a screenplay by Nicholas Meyer, based on the 2001 novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth. The film stars Penélope Cruz and Ben Kingsley, with Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson, and Dennis Hopper in supporting roles. The film was set in New York City but was shot in Vancouver.

<i>Orphan</i> (2009 film) 2009 film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

Orphan is a 2009 psychological horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by David Leslie Johnson from a story by Alex Mace. The film stars Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett and Aryana Engineer. The plot centers on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a psychopathic nine-year-old girl with a mysterious past.

"Piggy Piggy" is the sixth episode of the first season of the television series American Horror Story, which premiered on the network FX on November 9, 2011. The episode was written by supervising producer Jessica Sharzer and directed by Michael Uppendahl. This episode is rated TV-MA (LV).

<i>Mama</i> (2013 film) 2013 supernatural horror film by Andrés Muschietti

Mama is a 2013 supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Andy Muschietti in his directorial debut and based on his 2008 Argentine short film Mamá. The film stars Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse, Daniel Kash, and Javier Botet as the title character.

<i>The Skeleton Twins</i> 2014 American film

The Skeleton Twins is a 2014 American comedy-drama film directed by Craig Johnson and starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. The film premiered in competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It won the Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic at the festival. Wiig and Hader play twins in the film. The film received positive reviews; critics praised Johnson's direction and the performances of Hader and Wiig.

<i>Jackie</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Pablo Larraín

Jackie is a 2016 biographical drama film directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Noah Oppenheim. The film stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy. Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and John Hurt also star; it was Hurt's final film released in his lifetime before his death in January 2017. The film follows Kennedy in the days when she was First Lady in the White House and her life immediately following the assassination of her husband, United States President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. It is partly based on Theodore H. White's Life magazine interview with the widow at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in November 1963.

<i>The Nun</i> (2018 film) American film by Corin Hardy

The Nun is a 2018 American gothic supernatural horror film directed by Corin Hardy and written by Gary Dauberman, from a story by Dauberman and James Wan. It serves as a spiritual spin-off to The Conjuring 2 and is the fifth installment in The Conjuring shared universe. The film stars Taissa Farmiga, Demián Bichir and Jonas Bloquet, with Bonnie Aarons reprising her role as the Demon Nun, an incarnation of Valak, from The Conjuring 2. The plot follows a Roman Catholic priest and a nun in her novitiate as they uncover an unholy secret in 1952 Romania. It is followed by a sequel The Nun II, released in 2023.

<i>All the Bright Places</i> (film) 2020 teen romantic drama movie directed by Brett Haley

All the Bright Places is a 2020 American teen romantic drama film, directed by Brett Haley, from a screenplay by Jennifer Niven and Liz Hannah, adapted from the novel of the same name by Niven. It stars Elle Fanning, Justice Smith, Alexandra Shipp, Kelli O'Hara, Lamar Johnson, Virginia Gardner, Felix Mallard, Sofia Hasmik, Keegan-Michael Key, and Luke Wilson.

<i>The Guilty</i> (2021 film) American crime thriller by Antoine Fuqua

The Guilty is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed and produced by Antoine Fuqua, from a screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto. A remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name, the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Christina Vidal, with the voices of Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Eli Goree, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Paul Dano, and Peter Sarsgaard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aunt Caroline Dye</span> African American Hoodoo woman, rootworker and conjuror

Caroline Dye also known as Aunt Caroline, was a renowned African American Hoodoo woman, rental property investor, soothsayer, rootworker and conjuror based in Newport, Arkansas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Skeleton Key". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  2. ↑ "10 Southern Gothic Movies That Are Scarier Than Standard Horror Films". Screen Rant . 17 November 2020.
  3. ↑ Scott, Mike (June 8, 2016). "Where was the 'Roots' remake filmed?". The Times-Picayune . Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Bradshaw, Peter (July 28, 2005). "The Skeleton Key". The Guardian . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  5. ↑ "The Skeleton Key". Rotten Tomatoes . 12 August 2005. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Skeleton Key, The (2005): Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  7. ↑ "The Skeleton Key movie review (2005) | Roger Ebert".
  8. ↑ Chocano, Carina (August 12, 2005). "'Skeleton Key' is a gothic thriller with good bones". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  9. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (August 12, 2005). "Just in Time, a Southern Gothic Gumbo of Fluff and Horror". The New York Times . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  10. ↑ "'Skeleton Key' goes bump, then thuds". USA Today . August 11, 2005. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  11. ↑ Zacharek, Stephanie (August 12, 2005). ""The Skeleton Key"". Salon . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  12. ↑ McDonald, Moira (August 11, 2005). ""Skeleton Key": Dear Kate, we miss your sunny smile". The Seattle Times . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ Baumgarten, Marjorie (August 12, 2005). "Film Review: The Skeleton Key". The Austin Chronicle . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  14. ↑ Alter, Edward (August 12, 2005). "The Skeleton Key". Film Journal International. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Search".
  16. ↑ Punter, Jennie (August 12, 2005). "The Skeleton Key". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  17. ↑ Reeves, Jessica (December 2, 2005). "Movie review: 'The Skeleton Key'". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on December 2, 2005.
  18. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Plume. p. 1252. ISBN   978-0-452-28978-9.
  19. ↑ Martin, Mick; Porter, Marsha (2006). DVD & Video Guide 2007. Ballantine. p. 1034. ISBN   0345493311.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.