What secrets lie locked inside? (The Skeleton Key (DVD))

Member Name: IzzyS

Product:	The Skeleton Key (DVD)
Date:	08/06/09 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting story, decent performances, good length

Disadvantages: You may need to be fairly open minded to really be 'taken in' by it

- Credits -

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397101/fullcredits


- Story -

A hospice nurse called Caroline answers an ad in the local paper for a couple and ends up looking after an old man called Ben Deveraux who suffered a stroke recently, at the couples rather creepy old house in the woodlands in New Orleans.

The wife, Violet, seems rather peculiar from the start to Caroline, being quite snippy and enforcing some rules which seem a little harsh but she tolerates it and the longer she stays in the house, the more she notices, such as the fact that her key she's given, that she's been told opens every door in the house, doesn't appear to open one particular door in the attic. She vows to discover whats on the other side of this old door and soon the old houses secrets are laid bare, which puts her in danger. What secrets does the house hold? what will happen to her? you'll have to watch the movie to find out, of course!.


- Thoughts and Opinions -

This movie is quite good I think, although you'll have to be rather open minded towards supernatural, occult type things and such like, to really 'believe' it.

Kate does quite well in this role, becoming gradually more concerned and and consumed by what she discovers, along with the viewer and it does become really quite atmospheric and spooky as little by little we start to realise what has happened and what certain things mean. Its hard to say too much without giving away too much obviously but little by little, the mystery starts to be unravelled.

I would say that this movie is less outright scary and more spooky/sinister really, personally I didn't find it very scary but thats not to say that I think its a bad movie and it didn't have any effect on me and certainly if you watch it at night with the lights off, it is pretty creepy, just it doesn't feature much in the way of blood and gore or very heavy violence as such, which was a relief for me since thats what puts me off, I can't handle horror movies that are too visually graphic in that sense. Instead I suppose I could say that its more similar to movies, in feel, to What Lies Beneath or even The Blair Witch Project. The shocks don't come as often as perhaps they do in The Blair Witch Project but there again in a sense thats perhaps a good thing as when they do, their more likely to take you by surprise!.

I liked the plot of the movie in a way as it was fairly thought out, there was a proper story behind it, which became somewhat more intriguing as the movie continued, it didn't strike me as a rushed and sloppy movie in that aspect, so thats good. If your going to be overly critical then you may find things a little silly, for instance I thought the character of the towns estate lawyer, Luke Marshall, was a bit daft, given what happens towards the end. I would also point out that you do need to pay a fair bit of attention to the ins and outs of the story as it plays out because the movie has quite a twist at the end and it might not be too obvious or clear or otherwise make a great deal of sense if you don't keep track of whats going on, which is perhaps common sense but I did get a bit mixed up at times, so I thought I'd add that (I have to say over the last while, I've been getting steadily worse at concentrating on movies but I don't feel its the movies fault, its me lol its so difficult to concentrate and not keep checking the 'net and everything else at the same time, so, my bad lol).

I think as a creepy supernatural thriller, it does quite well, the story is pretty good and the main performances are fine too, plus at one hour and forty minutes long, its a good length movie too, not dragging on or ending too abruptly. The twist near the end also may well take you by surprise, so all in all its a pretty decent movie.


- Would I Recommend It? -

Yes, I'll recommend this movie as, like I've said already, its got a decent enough story and the acting is fine too. It is pretty creepy at times and does quite well as a supernatural or psychological thriller probably moreso than as a horror movie, though I've seen it classified as both. It perhaps requires a bit of open minded-ness (if such a term exists?) to be able to be properly taken in by what happens but the same can be said for pretty much any and all such movies in this genre and I liked how the story seemed to only be revealed bit by bit, with the twist at the end. It perhaps isn't totally flawless but its pretty decent all the same, so overall yes, I would recommend it.

Thanks for reading my review, I hope you found it useful and thanks for any and all r/r/c's. This review is also posted on Ciao UK under my username which is the same name, IzzyS.

Summary: A decent enough pyschological thriller movie