Off-Key Horror (The Skeleton Key (DVD))

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	The Skeleton Key (DVD)
Date:	21/07/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong ending, good to average performances.

Disadvantages: Weak script, very little happens for the first hour.

I'm a sucker for a film with a twist. So it would seem are a lot of other people, which is why so many of them get made. They fall, though, into two significant categories; either great films with a twist, or films with a great twist - where both seem to exist, it's inevitably because the preamble's so good. The Skeleton Key is one of those second types of movie, where the pay-off's a good one, the ending a well-crafted shocker, but you get the impression the "twist" was pitched well before any else in the film, the plot and characters built in afterwards around the endgame.

Caroline (Kate Hudson) is a careworker who, disillusioned with the monotony of her city job, arrives at a ramshackle mansion in the Louisiana swamps to help stuck-in-the-past Violet Devereaux look after her husband Ben, who has suffered a massive stroke. Tick - creepy old house, tick - crazy old woman. Oh, and tick - attractive newcomer who runs around petrified in skimpy pajamas. But only briefly.

Needless to say, all is not quite what it seems. Ben (John Hurt, who does a decent job considering he only has two words to say in the film) apparently suffered his stroke up in the attic - behind the only door the eponymous key does not open. When Caroline's curiosity gets the better of her, she finds all manner of Hoodoo equipment and strange things in jars hidden away, and can't help but dig ever deeper into the dark secrets of the house and its inhabitants.

This isn't a bad film, exactly, but it's probably nearer that than a good one. As alluded to earlier, the ending is strong - and needs to be to reward the patience to stay with a horror that's remarkably low on genuine shocks and scares. The story progresses at a slow, occasionally directionless pace, and what jumps there are seem to have been wedged awkwardly in to satisfy the presumed expectations of the audience.

The cast is a talented one, and all do pretty good jobs with the little that's given to them - in John Hurt's case, next to nothing save for the odd "distressed grunt" and "imperilled stare". Hurt's a fine actor, but rarely can he have found himself so under-employed. Hudson is okay as the protagonist initially sceptical of tales of house-hauntings and the like, and is faintly reminiscent of Nicole Kidman's character in The Others, save for the lack of whiny children to look after. She too, though, is hampered by script and plot, and coasts through at half the level of performance she's capable of.

With the whole film focusing on building up to the twist ending, there's just not a lot that really happens in the first hour or so of any real interest. Spooky atmosphere and Southern drawls aplenty, but only the fragments of a serious plot. There's half an hour of good film here, but twice as much distinctly less enjoyable padding - I'm all for horror films that play on psychological scares ahead of dismemberings and monsters, but if this is the angle The Skeleton Key is going for, it misses.

Without the support of a well-plotted storyline, and limited by sketchy characters, the ending - as clever as it is - lacks the punch and potency it really should have. The film closes on what should be a strong note - and would be if you cared about the characters, but it's all too easily to shrug it off. "Ah well ..."

If twists are your thing, this might be of interest. I didn't hate it, I just felt it failed to make an impact. In fact, if twists are your thing, there are plenty of good ones out there to watch before you unlock the so-so secrets of The Skeleton Key.

***


Oh - and it's worth noting that when the cover claims this film is from the "writer" of The Ring, they mean the American update. Effective as that may have been, he obviously already had a pretty decent script to work with - The Skeleton Key suggests that his ability at producing good, original stories is perhaps limited.

Summary: In a locked attic, an old house's dark secrets eventually lie.