The Skeleton Key DVD Review:

Horror movies seem to follow trends more than any other genre. In the eighties slasher films were the thing, with Freddy, Jason, and Michael as spokespersons for the onslaught. In the nineties the teen horror film became popular with Scream, and it was driven into the ground after many bad attempts to copy. Recently the trend has been supernatural thrillers, usually involving ghosts and small children. The Skeleton Key has no small children, but it definitely falls under the category of supernatural thriller. This horror film attempts to be different than other thrillers, but it never truly achieves anything great in the process. What occurs is mildly entertaining, and only somewhat predictable, but never great.

Kate Hudson stars as Caroline Ellis, a nurse tired of her job, who decides to take a new job living in a home in the Louisiana bayous, watching over a decrepit old man. Caroline begins to suspect that there might be foul play involving the old man and his wife (Gena Rowland), and the more she tries to investigate, the deeper she finds herself in a world of strange rituals. Deep in the swamps it seems that many people practice a strange art of Hoodoo, or Voodoo, and although Caroline doesn’t believe in it, she soon finds that some of the rituals work. She finds that many of the answers could possibly be found in the attic of the house in which she works.

It isn’t that The Skeleton Key is boring, but there seem to be a lot of unnecessary scenes. In truth, many of the scenes seem to be showcasing the fact that Kate Hudson has already gotten rid of the extra weight from having a child. There are plenty of scenes with skimpy clothes to serve as evidence for this. The suspense builds as the film progresses, but by the time it reaches the climax it feels as though the journey is far too much for the outcome.

The DVD comes full of special features, which would make you think that it was a big hit, but in all truth it passed through the theaters like so many films do these days. There are twenty minutes of deleted scenes, but very few of them are actually worth watching. As it is the film seems to drag in spots that these scenes were deleted from. There is a short feature in which Kate Hudson tells a quick story from her past which is eerie, but it doesn’t fit in the special features as much as some of the others. There is a featurette exploring the truth behind voodoo and hoodoo, which is actually a great deal about herbs.

The behind the scenes featurette is one of the better features, with all of the usual interviews. There is also a featurette about the music in the film, which is traditional blues mixed with a more modern feel, and a commentary track with Iain Softley. There are other assorted features, but they aren’t anything special.



Ryan Izay