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The Skeleton Key

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The Skeleton Key
Promotional Poster
Directed byIain Softley
Written byEhren Kruger
Produced byIain Softley
Daniel Bobker
Michael Shamberg
Stacey Sher
StarringKate Hudson
Gena Rowlands
Peter Sarsgaard
John Hurt
Joy Bryant
CinematographyDan Mindel
Edited byJoe Hutshing
Music byEd Shearmur
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
July 29, 2005 (UK)
August 12, 2005 (US)
Running time
104 min.
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish

The Skeleton Key is a 2005 American supernatural thriller film starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, and Joy Bryant. The film focuses on a young hospice nurse who acquires a job at a spooky New Orleans plantation home, and becomes entangled in a mystery involving the house, its former inhabitants, and the hoodoo (folk magic) rituals and magic that took place there. It was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2005, and in the U.S. on August 12, 2005.

Plot

Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) is a New Orleans hospital aide, who, after one of her patients dies alone, quits her unsatisfying nursing job in the city. Caroline takes a position as a private Hospice caregiver at an isolated plantation house deep in the bayous of southern Louisiana's eerie, enchanting Terrebonne Parish. The lady of the house, Violet Deveraux (Gena Rowlands) looks after her husband Ben (John Hurt), a stroke victim who is expected to die soon. At first Caroline is dubious about taking the job as Violet is very hostile and distrustful towards her, but after some prompting from the family lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard), she accepts the position.

Ben, unable to speak because of his stroke, piques Caroline’s interest when he grabs her arm one night and squeezes her until it hurts, his only way of communicating. Later Caroline wakes to find Ben crawling out his window in an attempt to leave the house. Caroline fetches his wheelchair from Ben’s room and discovers that he had written the words "help me" in dirt on his bed sheets. Violet becomes flustered at Ben’s attempt to leave the house and suggests they increase his medications.

Caroline soon finds the mansion has a dark past. Finding her way into a secret room in the attic, where Ben supposedly had his stroke, Caroline discovers dolls, a book of spells, potion jars, and other instruments of magic. Violet tells Caroline that the room belonged to two house servants who had worked at the house in the 1920s. Mama Cecile (Jeryl Prescott) and her husband, Papa Justify (Ron McCall) were, in their day, renowned practitioners of hoodoo, a form of Afro-Caribbean folk magic. The couple, it is revealed, were lynched when it was discovered that they were performing spells with the children of the house owners. Caroline dismisses Violet's fear of Justify and Cecile's ghosts dwelling in the house as superstition, but more strange events occur, piquing her curiosity about the obscure (to her) swamp religions and their relationship to the physical condition of Ben, whom she has become determined to save and restore to health.

Caroline, intrigued by the idea that Ben is sick because of his belief in magic, goes to a witch doctor’s store to buy magical instruments to attempt to heal him. Mama Cynthia (Maxine Barnett), the witch doctor working there, tells Caroline that Hoodoo is an individually based magic that only works if the practitioner believes in it. This reinforces Caroline’s belief that Ben is sick because he believes that the magic has made him sick. While Caroline doesn’t necessarily believe in this healing process she thinks that the psychosomatic process might allow Ben to get over his ailment. Later that night, Caroline conducts the ritual but the ‘healing’ process doesn’t fully work. However, Ben does voice the words ‘help me’ and when Caroline asks Ben who he is afraid of he points to Violet. This causes Caroline to become even surer that Ben’s ailment is all in his head, and that Violet is somehow responsible for Ben’s magical affliction.

In order to find answers about the ever-present Hoodoo magic, which seems to be the root cause of Ben’s illness, Caroline goes to a local gas station where she earlier saw Hoodoo artifacts. An old woman at the gas station (Marion Zinser) tells Caroline of one of the most powerful Hoodoo conjurations, the Conjure of Sacrifice. Caroline had discovered a record with this title written on it, and feels as though it has something to do with Ben’s illness. The old woman tells Caroline that this powerful spell is one of immortality, in which the caster sacrifices someone and gains the remaining years of their life. Caroline senses that Ben is in danger.

After a failed attempt to get Ben out of Violet's grasp, Caroline seeks the help of the young lawyer Luke. Luke was with Caroline when she learned of the Conjure of Sacrifice and he is aware of Caroline’s suspicion of Violet. While in Luke's house, Caroline discovers clues leading to the revelation that Luke is in league with Violet. Just as Caroline is about to act, Luke captures her, ties her up and gags her to take her back to the manor.

Caroline is held captive, but manages to get free and "rig" (roughly, enchant) the house with brick dust, which is said to keep away those who mean one harm. This brick dust enchantment succeeds in keeping Luke away but Violet gets to Caroline and blows a potion in her eyes that distorts her vision. After a brief struggle Caroline manages to push Violet down the stair and break her legs. With Luke and Violet now downstairs, Caroline flees to the attic to find that the room has been set up for some kind of ritual. Caroline follows the instructions on a piece of paper she snatched from Violet earlier, and forms a protective circle around herself. The protective spell was a trick intended to capture Caroline instead of protect her. Violet comes into the ritual room, and explains that "they" have been waiting for her to believe in the magic of Hoodoo. Caroline realizes that it was in fact herself who was in danger and not Ben. Caroline tries to deny the fact that she now knows Hoodoo, but cannot convince herself, because over the course of her stay in the manor, and her involvement with Ben, she has come to believe in it.

Violet pushes a mirror at Caroline, which contains the image, initially of the little girl, then of Violet and ultimately of Mama Cecile. The mirror smashes into Caroline, knocking her unconscious. Caroline then wakes up and walks over to Violet, who is barely awake. She takes Violet's cigarettes, and begins to smoke, while she utters the words, "Thank you, child," revealing to the audience that the soul of Mama Cecile is now inside Caroline's body. The mirror acted as a portal, and transferred Mama Cecile's soul into Caroline's body, while placing Caroline's soul in Violet's body. Luke walks in, and it is revealed that he too is not who he claims to be. His body is possessed by the soul of Papa Justify. Ben, who was previously the host to Papa Justify's soul, is revealed to be the real Luke.

Mama Cecile (in Caroline's body) gives Caroline (in Violet's body) a liquid (the same liquid that Ben was given as a ‘remedy’), which causes a pseudo stroke. This prevents her from talking, so that she can't reveal the presences of Mama Cecile and Papa Justify. The film ends with "stroke" victims Violet and Ben in an ambulance looking at each other and Caroline realizing she and Luke are trapped in Violet and Ben's bodies.

"Ben" and "Violet" left the house to "Caroline", thus leaving Mama Cecile and Papa Justify to continue occupying the house.

Cast

Setting

The Skeleton Key was filmed at the historic Felicity Plantation, actually located on the Mississippi River in Saint James Parish, Louisiana, not the coastal, swampy Terrebonne Parish. At the end of the movie, the aerial shot of the house and its grounds was actually done with CGI technology. In that shot, the house and the grove of trees surrounding it are real, but the swamp that seems to be on the verge of engulfing the house was created by the director for the movie. Behind the house actually lie hundreds of acres of fields. In reality, the house is not really run down; it was decorated with ivy, among other things, to set the tone.

Reception

Reviews

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. In the review of Rotten Tomatoes reported that 39% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 142 reviews.[1] In another review, Metacritic reported 47% with a score of 6.2, based on 32 reviews.[2] Scott Brown of Entertainment Weekly called the film "For anyone zombified by creaky thriller clichés, Skeleton is a fine little shot in the head". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said "One of the most enjoyably inane movies of the season, this faux Southern Gothic offers an embarrassment of geek pleasures". Furthermore, critic Peter Hartlaub of San Francisco Chronicle gave a negative review of the movie and said "A well-intentioned horror film that is weighted down by stellar cast members who for the most part act as if they do not want to be there".

Box office

The film was a financial success, with a worldwide gross of $US91,974,818. In the US it raised $US16,057,945 in its first weekend, reaching number 2 at the box office, and taking a total gross of $US47,907,715. [3]

References

  1. ^ "The Skeleton Key – Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  2. ^ "Skeleton Key, The (2005): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  3. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for August 12–14, 2005". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2008.

See also

Hoodoo (folk magic)

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