‘Key’ chills to the bone

{LDQUO}The Skeleton Key” is a classy horror film that relies as much

on a clever screenplay and skillful acting performances as it does on

the standard, tried-and-true shock effects that one generally

associates with films of this type. Much of the gritty horror is in

the setting, a down-at-the-heels antebellum mansion in the dark,

swampy backwoods of Louisiana with slouching magnolias lining a

country road that leads to heaven knows where.

Kate Hudson is a young hospice worker sent to this creepy place to

help the elderly Mr. Devereaux (John Hurt) through his final days.

She catches on right away that things don’t quite seem as they appear

especially after her introduction to Gena Rowland who plays the

unpleasant Mrs.

Devereaux in a wonderfully wicked albeit kooky performance. And,

as a matter of opinion, while they are on screen together, Rowland’s

aging matron usually steals the show from Hudson’s youthful,

intelligent beauty.

The story alludes several times to a servant couple who occupied

the mansion back in the 1920s and who were involved in a strange

belief called hoodoo, presented as a modern day evil version of

voodoo.

In flashback sequences, they are filmed in a sepia toned

herky-jerky slow motion that plays along with a sinister sound track

of decidedly evil chanting that is guaranteed to raise the gooseflesh

on the back of your neck.

The plot twists and turns with lots of unexpected goings on and it

is a credit to the skills of director Iain Softley of “K-PAX” (2001)

fame as well as those of screenwriter Ehren Kruger, who wrote the

recent hit “The Ring.” Also, much of the appeal of this film lies in

the cinematography. Some of the scenes are so visually rich;

especially the zoom shots of the decaying mansion and the ever

present gauzy mist, that one can almost smell the cloying odor.

Fortunately, Kruger’s writing skills have kept this film from

descending into the hackneyed world of slasher flicks. A few of the

scenes, especially those of Hudson rooting around in the darkened

rooms of the mansion are so suspenseful that the audience groaned

aloud in sympathy of the pretty, young nurse.

The last scene of this film is completely unexpected and is

reminiscent of the skills of the late British director Alfred

Hitchcock, the master of the twist ending. If you are the type who

enjoys a well-made ghoulish film along with a few surprises you will

love “The Skeleton Key.”

JEFF KLEMZAK of La Crescenta is a self-proclaimed horror

aficionado and maintains that the vintage horror films of the 1930s

were the best, particularly “The Black Cat” with Boris Karloff and

Bela Lugosi.