Chilling ending salvages 'The Skeleton Key'

Director Iain Softley uses this voodoo milieu as a backdrop for his new horror thriller, “The Skeleton Key.”

Actually, in this movie, it’s “hoodoo,” not “voodoo,” that has to be reckoned with. Hoodoo is some sort of old religion brought from Africa with the slave trade, but it’s never explained to the point of satisfaction in “The Skeleton Key.” That’s just one of the many problems that keep the film from being as effective as it could have been.

Indeed, for the first three-quarters of the 104-minute running time I was ready to write it off as schlock. But the last half of act three saves the film at the last minute.

The director has assembled a stellar cast here – Kate Hudson represents hot young Hollywood while Gena Rowlands and John Hurt are well-respected, mature actors.

Softley has directed very few films, his best being the based-on-the-Beatles-story “Backbeat,” and his most highly acclaimed being “The Wings of the Dove.” “The Skeleton Key” is his first stab at horror.

Hudson plays Caroline Ellis, a Jersey girl who has resettled in New Orleans. Frustrated with her work at a hospice, she lands a job as a private caregiver in the home of Violet Devereaux (Rowlands). Devereaux is a lifelong resident of the area, and as such she is well-versed in its black magic. Her husband (Hurt) has recently suffered a massive stroke and has precious few months to live.

Violet is concerned that this girl from the East Coast will not understand the nuances of Louisiana, or even the house in which she’ll live, and expresses her misgivings to her lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard) who hired Caroline.

As Caroline gets settled in, Mrs. Devereaux tries to explain the house and its history. She gives Caroline the object of the film’s title so she may get into any room in case of an emergency. There is one room, however, that the key doesn’t open.

Caroline soon has misgivings about the situation, and her suspicions are aroused further when she manages to get inside the mysterious room and discovers, along with all of the mirrors that formerly hung in the house, many strange things relating to former occupants and the hoodoo religion.

It seems two black house servants were lynched and burned during a drunken party early in the domicile’s history. Mrs. Devereaux explains the long and sordid past of the house and says the house servants can sometimes be seen in mirrors, which is why they have all been removed.

As things slowly but surely evolve, the audience, like Caroline, begins to believe all is not as it seems in the Devereaux mansion.

Caroline decides she’s going to get Mr. Devereaux out of there first and ask questions later. In order to do this, she has to learn something about the traditions of hoodoo that seem to permeate the household into which she has insinuated herself.

As mentioned, the film finally picks up a good deal of steam in the final act. Red herrings from earlier on begin to float to the surface as the reality of the situation emerges. The final scene – which will not be described here – is chilling and finally gives weight to the events that have preceded it.

While the destination proves to be an interesting payoff, I wish Softley had traveled a different route along the way.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

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