Synopsis
A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.
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Cast
- Kate HudsonCaroline Ellis
- Gena RowlandsViolet Devereaux
- Peter SarsgaardLuke Marshall
- John HurtBen Devereaux
- Joy BryantJill
- Marion ZinserBayou Woman
- Maxine BarnettMama Cynthia
- Fahnlohnee R. HarrisHallie
- Deneen TylerDesk Nurse
- Ann DalrympleC.N.A.
Recommendations
- 75
Entertainment Weekly
For anyone zombified by creaky thriller clichés, Skeleton is a fine little shot in the head. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
An elegantly mounted ghost story that's steeped plenty of dank Louisiana atmosphere. - 63
ReelViews
Delivers its share of cheap scares but never unlocks the door to the creepiness that would have made this is memorable movie-going experience. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
One of those movies that explains too much while it is explaining too little, and leaves us with a surprise at the end that makes more sense the less we think about it. But the movie's mastery of technique makes up for a lot. - 50
Variety
Stirring up a humid Gothic mood and amassing a gifted roster of actors, The Skeleton Key is unable to ward off the nasty spirits of formula screenwriting. - 50
Dallas Observer
Ultimately, the filmmakers build toward a reasonably satisfying "Twilight Zone" climax, only they crawl toward the ho-hum ending; the movie appears to have been written and edited in a swamp too. - 50
L.A. Weekly
The Skeleton Key takes its time making a slow, creeping ascent, but once it starts plummeting downward, Softley keeps things moving at a furious pace, and both Hudson and Rowlands enjoy surrendering themselves to the grandiloquent lunacy of it all. - 50
Washington Post
It's all ultimately made watchable by the exceptional cast ... and a story that, despite some unsavory racial undertones, holds the audience's interest even when it veers toward the downright silly.
