Hudson is worth catching in The Skeleton Key
The Skeleton Key
Director: Iain Softley
Cast: Kate Hudson, John Hurt, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard
Cert: 15.
It's the old something-sinister-in-the-secret-room plot … with just a couple of unusual twists and a strong cast trying, not always successfully, to do it full justice.
Hudson plays a young care worker - with baggage - who sets off to the Deep South to look after stroke victim Hurt. She encounters her patient's indifferent wife (Rowlands) and comes across a skeleton key.
Now when us ordinary people find ourselves in a forbidding, menacing, atmospheric and chilling old house we deem it safer to cringe behind the nearest sofa. Not our brave Hudson, who goes exploring, key clasped firmly in hand, and finds more than she bargained for … blood, bones, hair, voodoo spells.
Why can't plucky heroines leave well enough alone, we say? It's merely a so-so horror, but Hudson is always worth watching.
Star Rating: 3/5
