 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Skeleton Key
- Review Date: November 17, 2005
- PG-13
- Genre: Horror
- 2005
Common Sense Media says
Creepy thriller that's too scary for younger kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie features scary images of hoodoo and conjuring, as well as jump scenes, abrupt flashbacks to the legendary source of the trouble, and some language (one use of the f-word). Characters smoke and drink, and use spells to call up and chase away spirits. One character hunts another with a shotgun; a wheelchair-bound older man frequently looks frightened and cannot speak; a woman falls and breaks both her legs; characters are trapped in rooms and ghosts appear. A lynching scene appears in a flashback.
What's the story?
An updated Southern Gothic-type of scary movie, THE SKELETON KEY focuses on a young, self-confident woman, Caroline (Kate Hudson), who takes a job caring for wheelchair-bound, mute stroke victim Ben (John Hurt). She moves into a Terrebone Parish mansion with Ben and his wife Violet (Gena Rowlands). Feeling guilty about the circumstances of her father's death, Caroline begins to feel the need to "save" Ben from Violet, whom she comes to see as dangerous. Violet's estate lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard) describes her petulance as a generational and regional, but this doesn't explain the spooky house. As Caroline grows more suspicious, the house turns creakier, the shadows more sinister, and doors more seductive. When Violet gives her a skeleton key that unlocks every door in the house, you know it's only a matter of time before she opens the wrong one.
Is it any good?
According to legend, the mansion was once home to a family who kept a pair of black servants, Papa Justify (Ronald McCall) and Mama Cecile (Jeryl Prescott Sales). Caroline discovers their pictures hidden around the house, along with various conjurations and rings shaped like snakes.
Not surprisingly, especially in a film about a girl who wants so badly to make amends for her personal past, the black couple's story represents (in abruptly edited, sepia-toned flashbacks) the definitive onus of U.S. history, involving white fear of blackness, white property anxieties, and white violence in the form of lynching. "The house is theirs as much as ours," mutters Violet. Everyone knows that white folks meddling in black folks' enchantments never works out in the movies. And so Caroline falls into trouble, not quite knowing whom she's helping and whom she's battling.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about Caroline's desire to take care of "old people": while she expresses guilt over abandoning her father, how does the film use her story to reflect on a broader cultural need to respect (or at least know about) the past and previous generations?
How does the movie use hoodoo (and the black servants' tragic story) as
a metaphor for slavery, for which subsequent generations -- black and
white -- still suffer consequences?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
Decent movie
Not bad plot, you may need to rewind it to get the parts they are talking about. And there is a slight shower scene and she wakes up in the bed just wearing panties. But nothing any worse.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Some parts of it were funny. But mostly suspence
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Great, but way too much for a PG-13.
My rating: R for disturbing and violent material, language and some brief partial nudity.
[NOTE: This movie has very disturbing images--the worst being flashbacks of multiple people's bodies being hung by rope onto trees and then burnt, as well as a creepy image of a woman with her eyelids and lips sewn shut.]
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
For those who like a Good suspensfull thriller
I have always loved creepy movies. Don't care a bit about the blood and gore movies of today, and this movie fits my criteria! Most movies now seem to start good but have an unbelievable ending or it goes flat leaving too many unanswered questions. This movie had a good story and the ending was right up there with The 6th Sense. I enjoyed it, was scared in all the right places and the ending lived up to the beginning.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
IT WAS TOTALLY COOL
I REALLY THINK THAT SOME YOUNGER KIDS COULD WATCH IT. I HAVE A 12 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER AND SHE LOVED IT TOO.AND SHE DIDNT THINK IT WAS TOO SCARY I THINK IT WAS RATED TOO HARD.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Good movie.
I think it would freak someone out if they were about nine. But once they get like, 11 or 12, or maybe even 10 it'd be more enjoyable for them.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Good thriller but main theme has to do with Voodoo
Was this review useful?
|
|
| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | Iain Softley |
| Cast: | Gena Rowlands, Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 104 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | August 12, 2005 |
| DVD release date: | November 15, 2005 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | violence, disturbing images, some partial nudity and thematic material |
Review It
Great alternatives handpicked by our editors
Already seen it? What do you think?
More from Common Sense Media
Top advice and articles
