The Skeleton Key
July 2007 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: HD DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This is a refreshing movie in the horror genre, concentrating on mood and mystery rather than going for cheap scares. It is set in and around New Orleans so, as one might expect, it is focused on voodoo and hoodoo, primarily the latter.

Kate Hudson plays Caroline Ellis, a young nurse who, having seen too many lonely people check out, has burned out on her nursing home job. She takes a job as a caretaker for a paralyzed stroke victim, Ben Deveraux, (John Hurt) who lives in a spooky old house with his equally spooky wife, Violet (Gena Rowlands). Caroline is given a skeleton key that opens all the rooms in the house but one at the back of the attic. Ben can barely speak but manages to rasp out a "help me" to Caroline, who begins to sense that there is something terribly wrong with the house and its residents. One thing leads to another, and Caroline explores hoodoo and the art of magic and finds terrifying answers to the Deveraux mystery. The action is paced to build suspense and the film turns out to be a neat little sleeper. It has been transferred to HD DVD with loving care.

The Skeleton Key is shot in a Gothic visual style that is full of dark places and shadows. These are never murky or diffuse. They have detail and solidity and are ideally contrasted with the brighter parts of the picture. The print is pristine and the colors are rich and deep, giving a three-dimensional feel to each scene. The rendering of detail is excellent, whether it’s an inside shot or one outdoors.

The sound is also very effective. The surrounds are engaged for virtually the whole film, either beefing up the score, providing atmospheric effects, or booming out louder localized sounds. It aids greatly in increasing the fright value of the film. Bass is solid and the Dolby Digital Plus tracks are quite transparent, revealing very specific sound placement.

The extras include the usual production featurette stuff, but there are four featurettes that do what I think extras should do, explain devices used in the movie in greater detail. They are titled "Blues in the Bayou," "A House Called Felicity," "Plantation Life," and "Exploring Voodoo/Hoodoo." These all answer questions that might have come to mind when one is viewing the movie. In addition to these excellent presentations, there’s a group of "deleted" scenes which turn out to be scene extensions, nothing new there. Crowning all is a very intelligent commentary track with director Ian Softley.

The Skeleton Key is an intriguing little sleeper that will provide good entertainment and has good enough video and audio that you’ll be happy it is available in an HD format.

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