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    About This Item

    Unique ID Code: 0000077385
    Added by: DVD Reviewer
    Added on: 21/10/2005 15:23
    View Changes

    Skeleton Key, The (UK)

    7 / 10
    2 votes cast
    Rate this item
    Inline Image

    It can open any door
    Certificate: 15
    Running Time: 100 mins
    Retail Price: £17.99
    Release Date:

    Synopsis:
    From the writer of The Ring (Ehren Kruger) and the director of K-PAX (Iain Softley) comes the supernatural thriller, The Skeleton Key.

    Set largely in the dark atmospheric backwoods just outside of New Orleans, The Skeleton Key stars Kate Hudson as Caroline, a live-in nurse hired to care for an elderly woman`s (Rowlands) ailing husband (Hurt) in their home... a foreboding and decrepit mansion in the Louisiana delta. Intrigued by the enigmatic couple, their mysterious, secretive ways and their rambling old house, Caroline begins to explore the mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door in the house, she discovers a hidden attic room that holds a deadly and terrifying secret...

    You can view the trailer <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theskeletonkeymovie.com/media/skeleton_key_many_roads_post_700k.mov">in high quality here</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theskeletonkeymovie.com/media/skeleton_key_many_roads_post_128k.mov">in low quality here</a>.

    Special Features:
    Audio commentary from director Iain Softley
    Deleted scenes with optional audio commentary from Iain Softley
    `Behind The Locked Door`: the `Making Of` the film
    `Exploring Voodoo / Hoodoo` featurette
    `Recipe & Ritual`: making the perfect Gumbo!
    Blues in the bayou
    Kate Hudson`s ghost story
    Plantation life
    Casting the film
    John Hurt`s story
    A house called Felicity
    Gena`s love spell
    Trailers

    Video Tracks:
    Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

    Audio Tracks:
    Dolby Digital 5.1 English

    Directed By:
    Iain Softley

    Written By:

    Starring:
    Joy Bryant
    Peter Sarsgaard
    John Hurt
    Gena Rowlands
    Kate Hudson

    Your Opinions and Comments

    7 / 10
    This supernatural thriller could`ve easily ascended to "The Others"`S level, but along the way it simply got stuck. I don`t really know why. Everything was there - a nice cast, a decent storyline, a creepy atmosphere, but still - something is just missing.
    The video transfer is very good. There are no compression signs and the colors are deliberately desaturated, thus increasing the creepy as it is atmosphere.
    The DD 5.1 soundtrack is good. The surrounds are used occasionally and help create a nice scary atmosphere.
    The menus are animated with sound.
    The extras include a commentary by the director, apx. a dozen deleted scenes and a detailed behind the scenes featurette (which includes some explanations about voodoo and hoodoo).
    Bottom line - a decent movie that somehow manages to fall short of actually being a very good supernatural thriller.
    posted by Zvi Josef on 30/5/2006 20:33