50
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.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
63
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Delivers its share of cheap scares but never unlocks the door to the creepiness that would have made this is memorable movie-going experience.
30
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
Creaky in its mechanics and numbingly protracted, this is basement B horror that fancies itself a prestige chiller.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Michael Rechtshaffen
An elegantly mounted ghost story that's steeped plenty of dank Louisiana atmosphere.
20
Wholly devoid of suspense or chills, The Skeleton Key simply bides its time until its big final plot twist, but the filmmakers don't seem to realize that a second-rate twist can't redeem a third-rate fright flick.
50
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 by Robert Wilonsky
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.
63
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
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.
75
Entertainment Weekly by Scott Brown
For anyone zombified by creaky thriller clichés, Skeleton is a fine little shot in the head.
50
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.