The Movie: The Skeleton Key, directed by Iain Softley
Recommendation: Dee
Reason: "It was okay...not great."
One component of most successful horror movies is atmosphere. It's critical to the plot and scare-factor of a horror movie to set a suitably freaky stage for the ultra-creepy (ideally) plot to take place on. However, relying entirely on atmosphere means you get movies like The Skeleton Key. New Orleans is a very atmospheric place, stuffed with history and magic. Atmosphere is easy, if you set a movie there. It's important to then work on things like plot and acting.
Kate Hudson, spawn of Goldie Hawn, is not usually a slouch in the acting department. Emphasis on 'usually'. She's had her down moments. This is one of them, though there are glimmers of 'good' in there, once in awhile. She manages to get across what she's trying to get across. The rest of the cast is limp. They're there, they're playing their parts, they're just a little lackluster. As usual, Joy Bryant is a bad actress, though she seems to have improved a bit since Honey.
I think I enjoyed the magic the most of the entire movie. It seemed, surface-wise, well researched. The 'final battle' was very reminiscent of The Craft, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It was probably the best part of the entire movie, managing to combine atmosphere with a good spot of acting and the culmination of a plot that could have used fifteen less minutes to play out.
-51/365 down, 314/365 to go
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