Skeleton Key...

[joe9alt]

Just got back from the afternoon show. I was excited about this mainly because of the cast. John Hurt is great and he was very good in this without even really speaking a clear word. Peter Sarsgaard was also good, though a bit under utilized. He reminds me more and more of a young John Malkovich. Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands were okay. Overall, I expected more scares....and the twist ending that's been talked about so much almost came off as a bit telegraphed in my opinion. The movie didn't really have that sinister/evil undertone that I thought it would.

All in all, it was decent....and i have to say that Kate Hudson and Joy Bryant are very healthy women.

[MacG]

Ehren Kruger looks like he'll be taking a beatin' this August: both THE SKELETON KEY and THE BROTHERS GRIMM aren't expected to do very well....

[Bad Liver]

I'm sure Krugher will maintain his status as highly regarded multi-millionaire screenwriter no matter how the films fare at the box office.

[joe9alt]

Somebody educate me on Kruger....why is he so despised? I read his credits but there'e plenty of writers who've taken big paydays for cheesy flicks....is that the sole reason for the seemingly unique hatred most seem to have for this dude or is there something else I'm missing?

[Bad Liver]

I didn't know people hated him. News to me.

I was only posting because just as screenwriters don't get credit when the film does well, he won't get dinged that much if they don't.

But I have to root for Grimm, because the world needs a lot more Terry Gilliam.

[MacG]

I don't hate Kruger. And I know his status won't be affected, either.

I was just being a smartass....

[Bad Liver]

That's okay. I was too.

[Insanity In A Jar]

The world most definitely needs more Terry Gilliam. If I could clone him, I would. Multiple times. And then I'd force clone #6 (it has to be #6) to direct one of my scripts.

Bwahahahaha!

Oh, also...

Bad Liver?

I don't even know her!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111

(Yeah, I've been drinking again.)

[whitenavel]

This looks terrible and I wouldn't blame Kruger for that. I blame Iain Softley and Kate Hudson. Hudson is wayyyyyyyyy overrated. One good film and one good performance does not make her Hollywood royalty.

[miles]

Haven't seen Skeleton Key, but I was looking forward to it. But now, I guess I'll just simply go with low expectations.

Why am I not surprised.

[elephant1978]

It's actually a reasonably tight thriller. It moves along pretty nice. Not too many scares, but the underlying mystery is enough to keep interest. I actually despise Kate Hudson. Completely overrated. I don't know what the big deal was about her performance in Almost Famous. And she's not even cute. Any faults the film has do rest on Softley's shoulders, not Kruger.

The twist works well. I didn't totally see it coming. I had a friend tell me it was like a Twilight Zone episode, but I feel like any horror movie twist is deep down...hopefully the execution makes it more. I can't say for sure here. But it was a pretty solid movie with a satisfying ending.

Ele...

[whitenavel]

I'll never see this, so what's the twist?

[elephant1978]

If you're serious, Navel, let me know and I'll PM you.

Ele...

[whitenavel]

Actually I am serious. When you get a chance, and don't mind, send me a PM. Thanks in advance.

[TwoBitHack]

Big thumbs up for SKELETON KEY.

Twisting plot. Great atmosphere. The whole thing works.

[wcmartell]

I blame Kruger.

I thought the film was okay, and did a great job of providing jump moments (what I call "schlock shock") in the first act - which can often be kind of slow because you're setting things up. I have no problem with Hudson, and even though I figured out the twist end, I think it's an okay twist end...

Which brings us to the middle. I think the big problem is the lack of driving force. There's no "or else factor", so the film just kind of meanders to the end.

Kate needs to discover what happened to John Hurt, or else....?

What? Nothing. There's nothing driving the story.

John Hurt needs to be saved, or else....?

What?

Though we discover at the end there's a connection between Kate and the story, before tht there is no real connection. Kate isn't in any real danger. When the protagonist isn't really in danger in a horror movie, you have a *basic* story problem. When there are no consequences (the "or else factor"), you have a *basic* story problem.

And story problems are the writer's responsibility (unless the script went through the meat grinder - and the writer was forced to remove important story material because some bozo in development didn't think it was important).

Despite the story problems, I thought the film was okay (better than some of the crap I've seen this summer).

- Bill

[joe9alt]

Yeah, i agree pretty much down the line, Bill. Another problem was -- and how do i say this without giving away the twist -- the people who turn out to be the ultimate villains weren't really scary at all when introduced and referred to in the movie and at times you even felt sorry for them and sympathized with their plight....not the ideal in a horror I don't think.

[wcmartell]

POTENTIAL SPOILERS (but I'm keeping it vague)

V

V


V

Absolutely. And the real villains might have been portrayed as evil (thought someone might have thought that un-PC) since they had selfish motives.

And even though they were making the Hoodoo (hoodoo dolls?) into something we should be afraid of, they undercut that by making the legendary witch doctor into a victim. That makes hoodoo less powerful, and less frightening. You want this stuff to be more powerful than anything else - and the witch doctor in the legend to be so powerful that he was frightening. I would have had the witch doctor in the legend *vanish* as if by magic. Now, he may not really have vanished - but that's the version that everybody knows. It's a *legend* - it doesn't have to be what really happened.

This might have also made those mirrors more frightening.

- Bill

[iembalm]

SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER

I liked it. It works well in retrospect. I didn't need the jump scares to have had a good time in the car going home working out the elements of the twist. When I realized who was actually hung and burned alive, that was a nice zinger for me. Shiver.

[Salazkin]

Welcome back, iembalm. Ain't seen ya in these parts in a while.

[theturnaround]

Did anybody read Reindeer Games? That script (and its twists) sucked big time... So I'm gonna see this, but I'm wary of anything Kruger puts out.
tt