Skeleton Key, The

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

For anyone zombified by creaky thriller clichés, Skeleton is a fine little shot in the head.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

An elegantly mounted ghost story that's steeped plenty of dank Louisiana atmosphere.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Tightly plotted and suspenseful enough to keep you guessing until the satisfying, unexpected end, which is worth suspending disbelief for. After all, as they point out in the movie, "It doesn't work if you don't believe it."

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The appeal of The Skeleton Key lies not in its plot but in its attention to detail, and the way director Iain Softley (still on probation for "K-PAX," but nevertheless the guy who did "Backbeat") luxuriates in the deeply textured sights and sounds of Louisiana.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's far from strikingly original, but it's well-acted, skillfully plotted and moderately chilling, and it's something slightly different in the haunted-house genre.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

For all its dark, Gothic intentions and supernatural twists, it lacks the emotional and intellectual punch of similarly themed films, most notably Alejandro Amenábar's "The Others."

USA Today Mike Clark

Director Iain Softley employs intriguing camera angles to heighten some of the suspense. It's too bad the movie goes over the top and falls apart in the last third.

Chicago Sun-Times 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.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I didn't believe most of what I saw until the last 20 minutes, and whaddaya know? This thriller finally cast the spell it had been trying to achieve and lifted itself above the pack of late-summer, clean-out-the-studio-attic releases.

ReelViews 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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Stylishly spooky and featuring a hammy, cigarette-sucking performance from Gena Rowlands.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The soundtrack is guaranteed to send chills where they'll be most effective, and the ultimate resolution is a real shocker. While it doesn't explain away everything that's happened, it comes deliciously close.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

No director yet has found the best use for Hudson, the role that will tap those terrifying and thrilling reserves that are just lying in wait. But Softley comes closer than anybody has.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

One of the most enjoyably inane movies of the season, this faux Southern Gothic offers an embarrassment of geek pleasures.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Neither scary nor thrilling, although it's reasonably entertaining despite an abundance of haunted-house clichés, the usual inexplicable scary-movie behavior and an almost-naked John Hurt.

Washington Post Jen Chaney

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.

Dallas Observer 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.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

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.

Variety Robert Koehler

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.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

A very goofy movie that makes sense only to the screenwriter and his next of kin.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

A fine, solid cast and fully exploited settings cannot make up for the by-the-numbers screenplay, which is filled with all-too-convenient plot points.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It has the wild, rancid atmosphere of a garbage bag that a raccoon has ripped open.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The only thing to do, then, is settle back and appreciate Hudson's no-nonsense performance, an appealingly mature turn that makes you hope she has turned her back on second-rate romantic fluff. (Whether second-rate horror represents actual improvement is another matter.)

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

After getting off to a decent, somewhat muted start, Skeleton Key just gets sillier and sillier and sillier until it's yet another one of those stupid, noisy thrillers where everyone's running around in a house, yelling and falling down, and you're mostly wondering why nobody bothered to call the cops.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The surprise ending is neatly done, but the characters are so thin that waiting around for it is no fun whatsoever.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Isn’t exactly dull, but it isn’t scary either.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Hokey, slow-moving thriller.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Strictly summer schlock.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Creaky in its mechanics and numbingly protracted, this is basement B horror that fancies itself a prestige chiller.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

A well-intentioned horror film that is weighted down by stellar cast members who for the most part act as if they don't want to be there.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A top-notch cast was gathered and then wasted in this atmospheric but prosaic hoodoo spooker.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

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.