THE SKELETON KEY (2005)

Given the nature of my work, I was intrigued right off the bat that Kate Hudson's character in The Skeleton Key is a hospice care provider. That it happens to coincide with my profession was one thing, that it's a decidedly unglamorous and un-Hollywood profession to wrap around Goldie Hawn's daughter was enough to make me think "OK, I'm in. Where's this going?"

To her credit Ms. Hudson is plays against her It-Girl-Tabloid-I-Married-A-Rocker image. And she's up against some serious acting chops in Gena Rowlands as Violet Devereux, the matriarch of a crumbling and creepy bayou plantation home and John Hurt, turning in a fantastic wordless performance, as her dying husband Ben Devereux.

The movie riffs on the nature and power of belief that can either support a person's sense of purpose or ultimately be their unraveling. As Caroline, Kate's character, begins her stay in Mrs. Devereux' mansion as Mr. Devereux' hospice provider, she begins in the grandest Nancy Drew tradition to "snoop around" and finds evidence of hoodoo and black magic in the far reaches of the attic. She soon suspects that Ben Devereux is suffering not from the result of a stroke but perhaps from some form of black magic. While she is clear with herself that she does not believe in such stuff, she is rightfully aware of the effect such sorcery can have on someone who does believe.

Stylistically, The Skeleton Key harks back to the golden age of Betty Davis' gothic horror films and makes splendid use of Lousiana's lush-and-beautiful-turns-to-stormy-and-isolating climate. The tight ensemble cast keeps this from looking like a mere star vehicle of Ms. Hudson.

The movie follows its own internal logic and wraps up with a nifty ending that, although quite disturbing in its implications, makes perfect sense. Although perhaps not as harrowing as the bloodless climax of George Sluizer's sinister 1988 masterpiece "Spoorloos" (The Vanishing), it nonetheless recalls that moment of dread shortly before the credits begin to roll.

Directed by Iain Softley, I give The Skeleton Key 4 out of 5 shrunken heads and a High John the Conqueror root for protection