Set largely in the dark backwoods just outside of New Orleans, The Skeleton Key stars Hudson as Caroline, a live-in nurse hired to care for an elderly woman's (Rowlands) ailing husband (Hurt) in their home...a foreboding and decrepit mansion in the Louisiana delta. Intrigued by the enigmatic couple and their rambling house, Caroline beings to explore the old mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door, she discovers a hidden attic room that holds a deadly and terrifying secret.
A "scary" movie that isn't scary, THE SKELETON KEY ranges from deadly dull to perfectly predictable, save possibly an out-of-left field twist at the end. Working from a by-the-numbers script by Ehren Kruger (THE RING series), the film is clumsily directed by Iain Softley (HACKERS and BACKBEAT).