Movie Spoiler THE SKELETON KEY (preceded by capsule review)

The Skeleton Key, the title of which is a red herring attempt to suggest a mysterious tone, is one of those nothing special films you may have missed from years ago that actually delivers a pretty killer ending, probably one of the best twists of the 2000s.  You might not know about it, because it got less than favorable reviews and its box-office take was middling (though it made up for its domestic slack overseas).  Kate Hudson stars as hospice caregiver Caroline in a remote Louisiana parish working for an elderly couple on an old plantation.  The infirm husband Ben (John Hurt) can't talk and the wife Violet (Gena Rowlands) is rather distant and cryptic.  Caroline begins to grow suspicious that their home is haunted by spirits.  Driven by regret for not tending to her father during his final months, she makes it her mission to protect Ben and learns all she can about the ancient hoodoo that may be inflicting their lives.  While the mysticism is a bunch of hooey, the cheesy flashback camera work cheapens the venture and some of Caroline's decisions in the latter half of the film range from poor to just plain inexplicable, the ending is a real humdinger.  Personally, I found it worth the wait.  Read on for the movie spoiler or if you have some time to kill and could stand a little schlock, try watching it on netflix right now.

Movie Spoiler Summary
New Orleans hospice caretaker Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) reads Treasure Island to a patient as he dies.  She sorts through his personal effects and ordered to dispose of them.  Disillusioned with the factory mentality of her facility, she applies for an in-house position at a secluded residence in Terrebonne Parish.  At the home, she first meets Luke Marshall (Peter Sarsgaard), who is the family attorney, and then Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands) and her husband Ben (John Hurt), who will be under Caroline's care.  She gets off to a rocky start with Violet, but Luke convinces her to take the job and move in.

Violet: She's not from around here.  She's not going to understand my house ... she wasn't raised in New Orleans.  You hear how she talks?  Who knows where she comes from ... 

Luke: What do you want?  A Southern accent?  The last one left, Violet.  

Violet: Alright.  But, she's not going to understand the house.

On her way back to the estate, having packed up her belongings, she stops at a gas station, where she notes a line of brick dust in front of the entrance.  In another room, she can hear a record playing mentioning the name Justify.  She's startled by the station's inhabitants.  She unpacks her personal belongings at the house (nice touch), which includes a picture of her and her father.  She notes that there is a mirror or picture missing from the wall.  In Ben's room, Caroline introduces herself as a record plays.  Violet enters and administers his medications just as he grabs Caroline's arm.

Violet: You're scrawnier than I had hoped.  Prettier, though.  I'll bet you're all marked up, aren't ya? ... written on ... I know you young people are always jabbing yourself with ink and needles.  You're written on, aren't ya?

Caroline: (cheekily) Not where you can see.

Violet: Well! ... 

Caroline explains that they bought the house in 1962 from siblings Martin and Grace.  She finds a picture of the kids with Papa Justify and Mama Cecile.  Violet warns her about going into the attic and gives her a skeleton key to open every door in the house and tells Caroline that they don't keep mirrors in view.  She asks her about her smoking habits and her family history.

Violet: "You think too much about the time you have left.  You don't spend it living." 

The next day, Caroline bathes Ben and then takes him into the garden.  Violet asks her to retrieve some trillium seeds from the attic.  She suspends investigating a noise and shaking keyhole when a swinging door startles her.  She questions Violet, who feigns ignorance.  As well, she tries to pull answers about Ben's stroke in the attic.  A figure walks by Caroline as she is gratuitously filmed in the shower.  That night, she is woken up by noises and discovers Ben missing from his room while a record plays.  She locates him trying to escape from the roof.  He slips off in the rain.  While Violet tends to him, Caroline uncovers his bedsheets marked up with the message "Help Me."

Mama Cecile would not approve of Caroline's tramp stamp

The next day, Luke shows up to "update her will."  Caroline shares the bedsheets with him, but they have been replaced.  She talks some more about her father and then starts to confide in him about Ben when Violet interrupts.

Violet: Well, I see that the children are getting acquainted.

Luke: Ah, now, Violet, you know you're the only woman in my life. 

Violet: I know no such thing and remove your perspiration's.  The doctor has departed, so I'm ready to discuss estate matters, if you have finished soliciting in your business.  

While Violet sweeps, Caroline goes back to the keyhole she had trouble opening.  She picks the lock and finds various mystical artifacts, more pictures and a spell book written by Papa Justify entitled Receipt Book of Papa Justify and Blessed Teachings, which includes the Conjuration of Supreme Protection involving a circle containing elements of chalk, sulfur, blood, and hair.  There is also a life-size hoodoo doll in Caroline's likeness.  She spots a ring with the profile of three ruby-eyed snakes; a record sleeve marked with symbol similar to the Protection circle labeled, "Papa Justify's Conjure of Sacrifice --- August 24, 1920, New Iberia Parish"; and a jar containing human organs that she drops and breaks when Violet startles her.  Caroline hides and Violet locks her in.  She finds a body-length mirror and escapes the attic, not knowing that Violet is spying on her.

In New Orleans, she plays the record at her friend Jill's (Joy Bryant) apartment.  At a night club, Jill explains that the attic Caroline has uncovered is a hoodoo room.  It has nothing to do with voodoo which involved a religion started by African slaves brought over to Haiti to worship God.  Hoodoo is "American folk magic" that has little to do with God and is pan-continental ("Part African, part European, part Native American") and started in New Orleans.  Jill's aunt it pretty familiar with it and it's mostly psychological-based.  She takes Caroline to the shop her aunt frequents in the Algiers neighborhood, which is actually fronted as laundromat Quality Wash & Dry.  Caroline arrives at the estate and tucks Ben into bed.

The next day, Violet drops a vase of flowers when she sees that Caroline has hung a mirror in Ben's room.  She admonishes her and takes down all of the mirrors.  Caroline reveals she knows about the attic and threatens to leave permanently unless Violet starts talking.   She tells her the story of about "ninety years ago," when cruel banker Thorpe moved into the house with his white family and two servants: Justify and Cecile.  Thorpe had no idea that the couple practiced hoodoo.  Violet points to the dormer window where they used to reside.

Their story is then told in flashbacks as being a famous couple within bayou country who "healed the sick and they hurt the mean ... hit a straight lick with a crooked stick."  (Which sounds like an oxymoron in context, but what do I know?)  One night, as a party winded down, the guests looked for the children to say goodbye and found them in the attic listening to a record while surrounded by a thick circle of candles.  Justify and Cecile stood above the children in deep trance and were rounded up (we see the ring falling) and hung from a tree in the yard, their bodies then set afire.  "The children said that it was their fault, that they had wanted to learn.  But, they weren't having any of that."  Afterwards, the Thorpes bought their way out of being charged with any crime, the bank went under, and Thorpe killed himself and his wife.  Violet goes on about the reflections of the servants in the mirrors.  She mentions making a circle of brick dust around the estate.

Red Herring:
"Whatever they did to him, I'm not going to let them do it to me."

While carrying the laundry, Caroline finds a container of brick dust in a shed.  She bathes Ben and gets a reaction out of Ben when she starts using her compact to check her makeup.  When she holds the reflection up in front of him, he has an adverse reaction.

Caroline drives her red bug into New Orleans and visits the Quality Wash & Dry.  In the back, there is saleswoman Mama Cynthia (Maxine Barnett) who specializes in selling spell books and potions.  Caroline asks her about the red brick dust at the entrance to her apothecary.  "You lay a line down.  Nobody that means you harm can cross it.  That's how you tell who your enemies are."  Caroline enlists her help with Ben's situation.  She informs Jill that she's going to try to help him recover via psychosomatic treatment.  She has decided that she is no longer interested in becoming a nurse, now emotionally involved in saving Ben due to the guilt she felt for abandoning her father.  That night, while his wife sleeps, Caroline explains to Ben that Violet shared with her that "you didn't have a stroke in the attic.  .... some ghosts had made you this way, with a spell."  Caroline starts to perform a ritual using ingredients she procured from the apothecary.  Ben begins to speak, pleading "help me, get me out of here."  Violet bangs on the door.  And when Caroline asks him who he's trying to flee, he points to his wife as she enters.  She sends Caroline away for the rest of the evening.  That night, she has a nightmare involving Justify and Cecile, as well as the hoodoo doll in her likeness.  She wakes up and notices a figure in her compact leaving her room.

The next day, she starts packing her things, but then sees Ben, thinks of her father, and changes her mind.  She visits Luke at his office and shares the contents she found in the attic.  She inquires about his relationship with the Devereaux and he introduces her to Ben's last caretaker Hallie (Fahnlohnee R. Harris).  She says it's her understanding that the children had died after selling the house and doesn't believe the house is haunted, but Violet has put a spell on Ben.  She implores Caroline to leave, who tells Luke she wants to take Ben away from Violet.  They drive passed the gas station and she tells him about the brick dust and hanging bones.  She hears a record playing and they find a shack out back.  The entrance is adorned with brick dust and they both enter.  Caroline asks the bayou woman (Marion Zinser) there about Justify and his conjuring.  The elderly woman explains that Justify and Cecile had learned about the spell, but got killed before they knew how to work it.  "It keeps you from dying, not forever, but for a while," by sacrificing somebody.  "It takes the years they have left."

Caroline informs Luke that she's going to obtain proof that Violet is trying to kill Ben.  At the house, Violet is cutting Ben's hair.  She obtains a conjure book when she hears Caroline arrive.  In her room, Caroline can't locate her record.  Violet folds up the conjuration paper and feathers and chops a chicken.  Caroline summons her to a bedroom after laying down some brick dust at the threshold.  Violet is unable to enter and plays it off.

Violet: "You're a funny one, Caroline.  I'll make us some tea ... Oh, and, Caroline, after you've given Mr. Devereaux his remedies, would you be so kind as to join an old lady for supper.  Wonderful, I should have done it days ago.  I've made something real nice."

A recording of "Jock-A-Mo" (or "Iko Iko", as it's now commonly known, thanks in part to Rain Man) starts to play, and Caroline tells Ben they're leaving.  She injects some sugar cubes with some kind of sedative or poison.

Violet: How's your gumbo?

Caroline: I haven't started.  Would you like some sugar for your tea?  I've put it out for you.

Violet: No, I don't think I'll have any sugar tonight.

Caroline: But, I thought you liked it.  You always have sugar in your tea.

Over dinner, Violet explains to Caroline that spells don't work on people who don't believe.  The power goes out and Violet carries away the sugar cubes before arriving with candles.  She takes a drink from her glass, which Caroline just laced with more sedative.  Caroline says that we can all learn from ghosts.  Violet collapses.  Violet pulls out the conjuring protection spell and draws a line with a piece of chalk while chanting, "keep him in this house."  After rummaging through some drawers, Caroline finds a circle underneath her bed, the record, Ben's bedsheets and a lock of her hair.  She wheels Ben out of the house and places him in her car.  She rams her old Volkswagen into the locked gate, but can't escape.  After accidentally crashing her car, she hides Ben in the shed she found the brick dust.  Violet rises and grabs a rifle and shoots at Caroline, as she flees on a rowboat.  She seeks refuge at Luke's office.  As he takes a call from Violet, "Jack-A-Mo" starts to play and Caroline notices some introductory law books on Luke's desk.  She also finds pictures of herself in public taken without her knowledge, as well as a snake ring and skeleton key.  Luke surprises her from behind and chokes her until she passes out.

Violet: "Trying to use my tricks on me?  Huh?!"

While they drive back to the Devereaux home, Luke talks about how new life is to him while Caroline listens, muzzled with handkerchief and tied up.  They enter the house and Violet says Ben is still missing.  While recalling the brick dust she laid out in the bedroom earlier, Caroline betrays Ben's whereabouts.  She starts to walk away and Luke threatens to kill her.  She requests her father's picture as a diversion and manages to make it to the bedroom.  Violet finds Ben and they engage in a struggle.  Caroline escapes outside and unties herself.  She climbs the trellis to the attic where she lays down brick dust all around the house.  Violet surprises her on the second floor and blows dust in her face.

Anatomy of a Fall:
Gena Rowlands' body double takes a tumble

They struggle with each other and Caroline manages to throw her over the stairs.

Caroline's call for help will be answered,
but not in the way she expects

Caroline seals her own fate

Luke screams when he sees Violet has fallen down the stairs.  Caroline calls 9-1-1 to 1750 Bayou
"Chapellette" in Terrebonne Parish while Violet approaches in the elevator.  She also calls Jill, but the line goes dead.  She flees to the attic where a circle of candles is waiting for her and a series of mirrors are set up.  She pulls out the conjure protection spell and collects the necessary four items.  She draws a double circle around her and recreates the symbol with a piece of chalk, spreads a circle of sulfur around her, cuts a lock of hair off and draws her own blood with a knife making various hand prints around her.

Violet: "Well, child, I believe you broke my legs."

Violet enters and informs her that "all that circle protects is you: from leaving it ... we've been waiting for you Caroline: waiting for you to believe.  It doesn't work if you don't believe."  Luke puts the record on and enters chanting, "flesh."  Violet hides behind mirror with Caroline's reflection as she insists, "I don't believe."  The reflection changes from Grace to Violet to Cecile.  The room starts shaking and the mirror starts to slide towards Caroline crashing into her.

Caroline wakes up, except she is no longer Caroline, but the transported spirit of Cecile.  She begins to talk like Violet saying things like "Fiddlesticks, I don't know what possessed me."  Luke enters confirming the transition.  

Caroline (Cecile): "It's harder every time.  They just don't believe like they used to.  

Got to get them riled up.  I told you wanted a black one this time."

Luke: "You know the black ones never stay.  Alright?  Beggars can't be choosers."

Caroline (Cecile): "The thing folks don't understand about sacrifice:
sometimes it's more of a trade."

Caroline (Cecile) feeds her a drug.  Jill arrives after the cops and medics.  Caroline (Cecile) doesn't recognize her and Luke steps in.  She sends Jill to accompany Violet (Caroline).  Before she leaves, Luke informs her that the Devereaux' left Caroline (Cecile) the estate.  Violet (Caroline) and Ben ride off to the hospital, both of them, terrified, unable to speak or move a great deal.  Ben shoots her a look, "Welcome to the club."  Caroline (Cecile) puts on the ring and stares at a picture of Justify and Cecile.  Roll credits as camera pulls back from a shot of the house.

Felcity Plantation on the Mississippi River
via CGI in Saint James Parish