Common Sense Media Review
By Cynthia Fuchs , based on child development research. How do we rate?
age 14+
Creepy thriller that's too scary for younger kids.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
some
Frequent cigarette smoking, an early club/party scene, some drinking.
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Language
some
Mild, though one use of f-word.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
some
See AlsoHow to Return the Skeleton Key to the Ebonmere in Skyrim: 8 StepsSimple Ways to Pick an Old Skeleton Key Lock: 6 StepsSkeleton Keys and Local Admin Passwords: A Cautionary TaleSkeleton Keys — Travels and Curiosities | Curious Travel Destinations and Hidden GemsPartial nudity (male and female, while bathing).
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Violence & Scariness
some
Hoodoo spells, some jump scenes, scary scenes (wind, storms, shadows, ghosts), and violence.
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Positive Messages
none
Characters cast hoodoo spells, deceive one another, and commit murder; a flashback shows a lynching scene.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this movie features scary images of hoodoo and conjuring, as well as jump scenes, abrupt flashbacks to the legendary source of the trouble, and some language (one use of the f-word). Characters smoke and drink, and use spells to call up and chase away spirits. One character hunts another with a shotgun; a wheelchair-bound older man frequently looks frightened and cannot speak; a woman falls and breaks both her legs; characters are trapped in rooms and ghosts appear. A lynching scene appears in a flashback. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Skeleton Key
Parent and Kid Reviews
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- Parents say (4)
- Kids say (6)
age 15+
Based on 4 parent reviews
akalujina Parent of 8 and 14-year-old
June 26, 2024
age 14+
The Skeleton Key is a scary movie with some really good acting. When I watched it many years ago as a teen, I thought it was a horror movie. Well, apparently it is not, but it's plenty scary. If your child likes scary movies and is not easily frightened, I would highly recommend it. A perfect Halloween movie for older teens.
lynda A. Parent of 9-year-old
January 22, 2019
age 14+
Jump Scary
This movie is creepy good. It will make you jump. But it is dark, lots of hoodoo and black magic, lots of rainstorms and ghostly stuff, freaky and intense. There is some violence, a scene of a lynching and burning them afterwards. Fight scene at the end...disturbing images throughout of the dying man struggling to communicate. But if you want to curl up with someone and be scared, this is a good movie for it. Full of good acting.
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See all 4 parent reviews
What's the Story?
An updated Southern Gothic-type of scary movie, THE SKELETON KEY focuses on a young, self-confident woman, Caroline (Kate Hudson), who takes a job caring for wheelchair-bound, mute stroke victim Ben (John Hurt). She moves into a Terrebone Parish mansion with Ben and his wife Violet (Gena Rowlands). Feeling guilty about the circ*mstances of her father's death, Caroline begins to feel the need to "save" Ben from Violet, whom she comes to see as dangerous. Violet's estate lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard) describes her petulance as a generational and regional, but this doesn't explain the spooky house. As Caroline grows more suspicious, the house turns creakier, the shadows more sinister, and doors more seductive. When Violet gives her a skeleton key that unlocks every door in the house, you know it's only a matter of time before she opens the wrong one.
Is It Any Good?
Our review:
Parents say (4):
Kids say (6):
According to legend, the mansion was once home to a family who kept a pair of black servants, Papa Justify (Ronald McCall) and Mama Cecile (Jeryl Prescott Sales). Caroline discovers their pictures hidden around the house, along with various conjurations and rings shaped like snakes.
This is a scary and disturbing movie. Not surprisingly, especially in a film about a girl who wants so badly to make amends for her personal past, the black couple's story represents (in abruptly edited, sepia-toned flashbacks) the definitive onus of U.S. history, involving white fear of blackness, white property anxieties, and white violence in the form of lynching. "The house is theirs as much as ours," mutters Violet. Everyone knows that white folks meddling in black folks' enchantments never works out in the movies. And so Caroline falls into trouble, not quite knowing whom she's helping and whom she's battling.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Caroline's desire to take care of "old people": while she expresses guilt over abandoning her father, how does the film use her story to reflect on a broader cultural need to respect (or at least know about) the past and previous generations?
How does the movie use hoodoo (and the black servants' tragic story) as a metaphor for slavery, for which subsequent generations -- black and white -- still suffer consequences?
Movie Details
- In theaters: August 12, 2005
- On DVD or streaming: November 15, 2005
- Cast: Gena Rowlands, Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard
- Director: Iain Softley
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Genre: Horror
- Run time: 104 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG-13
- MPAA explanation: violence, disturbing images, some partial nudity and thematic material
- Last updated: May 18, 2024
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The Skeleton Key
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