The Skeleton Key

Kate Hudson becomes bogged down in a bayou of hoodoo cliches in The Skeleton Key.

Herald rating: * * *

DVD, video rental today Kate Hudson unlocks a surprise - she can play something more than her mother's daughter. In a break from her usual light-comedy roles, she nurses John Hurt's stroke victim under the glare of Gena Rowlands in a Deep South mansion that is under the power of hoodoo (not voodoo).

The movie broods until the last 20 minutes. But by then it may be too late for most viewers.

The disc jumps about the place with short features about Creole culture: Voodoo priestesses explain their religion; Hurt reads from a slave's diary; contemporary landowners are asked the history of their holdings; a gumbo recipe; a showcase for the soundtrack's blues bands. And there's a section following British director Iain Softley scouting for a location; 21 minutes of deleted footage; and a commentary by Softley. 

* Out on DVD, video rental today