Two Thrillers

“Skeleton Key” and “Red Eye” are two thrillers of a decidedly different nature. The first relies heavily on atmosphere and emotional conflict to build suspense while the second reveals its premise almost immediately in its race-against-the clock plot.

SKELETON KEY

The first half hour of “Skeleton Key”s unravels at a snail’s pace. I began looking at my watch every few minutes waiting for something to grab me. Then the atmosphere of the Louisiana Bayou country and the creepy doings at a run down Southern Gothic house crept up on me like a low grade fever with a  sense of mystery and foreboding.

Caregiver Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) feels responsible in some way for the death of her father. Tinged by guilt, she takes a job looking after elderly Ben Devereaux,  a stroke victim (John Hurt), in a run down mansion outside of New Orleans. Ben’s crotchety wife, Violet (Gena Rowlands), gives Caroline a skeleton key with access to the  rooms in the house. Curious, Caroline secretly explores her new digs,  puzzled by the lack of mirrors. She slowly realizes that Ben is a prisoner in his own house, a house with secrets hidden behind a concealed doorway.  Talismans of good and evil and an old recording of incantations linked to the house’s sordid past lead her into a world of regional folk magic called Hoodoo. A story of racial violence against two of its early practitioners still casts an evil spell over the community. Radical changes in Violet’s behavior, a shady lawyer, and a convincing shaman turn Caroline into a true believer, fighting for Ben’s life and her soul in a rousing finale that adds a new wrinkle in an otherwise standard but still exciting tale of witchcraft.

Some of these films have key elements similar to “Skeleton Key”

“The Brotherhood of Satan” (1971) - Eerie little tale about a witches’ coven starring Strother Martin famous for his line “What we have here is a failure to communicate” in “Cool Hand Luke.” Also with L. Q. Jones. Both are in “The Wild Bunch.” It has a similar conclusion to “Skeleton Key” but you should that first.

“The Mephisto Waltz” (1970) - Another tale about witchcraft with an assortment of devil worshippers with murder in their hearts.  With Jacqueline Bissett, Alan Alda, Curt Jurgens, Barbara Perkins, and Bradford Dillman.

RED EYE

“Red Eye” from director Wes Craven, the creator of the “Scream” movies, delivers on the promise of its thrilling over-the-top trailer. It is not about the hijacking of an airplane but the hijacking of the skills and clout of a first class hotel executive on an airplane.

Gillian Murphy, the villain of “Batman Begins,” stays true to form as smooth talking Jackson Ripper (as in Jack the R…), a fellow traveler  who first befriends Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams- the dream girl in “The Notebook” and a mean girl in “Mean Girls”) at a Dallas Airport, then threatens her while in flight. Her father (Brian Cox) is being watched miles away and will be bumped off unless she makes a phone call that will slightly alter the itinerary of the  Deputy Secretary  of Homeland Security (Jack Scalia). Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth heighten the suspense with a lean script and credible bits of business that allow the leads to convincingly play off each other in the plane’s cramped quarters.

Questions: What does a ruthless terrorist for hire do when he catches her faking a conversation? What does he do when the lady has to go to the bathroom? What does he do when she tries to leave messages on the bathroom mirror? What does he do when her cell phone conks out at crucial moments? Answer: Anything he can to accomplish his mission - or he too will be expendable.

Questions: What does a frightened woman on her way home from a funeral do when she is told her father will die unless she does what she’s told? What does she do when her cell phone dies? What does she do when she has to choose between her life, her father’s life, and the life of a prominent member of the Washington elite? What does she do when she sees a chance to escape? Answer: Anything she can to try and save herself, her father, and anyone and anything within the sight of an offshore rocket launcher?

The hints of what is to come late in “Red Eye” is laid out in the first twenty minutes of the film. A wallet is stolen. A house is under construction. Lisa’s flight is late.  Seemingly small events take on momentous importance, from a bitchy couple at the hotel where Lisa works to signs of her athletic prowess. “Red Eye” moves at such breakneck speed, there’s never enough time to think about what just happened, for fear of missing something happening in the here and now. The here and now are narrow escapes from an airplane, the terminal, a house, and a hotel. “Red Eye” will satisfy the hunger of any adrenaline junkie.

Wes Craven made his directorial debut with the violent and bloody “The Last House on the Left” (1971) \which I have never been able to bring myself to watch but some of his other films are worth seeking out. He developed a cult following with the low budget “The Hills Have Eyes” (1981) and the schlocky but fun “The Swamp Thing” (1982) with “Gigi”’s Louis Jourdan as a villain. Craven struck gold with “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) one of the scariest films ever made until its iconic creature from the subconscious, Freddy Krueger took on a life of his own in the sequels that followed.

 The original “Scream” from 1996 needs no introduction. It spawned two sequels and one superb spoof.

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