Filming in New Orleans is the Hollywood shortcut to instilling a degree of atmosphere into any movie. Angel Heart, Interview With The Vampire... any John Grisham movie.

Whatever the publicity people claim, The Skeleton Key is a haunted house story.

Fortunately, the decision to film it in the Deep South has given it something of an edge.

For all the movies that are filmed in New Orleans, not many directors have fully utilized the atmospherics the city provides.

Caroline (Kate Hudson) is a live-in nurse who responds to an advert to look after Violet's (Gena Rowlands) ailing husband, Ben (John Hurt).

For Ben has suffered a stroke, and lies almost comatose. In order that she can move around the house with freedom, Caroline receives a skeleton key. A key that can open pretty much any door in the ancient, isolated mansion. Any room, that is, except the attic.

The tension that builds throughout the set-up is surprisingly thick, although the modern day horror movie is apparently only scary with well-timed screeches from a chorus of violins.

But there's a lot to be said for the fact that this is a supernatural movie that relies on the performances from the cast and well timed set pieces as opposed to the CGi effects we have become so accustomed to.

Things inevitably start going a bit weird, soon after Caroline finds her way into the secret room. A room that, spookily (we're told), holds a number of household items banished form the rest of the house.

At this juncture the world of Hoodoo is revealed. Crucially, only those that believe in the dark magic appear to be in any danger (think of the end of Nightmare On Elm Street). And they try awfully hard to convince you...

Penned by the writer of The Ring, Skeleton Key is a superior horror movie when held up against the majority of creepy thrillers we’ve been subjected to of late – Hide & Seek, Godsend et al.

Gena Rowlands revels in playing the nutty wife while John Hurt performs one of the few roles his occasional bouts of sobriety allow. Kate Hudson is a fine leading lady, although there's an air of inevitability about a young blonde woman choosing to unlock a creepy door on a stormy night.

Dark, moody and very effective, The Skeleton Key has enough going for it to grab your attention – and has a rather effective twist in the tale just waiting to be unlocked.

Rich Phippen