Arlington Road (1999)
Directed by Mark Pellington
Bedraggled college professor Michael Faraday has been vexed — and increasingly paranoid — since his wife's accidental death in a botched FBI operation. When a seemingly all-American couple set up house next door, Michael begins to suspect there’s more to them than meets the eye.
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What critics compared Arlington Road to
Blessed with veins of sublimely spooky Cajun occult running throughout the script by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, The Ring) -- the thrust of which are that the more Caroline believes, the more danger she's in from the spirits in the house -- The Skeleton Key also boasts a handful of creative twists, some pointing toward a hoax, others hinting at something far darker than just ghosts.
…jumbo, and that would be reason enough, perhaps, to hail Key as the fulfillment of the promise we've been hearing screenwriter Ehren Kruger ( The Ring Two , Reindeer Games ) has embodied for lo these many years, since his Arlington Road made a biggest splash than it deserved to.
Without giving too much away, I’ll make the offhand comment that screenwriter Kruger has essentially turned in a genrefied – and less satisfying – version of his previous “Arlington Road”; but a substandard Ehren Kruger script can still knock most horror scripts on their asses, to put it bluntly.
Blessed with veins of sublimely spooky Cajun occult running throughout the script by Ehren Kruger ( "Arlington Road," "The Ring" ) -- the thrust of which are that the more Caroline believes, the more she's in danger from the spirits in the house -- "The Skeleton Key" also boasts a handful of creative twists, some pointing toward a hoax, others hinting at something far darker than just ghosts.
With his scripts for Arlington Road and Scream 3, young, insanely prolific screenwriter Ehren Kruger established a reputation as a sort of cut-rate cinematic O. Henry, a glib, hard-working screenwriter specializing in superficially clever but ultimately annoying, unconvincing twist endings.
The Skeleton Key was written by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, Reindeer Games), who loves to throw third-act twists into his screenplays, regardless of whether they actually make narrative sense.
On the Side: I knocked Ehren Kruger in the opening of the review, but in addition to apparently doing touch-ups on Williamson’s script for Scream 4 he also wrote The Ring and Arlington Road, two movies I really enjoy.
COMMENTS: Director Mark Pellington, who previously explored themes of conspiracy and paranoia in the thriller Arlington Road , translates his talents to horror well and does a very fine job of pleasantly chilling the viewer’s blood through the early segments of the Mothman Prophecies .
Director Mark Pellington made his name with the 1999 conspiracy thriller "Arlington Road", and he mines a similar vein of sweaty paranoia and nervous unease here.
The difference is that here, director Mark Pellington (who also helmed Arlington Road , an underrated gem) is able to capitalize on the atmosphere and create a deep mystery and sense of foreboding that's a match for all but the best "X-Files" episodes.
The rest of the movie tends to parallel Pellington’s other work, Arlington Road.
That's a shame, too, because director Mark Pellington was certainly able to get a better performance from Jeff Bridges in "Arlington Road."
And it’s director, Mark Pellington, was the person who helped create today’s film (he also directed the video for Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” and the movie Arlington Road ).
It’s here that Knowing could achieve the pop-culture poetry of unexpected heroism in Unbreakable, and Cage could channel the paternal persistence of Jeff Bridges in Arlington Road (another great from Pellington).
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Screenwriter Ehren Kruger ("Arlington Road," "The Ring"), who had a hand in the second travesty of a script, has cleaned things up considerably, but there are still muddled bits and loose ends.
Actor/director Tim Robbins ("The Player," "Arlington Road") has an amusing, extended cameo as her somewhat transcendental lover.