Skeletons in the Closet

I actually heard about this movie awhile back when it was about to be released, and I forgot to follow up on it. I remember taking an interest in it because of the cast. Well, my interest is no longer; I'll pass on this one. It seems as if this was so bad that they felt it was better to let the movie itself sit in the closet.

What is funny is that there are a bunch of low ratings on here, and then you have the one 10/10 rating that sticks out like a sore thumb. It's not hard to figure out that the person is connected to this production in some way; perhaps it's the director who used words like stellar performances, masterfully crafted, chilling horror, and well-layered story. This one really made me laugh-"a spine-chilling cinematic experience."😆 And then it comes in at a 3.0/10 rating. Unbelievable.

After a series of setbacks, a family confronted with the idea of a returning spirit that has haunted her from childhood that seems to be caused by a longstanding curse as the reasoning for everything and must resort to dangerous practices to protect their family from these forces.

This was a massively disappointing and barely worthwhile effort. Among its few bright spots here that make this a decent enough setup with the family going through their struggles which gets everything going in a decent enough clip. The family history that includes a series of confrontations and counters with spirits from a child into adulthood signals the start of a tragedy which starts to rear its head again with the newfound diagnosis of the daughter which puts them into the mindset of trying whatever means necessary to save her. This upsetting of the supernatural realm manages to be somewhat chilling as a concept due to the use of the demonic figure as a starting point to get the central deal together. This is all pretty much the best part about this one. That leaves the film with a veritable slew of issues.to hold this back. The main problem is that it's nearly impossible to care what's going on since all the sub-plots here don't come together in any shape or form. Featuring a series of sidestories involving a gangster holding him accountable for a monetary loan to cover the necessary surgery for the removal of her cancer, the mother's struggles with her faith go nowhere which is due to the sudden introduction of the strange spiritual figure that comes for her, and the interactions of the rother who just got out of prison that sets him up with the mob boss in the first place, this one has way too much going on that's just not interesting as it features way too many things happening to make any of these plots feel connected. In addition to this kind of scattered approach, there's also the fact that the pacing is so slow it's nearly impossible to care about what's going on. As so many of these elements getting brought up make the film feel far more like a family drama with a bit of suspense thrown in with the mob connections, it's so light on the sightings of the spectral figures around her that they almost feel like an afterthought introduced simply to make it more marketable. Very little is explained in a way that connects everything and it tends to come off more like an extra setup to add even struggle to the family since they take up far more of the running time here than anything else going on. That becomes a big component of the rest of the film as the final big issue is the lack of threatening genre action. As there's barely anything here in the first part where the few shocking inserts of the spirit haunting her are so haphazardly inserted it could easily be taken out without upsetting anything and then almost ignored until midway through the film for a briefly written explanation that tries to retcon everything into a functioning explanation for the setup. It's done so lamely and without any kind of genuine genre thrills that hardly any kind of interaction with the spirit occurs so there are no kills or anything like that happening throughout here, rendering all these aspects enough to completely downgrade this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

I recently viewed Skeletons in the Closet (2024) on Shudder. The plot revolves around a family facing adversity, with a terminally ill daughter and a father who loses his job, making it challenging to cover medical expenses. The mother turns to a spirit from her past for help, but at what cost?

Directed by Asif Akbar (Clown Motel), the film features Terrence Howard (Crash), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire), Udo Kier (Suspiria), Clifton Powell (Ray), and Michelle Wang (Ruthless).

Regrettably, this movie is a disaster. Despite a promising setup and realistic circumstances, the execution falls short. There are a couple of cool costumes, such as the scarecrow and voodoo skull guy, but even with a stellar cast, the acting consistently feels inauthentic, and the dialogue is inconsistent. The reactions to certain situations fail to evoke the intended impact, and Udo Kier's character and scenes could have been much better. The voodoo/seance subplot also misses the mark.

In conclusion, Skeletons in the Closet had potential in its setup but suffers from poor execution. There's little to appreciate here, making it unworthy of your time. I would give it a 2/10 and suggest skipping it.

I hate to see such wonderful actors performing in a movie that just doesnt cut it, that just doesnt succeed in thrilling or scaring, which is the ultimate aim of a horror movie such as this.

The bad: this movie was made with attention for detail. This is isnt some cheaply made B-horror movie. It's not going for the cheap shock effects either, but in the end it just really fails at becoming scary (at all). It's unfortunately more kinda silly looking at moments, which was not the intention whatsoever.

The good: it's always nice to see solid actors like Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. Perform on the silver screen. They deserve a better picture than this though.

Not terrible, but definetly not thrilling or scary or mesmirising. Too bad for these wonderful actors who are starring in it...

I hate to be overwhelmingly negative when it comes to my reviews, but unfortunately I don't have much positive to say about this one... so I'll try to keep it brief.

From the moment it started till the final scene I almost consistently wanted to turn it off. The script was poorly written and felt juvenile. The editing and CGI were hokey and surprisingly low quality. This movie was almost the antithesis of atmospheric and there was practically nothing scary throughout. Many scenes were over lit and riddled with stagnant wide shots making it feel very amateurish. Stylistically it was just all wrong.

The story was nothing particularly engaging or original either, full of unnecessary and inconsequential aspects such as the scarecrow, the mobsters and many others. The general quality of the picture was crisp and nice which often times was beneficial, yet at other points really detracted from any semblance of atmosphere. I didn't even realize that the acting was really quite good until about halfway through because even the best acting can be hidden under poor angles, clunky editing and a bad script.

There were some really solid performances here, particularly from the mom, her father, her husband and the husband's brother. It is obvious that they used the majority of their budget on casting and let other things suffer because of it.

I do not like to and very rarely give out 2s. I really wanted to round up to at least 3 with this one for the acting, but unfortunately it was too much of an overwhelmingly negative experience on multiple fronts. 2.5 rounding down to a 2, would not recommend.