Skeletons in the Closet

Although the actors were not A listers they were at least good actors that I am familiar with. I like the premise they started out with, IF I have it right. Hard to know as it was such a MESS!!

The production of putting it all together was a disaster. Very low budget. The script was weird or was it the editing that made it weird?

I did not find it scary in the least because I was so busy trying to figure out what was going on from minute to minute. It was a real chore to watch this movie. I kept watching and rewinding to see if there was something I missed but I am still not sure exactly what happened. I will have to go read up on the plot somewhere.

Only watch if you are into train wrecks. Oh how fall poor Cuba Gooding jr has fallen.

This movie is pretty damn awful. Wow. Surprised to see such good actors Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Clifton Powell in such a slow and boring film. No thrills or chills to be found here. Bland and all over the place. Still trying to make sense of the scarecrow. The whole mobster piece is unnecessary as well. I wish I could get the time back that I spent watching this movie. I decided to see it through to the end, but that was an unsatisfying ending. Nothing and I mean nothing stands out about this film. I don't recommend watching it a total waste of time. I guess the actors got paychecks!!

My guess is this was filmed in about 8-10 days at most. Most scenes are 1-2 takes. They probably got Cuba Gooding Jr. For 1 or 2 days. The plot is extremely simple, almost as if a child wrote it.

By about the 1 hour mark I really wanted to shut it off, but I endured. To get to the underwhelming finale that any novice film goer would expect.

I guess the biggest question is why did Terrence Howard do this project? Why? It couldn't have paid much, maybe just for fun? The plot is partially a flashback story, which the synopsis explains. There's just nothing here sadly. The first 25 minutes is Cuba and Terrence drinking at bars talking, usually in 1 take scenes.

Overall it's passable to put on if you're working or cooking or something, but don't dedicate your time to watching this. 4.4/10.

Without ever having heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "Skeletons in the Closet" from director Asif Akbar, of course I opted to sit down and watch it, given my love and fascination of the horror genre. And sitting down with zero expectations here, there was plenty of room for director Asif Akbar to impress me.

Ugh, the storyline was all over the place and nowhere all at once. It felt like writers Joshua A. Cohen, Terrence Howard, Mira Pak Howard and Koji Steven Sakai were writing stories independently of one another without talking together at all, then collectively handing in four scripts for director Asif Akbar to try to piece together like a puzzle to form a coherent storyline and make a movie. It just didn't work.

I have to say that I found the storyline in the movie to be really bad. The stories of Mark (played by Terrence Howard) and Valentina (played by Valery M. Ortiz) just didn't really have anything to do with one another. It was like watching two different movies layered over one another, with neither of them making much sense as it was befuddled by the other storyline.

There are so many things in the movie that serves the narrative absolutely no purpose, such as the scarecrow scene and the scene with the loanshark.

The movie actually has good cast ensemble, with the likes of Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Louis Mandylor and Udo Kier, to mention the most recognizable of the actors and actresses that participated in the movie.

Most of the times when they cut from one scene to another, the cut was accompanied by a loud noise and a flash of color. Going for some cheap jump scares, and it just grew tiring rather early on in the movie, and yet it continued on throughout the entire movie.

Yeah, "Skeletons in the Closet" was a swing and a miss of a movie, and I was struggling to sit through it, coming very close to giving up entirely around 55 minutes into the boredom that was the storyline in the movie. But I endured and sucked it up, soldiering on and actually finishing the movie. Was I impressed by "Skeletons in the Closet"? Not even remotely.

If you enjoy horror movies, do yourself a favor and don't waste 92 minutes of your life sitting through this.

My rating of "Skeletons in the Closet" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

Great actors. Horrible director and script. Sallie Kirkland another pro, is so smooth. Horrible script! Poor Terrence Howard brings authenticity to this awful project. I can never get enough Cuba Gooding,jr so at least there is that.

Listen, if you have accomplished actors like this, take advantage! These 3 actors could have elevated the movie with just a little more work on the script. Finally, we have an awesome Udo Kerr. He's like the cherry on top. This could have been at least mediocre. Nope. What a waste of incredible talent.

SHUDDER: Try again. This time don't green light it until you're given a decent treatment.