The Skeleton Key/万能钥匙

The movie was obviously better than my expectation before watching. In a way it reminded me of "The Others", ordinary story with an extraordinary ending. But the ending did not abruptly appear, as there were hints everywhere. The story itself also was meaningful, such as how to brainwash in a subtle way, or how to yield to one's fear unconsciously. The sentence in the post highlighted the subject succinctly: fearing is believing.

One last words: good people do not always have good payback, which probably one of the reasons why so many audience suffered. However, tragedies often make the audience think.

本片明显高于我观影前的预期，在某种程度上，它让我想起了《小岛惊魂》，看似常规的故事却有着一个不寻常的结局，但它又不是完全空穴来风的，而是处处留给观众暗示。而故事本身也给人启迪，譬如洗脑是如何潜移默化地完成的，还有如何不知不觉向恐惧所屈服。海报中的那句话简明扼要地点明了主题：因恐惧而相信。

还有最后一句话：并不是好人有好报。这大概是本片会让很多观众觉得折磨的原因之一。但往往只有悲剧才能让人思考。

Performance impression:
Director: Iain Softley
Stars: Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant