User Reviews

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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...

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.

This is a movie that I saw an ad for when it hit Shudder. I saw that it was a 2024 release and featured Terrence Howard as well as Cuba Gooding Jr. And Udo Kier. This was then selected for Black appreciation due to Howard and Gooding. I didn't even realize that the former helped co-write this. It also appears that his ex-wife helped with the writing in a capacity so it doubles as Women appreciation as well.

Synopsis: haunted by a malevolent spirit since childhood, a desperate mother allows herself to become possessed to save the life of her terminally ill daughter.

We start this off with a cute scene where Mark (Terrence Howard) is getting ready and prepped to ask for a raise at work by his wife, Valentina (Valery M. Ortiz). Watching through the crack of the bedroom door is Jenny (Appy Pratt). Valentina goes downstairs and is spooked when she sees an entity behind Jenny while she's looking in their fishtank. She is frozen when Mark comes down and asks what is wrong. I will say here that she has been haunted by this spirit since she was a child.

Things on this day don't go as planned though. Mark learns that this meeting with his boss isn't about getting a raise or a promotion. The economy is bad and he's been let go. He doesn't know what to do so he goes to the local bar to meet his brother, Andres (Gooding). He is fresh out of prison and trying to get back on his feet. There is something else that Valentina learns. Jenny's cancer is back and it's spread to her brain. Another blow is that their insurance didn't cover what they thought so they need to pay for the treatment before it can be started.

Mark decided to get Jenny a dog since he is feeling generous. He then learns about the diagnosis. He doesn't have the heart to tell his wife about what happened at work. After telling Andres, he does have a risky way to get the money. There is a local gangster, Miguel (Reno Reyes). He isn't a guy you want to owe money to. He can't even off the full amount which complicates things further.

Now there is also a supernatural angle here. Valentina goes to see Father Francisco (Clifton Powell), who she's known since she was a girl. Valentina doesn't remember an incident that involved her mother, Celia (Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez), and father, Santeros (Louis Mandylor). There is also this entity of Santa Muerte (JT Tomangi).

Mark also seeks out a supernatural way to help Jenny. This leads her to Madam Futura (Sally Kirkland) who reads fortunes. She sees there is a dark entity following this family. She can't help though. She does introduce him and Valentina to Luc (Udo Kier). Not everything is as it seems though and the truth behind these individuals can be more complicated than what we see.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I thought this had interesting elements in the front end that sucked me in. I don't think this stuck the landing with them, but the cast was another element that intrigued me since we have good actors here.

Now that I've said that let's get into what I like here. We are seeing the fringe aspects to the Catholic religion. I'm at least assuming it is Catholic since this is in the America Southwest. Being close to Mexico, I know that version of Christianity is popular. We are seeing how it incorporates their own saints and religious figures like Santa Muerte. I even like that Andres became a believer in prison and that helped him get through. We are seeing this entity, which is creepy. We are getting a modern gothic take though where ghosts and this spooky figure might not be evil. They could be there to warn and even help at times.

Sticking with that idea, I do also like that religion isn't looked at negatively here. This isn't necessarily the norm today. I'll state here that I'm an atheist. I do love it when religion is looked at in a critical light, but I also can see that it does help people who are true believers. There is an element here where a demon might be interjecting itself into this family's life as well. Madam Futura tells them that if they offer enough, then their problems could be cleared. I do think that the synopsis is misleading. An element here is saying that Valentina becomes possessed. That isn't the case. There is an entity that is following her and it does come into play as things get resolved. Things work out for the family, but when the debt needs to be paid, that is where an important decision needs to be made. I do like that this isn't the first time this family has had a similar agreement. That was a fun full circle concept.

I do have negatives here though. I'll shift over to filmmaking. This has a lower budget look to how it is shot. I'm assuming that is partially due to being digital. It just doesn't have the same look as other movies. I won't hold that against this though. The cinematography was fine to frame things. My first negative is coming with effects. The practical ones were good when we got them. There is a lot of CGI effects here and that doesn't hold up for me. I'd also say that pacing was another issue. I just struggled to keep my interest here. I'm not fully sure what the problem was there. This just lost me during the second act and I never came back around to caring. I do think part of that is there is a large convenience factor. It is interesting as I thought that was a good touch with ritual. The problem was that the stakes seemed to go away and I no longer cared. We needed more of the problems to stick around in my opinion to work better.

Next then will be the acting. Like I said earlier, we have an interesting ensemble cast here. I found it interesting to see Howard and Gooding. Neither of them are great in their performances. There is something off about them both where we are getting the potential that I know they can live up to. Kier was good in his lesser role along with Mandylor. The best performance for me was from Ortiz. I thought she brought the emotion and carried the tension to see what would happen. Gonzalez also has a good look for the role she was needed in. Powell, Pratt, Kirkland, Tomangi and the rest of the cast was fine. No one necessarily stands out either.

In conclusion, this one is fine. There were things that pulled me in and I just don't think it was executed properly. The use of the fringe version of Christianity here was good. It is a using lore that I'm not overly familiar with like Santa Muerte so I did like that. We have a good cast here, but they don't bring the caliber of performance I'd expect. Special credit though to Ortiz and Kier though. The filmmaking aspects weren't bad. I'd say that cinematography was fine. There was a pacing issue and the CGI doesn't hold up either. Not one that I'd necessarily recommend. It just didn't work for me and I'd struggle to say that this one should be seen.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 10.

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.

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.

Director Asif Akbar masterfully crafts the chilling horror film "Skeleton in the Closet," delivering an atmospheric and genuinely creepy experience that lingers long after the credits roll. The movie skillfully weaves a tale where the haunting message of a life for a life resonates throughout. Valery M. Ortiz portrays a mother haunted by an evil spirit, determined to go to any lengths to save her daughter, superbly played by Appy Pratt. The seemingly idyllic family, also featuring the excellent performances of Terrence Howard as Mark and Valentina (Valery M. Ortiz), faces the harsh reality of cancer's return in the form of wicked brain cancer after a brief remission. The narrative intensifies as Mark's insurance denies coverage for life-saving chemotherapy, pushing the family into a series of unfortunate events on the same day as Jenny's cancer diagnosis, from a deceased family fish to job loss and mounting debts to the mob.

Cubin Gooding Jr. Adds depth as Mark's brother Andres, introducing the audience to a psychic portrayed by Sally Kirkland, leading to the brilliantly portrayed character Luc, played by Udo Kier. The escalating self-destruction and bad decisions, driven by the desperate love for their daughter, unfold in a riveting manner. The film successfully combines a well-layered story with outstanding performances from the talented cast, including veterans Sally and Udo. Asif Akbar's direction is commendable, creating tension and scares throughout the film. In a genre saturated with quick teen slashers, "Skeleton in the Closet" stands out as a refreshing and genuinely frightening horror movie. The carefully lensed scenes, complemented by great sound and lighting, enhance the overall cinematic experience. Terrence Howard, Valery M. Ortiz, Appy Pratt, and Cubin Gooding Jr. Form a cohesive family dynamic, while the supporting cast contributes to the seamless flow of the narrative. Asif's directorial prowess, coupled with the stellar performances, makes "Skeleton in the Closet" a must-watch for horror enthusiasts seeking a well-crafted and spine-chilling cinematic experience.