"Master Key" is a suspense thriller about witchcraft, depicting a horror event in an old house, although there are no ghosts or zombies, but the overall atmosphere of the movie is strange and abnormal, and it is still hairy to watch at night!
In terms of acting and plot, graphics and horror soundtrack, I personally think it can be said to be a high-quality thriller, although it has a history of 15 years, it is still very worth watching.
Carolyn (Kate Hudson), a nurse in New Orleans, originally lived a quiet life, working as a nurse in a hospice ward, caring for a seriously ill old gentleman. Caroline was very caring, and she accompanied the old man like family until his death.
However, when the hospital learned that the old man had passed away, he hurriedly cleaned up the old man's relics, which was not human at all. Caroline couldn't stand the hospital's squire and indifference, and in the newspaper, Caroline found a job advertisement— to go to the country to take care of the old gentleman, with a weekly salary of a thousand dollars.
It's a fair story here, but as Caroline drives her red cart through the swampy countryside, the atmosphere grows more and more bizarre, as if she's falling into a trap step by step.
At the address mentioned in the newspaper, it turned out to be an old mansion, and there was a statue of a girl in the mansion that looked gloomy, but Caroline ran in and asked, "Is anyone at home?" It was clear that Caroline was a brave girl.
After a few questions, a handsome guy appears, named Luke (Peter Sassgaard), a lawyer hired by Violet to deal with the inheritance of the house.
Luke introduces Caroline to Violet (Gina Rolands), who seems to be unhappy with Caroline's dress and accent, and initially rejects her by saying things like "You don't understand the rules of this house".
However, when Caroline sees Violet's stroke and can't speak, Ben Devriox (John Hurt), she seems to have made up her mind to stay.
It was clear to the director that Caroline had no pity for the old man because she was too late to take care of her own father, who had died of illness. Caroline can be said to have compensated this filial piety to the elderly in her care.
The director deliberately used the camera to shoot the doorway of the countryside, and almost every door was painted with a red brick powder, as if to prevent something. However, Caroline didn't seem to care about this red line at all, whether at the horrible gas station or at Violet's house, she stepped directly across the red line.
After giving Caroline an overview of the living environment, Violet gave Caroline a master key that could open the doors of the 30 rooms in the mansion. It's a little strange here, why give a short-term care master key?
Caroline stayed at Violet's house for a few days, and gradually found that the house was a little strange, such as there was no half a mirror in the room, a door in the attic that moved but the master key could not be opened, a picture of the former owner in the room, Violet seemed to want to hide the secret of the attic, and Ben who had suffered a stroke seemed to be able to move and wanted to escape...
Caroline, who was very rational and unbelieving, was obsessed with wondering what was in the attic, and secretly opened the door when Violet was not paying attention, which was more spacious than expected, but there were some very strange items, including three-headed snake rings, organs in jars, dolls with eyes and mouths sewn up, and some spell books, and Caroline took a vinyl record with the words "Sacrifice" written on it, intending to return to New Orleans to find out.
Caroline's girlfriend, Jill (Joey Bryant), says that the mansion may be "witchcraft", and Jill seems to be very reluctant to touch the topic, telling Caroline only: "If you don't believe it, witchcraft will not hurt you", if you really want to ask questions about witchcraft, you can go to a secret laundromat.
Caroline begins her detective work, telling Luke these unusual things, asking the caretaker who had taken care of Ben, finding that the caretaker is very scared, and telling Caroline to leave quickly. But the more caroline was curious, the more caroline wanted to continue digging for the truth.
Caroline finds the vanished mirror in the mansion behind the attic and hangs it in Ben's room to see what happens, but Violet is furious and tells Caroline an old story.
It turns out that the house used to be a very rich banker, and the banker hired a black couple, Cynthia (Maxine Barnett), and Jat White as servants, but did not know that they were very famous magicians at that time, but they just abused them and made them cattle and horses.
One day the banker held a big banquet at home, the banquet invited many people with heads and faces in the society at that time to participate, before the end of the banquet, everyone wanted to say goodbye to the banker's child, but found that the child was missing, so they began to find the child's game.
Finally, they heard music behind the attic and found Cynthia and Jathaway surrounding the child with white candles and mirrors, as if performing witchcraft. Although the children always said that it was what they wanted to learn, the adults, drunk, ignored the children's words and hanged Cynthia and Jatwi on the spot.
Later, the house was like a demon, the banker shot and killed his wife, and then committed suicide, and the family was backward, so he had to sell the house to Violet in 1962. The reason why there are no mirrors in the house is that Cynthia and Jathaway will be seen in the mirrors...
Here Violet seems very strange, didn't she want to hide something before, why is it now fully revealed? This very hairy story seems to have affected Caroline a little, and although she says that it is a "psychological effect", she also believes it in her heart.
Once, while helping Ben take a bath, Caroline picked up a small mirror and looked at her face, and found that Ben seemed to want to look in the mirror too, but Ben was shocked like a ghost.
In order to save Ben's illness, Caroline decided to give it a try, since Ben believed in ghosts, then she could use the same method to "exorcise" him, right? Caroline followed Jill's instructions and went to the laundromat for help, and the witch doctor woman in the laundromat gave Caroline a box of items and a spell, telling her that it would be useful as long as she read it, and Caroline asked about the brick powder in front of the door when she left, and it turned out that it was someone who could be prevented.
Jill was surprised to learn that Caroline had gone to the laundromat, Caroline had always been an atheist and did not believe in this set, why was this time so superstitious, Caroline still replied, she just wanted to use Ben's psychological effect to make him recover.
After Caroline returns to Violet's house to "exorcise", Ben seems to be able to really speak, and the intermittent voice seems to be saying "HELP...". Caroline told Luke about it, and Luke asked, "Do you really believe it?" Caroline strenuously denied it, but the act of "exorcism" had already revealed that Caroline's idea of witchcraft was beginning to waver.
Caroline decided to go to the rescue of Ben that night, and in order to prove that Violet was really a bad person, Caroline even drew a line in the doorway with brick powder to see if Violet dared to go in, and Violet really did not dare to enter the door. At this time, Caroline can be said to have completely believed.
Caroline struggled to deal with Violet, but found that the gate of the mansion was chained, and there was no way to take Ben away. Caroline had to go to Luke's house alone to ask for help, but she didn't expect that Luke's house had a three-headed snake ring in the attic, a master key for the old house, and many of Caroline's life photos, feeling that Luke had been observing Caroline for a long time! Surprised, Caroline has been kidnapped by Luke and returned to Violet's house.
Caroline, like a superstitious woman, panicked and sprinkled brick powder everywhere, called 119 and called Jill, and grabbed a piece of Violet's witchcraft recipe, which seemed to protect her from harm, and Caroline finally fled to the attic, where she sprinkled sulfur and hair in a space surrounded by white candles according to the secret recipe, hoping to protect herself.
Unexpectedly, Violet was not restrained by those brick powders, but came with a sly smile, it turned out that the role of the secret recipe was not to protect, but to trap. Violet said the same thing as Gille, "If you don't believe in witchcraft, witchcraft won't hurt you..."
Caroline yelled frantically, "I don't believe I don't believe it!" But to no avail, Violet pushes a mirror toward Caroline, and the shadows of Cynthia, the little girl, and Violet appear in the mirror. Finally, the white candles go out, and Caroline and Violet fall to the ground.
Soon after, Caroline wakes up, but she picks up Violet's favorite cigarette and lighter...
"Many people don't understand that sacrifice is actually an exchange."
Violet's soul and Caroline's soul were exchanged.
In that old story, the souls of Cynthia and Jathwi have been exchanged with two children at a banquet, and the black body with the souls of two children is hanged. As the child's body ages, Cynthia and JattWy swap the bodies of Violet and Ben, who have come to buy a house, and Caroline and Luke are the next victims.
That is, Cynthia and Jattwi are alive all the time, only to swap the bodies of the child, Violet and Ben, Carolyn, and Luke. And these "replaced" bodies, such as Luke living in her own body, caroline living in Violet's body, were drugged and sent to the hospital, dying silently and alone. In the future, there may be the next batch of victims.
Knowing the ending of this villain's total victory, I can't help but be creepy. It turns out that Luke (who was already Jatwy at the time) and Violet (Cynthia) have been looking for new female doubles in the layout, hiring a nurse with a high salary, deliberately letting Caroline doubt everything in the house, giving Caroline a master key to open the secret room in the attic without stopping it (in fact, it is not necessary to give Caroline a master key), telling Caroline's ancient stories makes Caroline suspicious, and even fears that brick powder may be pretended (later Violet was not afraid of those brick powders).
It was all about getting Caroline to believe in witchcraft that she had previously believed in at all. As Gille said, if you don't believe it, you can't be hurt. But Caroline believed it and ended up falling into a trap carefully set by Cynthia and Jathwi, regretting it for the rest of her life.
As far as the whole film is concerned, the heroine Caroline gives full play to the essence of the protagonist of the suspense film who is not afraid of heaven, taking the audience to dig out the truth step by step, and Violet's acting skills are also very exquisite, with a sense of witch.
The plot is not too lengthy, and there are almost no bugs to be found, and the camera and soundtrack also make this "ghostless" horror film extremely weird.
When the ending is known, all the characters' actions and words are very reasonable! The unexpected ending turned out to be a big victory for the villain, which had an unexpected effect. It is a pity that the ending is not an open ending, otherwise there should be more room for imagination.