For decades the West has been awash in spiritual multiculturalism. Open-mindedness is in, while "narrow, intolerant dogmatism" is out. Harry Blamires, in his book "In Defense of Dogmatism," notes that nowadays Christians are supposed to walk about as if they do not have definitive answers to life's most important questions. The journey is everything, the destination irrelevant. (Of course, if you have no destination in mind, your journeying looks remarkably like simply being lost.) Certainty, we are told, is dangerous.

Therefore it was refreshing to step into the theater recently to see an otherwise inconsequential horror film – "The Skeleton Key" – turn the West's fascination with spiritual openness on its ear. In the film, Caroline, a hospice worker plagued by guilt over her absence during her father's death, tries to find meaning through her job. After watching her hospice impersonally churn through patients, Caroline opts for a live-in position at the Devereaux house, located deep within the spooky bayous of Louisiana. It doesn't take long for the superstitions of the locals to become her own. What makes "The Skeleton Key" work is the way it exploits spiritual smorgasbord thinking, preys on false security, believes in the revelation of truth, and explores the force of fear.

Smorgasbord Spirituality

The contemporary West prides itself on its spiritual openness – almost to the point of lunacy. Daniel Boorstin illustrates our paradoxical thinking when he comments in "The Image" that we want to worship at a church of our choice but simultaneously want to experience its transcendent power. We want to feel free to pick and choose what we will believe – and the determining factor appears to be our own personal comfort.

Caroline is an outstanding representative of modern spirituality. Shortly after her arrival at her new job, Mrs. Devereaux, whose house is filled with Catholic icons and paintings, asks Caroline if she is "religious at all" to which Caroline replies, "I try to keep an open mind." Mrs. Devereaux is pleased to hear it. We discover that Mrs. Devereaux's Louisiana parish is filled with religious syncretism – a little Catholicism blended with Voodoo and American folk magic. Caroline's open mind will fit right in.

False Security

Like many Western people, Caroline ultimately pins her security on her belief in science – particularly psychology. Once Caroline discovers that her patient, Mr. Devereaux, is convinced that his stroke-like condition is caused by supernatural means, Caroline decides to dabble in Hoodoo magic in the attempt to secure a psychosomatic cure. Jill, Caroline's friend, informs her about the Hoodoo practice and comforts Caroline by telling her that it is all psychological, and that "it can't hurt you if you don't believe in it." Viewers discover as the film progresses that maintaining an aloof agnosticism becomes increasingly difficult as the evidence for magical potency grows.