AllMovie

Skeletons in the Closet is just good enough to keep viewers from hitting the eject button each time they think the script has run out of gas. Just when the family melodrama threatens to boil over, a new element of suspense pops up, creating fresh interest. It makes for a frustrating evening of viewing; it would have been simpler if the film was just that much worse, then viewers could eject it and put in that Hitchcock thriller they've been intending to see again. Treat Williams, who looks here exactly like an older version of Robert Sean Leonard (eerie, really), and gothically creepy Jonathan Jackson are appropriately uncomfortable with each other, and the story twists just enough to keep viewers guessing until the end. Director Wayne Powers overcomes the limitations of his $1.5 million budget and 19-day shooting schedule by keeping things moving. It's difficult to see how, given those limitations, Skeletons could have been better. But it could have been a whole lot worse.