Lodge a complaint
Horror film hits creepy notes, but is a letdown in the end
THE LODGE
out of 5
Cast: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia Mchugh Directors: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz
Duration: 1 h 48 m
Do the victims in horror movies deserve what they get?
Once upon a time, the genre was dominated by thinly disguised public service announcements in which promiscuity led to death.
In a more ironic age, Eddie Murphy wondered why people stayed in the house. His rule: “There’s a ghost in the house, get the f--- out.” But he went on to make The Haunted Mansion in 2003, so no points for consistency.
In The Lodge, the sins of the father are visited upon his children. Exhibit A: Richard (Richard Armitage), who has just left his wife for a much younger girlfriend, Grace (Riley Keough). Teenage Aidan and younger sister Mia (Jaeden Martell, Lia Mchugh) don’t think much of Grace, who they learn was the sole survivor of a suicide cult their dad was researching when he met her. Between that and the ex-wife’s own suicide, it’s not exactly a match made in heaven, or even purgatory.
Richard decides his new nuclear family needs a yuletide holiday in the woods, far from civilization.
In a creepy old house. During a winter storm. When work calls him away, he leaves the kids in Grace’s care despite her begging him not to.
He even gives her a gun. “I got it from my Uncle Chekhov!” he tells her. OK, I made that line up. But Richard is definitely not getting a “Best Dad” mug for Christmas.
The Lodge is the newest from writers-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, whose 2014 film Goodnight Mommy was a rare foreign-language-horror crossover, nominated for a Critics Choice award and the recipient of many festival prizes.
Alas, The Lodge is not its equal, though for a while it shows great promise. There’s some creative set design — every room seems to be about a foot shorter than expected, so everything feels cramped. And everyone’s reliably creepy, leaving audiences to wonder whether the problem is the kids, the post-trauma Grace, or maybe even real ghosts. In which case, why don’t they get out of the — oh, wait, now they’re snowed in.
There’s even a creepy dollhouse, a device which horror fans will recall was used to such great effect in 2018’s Hereditary, and provided some chilling moments for Rebecca Hall in 2011’s The Awakening, as well. But the more we see this one on the screen, the more it seems like a spooky prop without any deeper meaning.
And by the time the movie pulls its final-act reveal, it’s clear the filmmakers have painted themselves into a narrative corner, with nothing for it but to hack their way out.
It’s not a pretty denouement, and if you can imagine the sound of a lot of air being suddenly let out of a balloon — well, that’s pretty much the note it ends on.