The action of ‘The Lodge‘ takes place around Christmas, but I do not expect this movie to appear too soon on the television programs during the winter holidays. The film is written and directed by the Austrians Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz who have in their filmography only one more feature film, belonging to the same genre (I haven’t seen that movie yet). Now they crossed the ocean and made their debut there with ‘The Lodge‘, one of the most effective and therefore the most frightening horror films that I have seen lately. Even more. While holiday movies on television tend to be feel-good films, ‘The Lodge‘ is conceived in many ways as a feel-bad movie. Feel Very Bad!
Chalets isolated in the mountains whose connection with the world is cut by heavy snow storms and whose inhabitants have to face nature, their loneliness or each other are a familiar setting for many films of the genre. The script of ‘The Lodge‘ written by the two directors together with Sergio Casci brings in the lodge two children orphaned of their mother in tragic circumstances, and Grace (Riley Keough), whom their father plans to remarry. The relationship between them is under the sign of suicides, that of the mother of the children and those of the members of the religious cult whose leader was Grace’s father. The father intended bringing the three together to give them the opportunity to better know each other and reconcile, but nothing will go according to plan.
‘The Lodge‘ drew a lot of attention at the 2019 Sundance festival, but will be released in North America only now, after one year, in February. I think that it has at least a moderate chance of success. Many of the recipes of the genre films are present and their mixing in a family drama amplifies the tension. The story runs smoothly, the surprises are not lacking, and the atmosphere becomes darker as the white snow accumulates around the lodge. Dream and reality, older and newer traumas, insanity and religious fanaticism mix and are questioned. The ending satisfactorily clarifies everything we’ve seen before, and reopens the discussion of whether the endings of films like this should clarify everything or leave certain details more open to interpretations and discussions. We will not settle this debate here. The cinematography belongs to Thimios Bakatakis, the author of some of Yorgos Lanthimos‘s films, and the fact that the atmosphere resembles that in ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer‘ is not accidental. I also found Riley Keough‘s acting to be very good in a complicated and very physically and psychologically demanding role.’The Lodge‘ is not a pleasant movie, and those who avoid psychological thrillers and horror films will do well to bypass it. Others will have a chance to see a good movie.