I was looking for an atmospheric, psychological horror movie, and The Lodge did not disappoint. However, I’m still thinking it over and sorting through the story, its characters, and some underlying themes to decide just how I feel about it overall.
In one of those movies that uses a big star’s name to attract audiences but only features that star for the first few minutes, Alicia Silverstone is Laura, mother to teen boy Aiden and tweenish girl Mia. Her husband Richard wants to finalize their divorce so he can marry the much younger Grace, and without spoiling anything here, I’ll just say that this is something Laura does not take well.
Jump forward to six months later and Richard is planning a Christmas getaway with Grace and his kids, who do not like her, as a way for everyone to get to know each other better. The four head to a remote family cabin–an exact replica of which Mia has at home–in a winter wonderland, but soon Richard is called away by a work-related crisis and leaves Grace and the kids alone. Throw in a blizzard and power outage, Grace’s lone-cult-survivor background and mysterious pills, disappearing food and other items, Mia’s odd doll, dead cell phones, and seemingly missing slots of time, and you’ve got a chin-scratcher on your hands: what is happening, to and by whom, why and how, and what’s next?
Laced with religious themes and imagery, this slow burn movie won’t appeal to everyone. And it definitely has some disturbing scenes in it as well. So if you’re looking for jump scares and monsters with fangs, you’d best look somewhere else. But if you want a movie to make you think while a chill runs down your spine, I’d give it a go.
- Top Scare: Near very end (no spoilers here)
- Heartbeats: 3 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 1 3/4 out of 5
- Scare Factor: 2 3/4 out of 5
- Recommended for: 16 and up
