The Lodge

Have you ever had a neighbor who was a girl as a kid that was the same age as you and your parents always pushed that you could possibly date her in the future, but you couldn’t seem to like her despite her being really nice. Well, that’s how I felt about this movie. I had to stretch really far for that analogy. I liked the movie, but I felt like it was missing another X-factor that could rank it as a spectacular horror film.

The film is about two children who recently lost their mother being forced to spend time with their new potential step-mom by their father. The children, Aiden and Mia, absolutely despise their father’s girlfriend, Grace because they blame her for their mother’s sudden suicide. The father thinks “hey! I know what will get them to like each other. I lock them in an isolated cabin during a snow storm and leave in the middle of the vacation.” That’s seriously what happens. So already, not feeling the dad on this one. He leaves the kids with the lady, who it turns out has a past that involves a cult and mass suicide. Strange things begin to occur at the lodge with just the children and Grace.

I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, but I did feel understand how they felt about Grace throughout the film. To them, she was this person who potentially broke up their parent’s marriage and caused their mother to commit suicide. I loved the way they only showed her silhouette in the beginning of the movie instead of having her on-screen. However, looking back, it did seem odd that they introduced her so ominously, only to have her be the focus of the film. I didn’t care too much about Grace throughout the movie either as she wasn’t the warmest to the kids nor did anything happen that made me want to root for her to live. They painted her too much like a villain in the beginning.

My favorite part of the movie is finding out the twist to the movie because I really did not expect it. We’re always used to thinking kids are the victims in horror movies and to a certain extent they were, but they were also to blame for her descent into madness. The “prank” that they pulled was so cruel that it broke her sanity.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, but I think it could have benefitted from some more scares and better performances. It had a lot of potential in the beginning and ended perfectly. Only the 2nd Act needed to have something more to it.

Best,

Frank Chiem