If you care little about horror films, see this one because it's unlike the garden variety. You may really like its scary emphasis on the normal.
The Lodge
Grade: B +
Directors: Severin Fiala (Goodnight Mommy), Veronika Franz (Kern)
Screenplay: Fiala, franz, Sergio Casci (Katie Morag
Cast: Richard Armitage (Into the Storm), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 48 m
By: John DeSando
If you’re looking for cheap thrills and typical jump-scare tropes, forget The Lodge. It’s just too smart to re-work the tired expectations of horror-thrillers.
The Lodge is as effective a deconstruction of the effects of trauma, in this case Mom Laura’s (Alicia Silverstone) suicide while the 2 kids and dad are in residence. The horrors visited on everyone, including Dad’s new girlfriend, Grace (Riley Keough), are manifestations of the disorienting tragedy, and in Grace’s background, she as a cult survivor with lingering fantasies about redemption through the medium of purgatory. Their stint in the family lodge is pretty much suffering enough.
After Dad Richard (Richard Armitage) leaves the children, Aiden (Jordan Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh), and Grace alone in their snowy Canadian lodge to go five hours into the city, strange things happen, not one from the usual horror arsenal. Typical of this quotidian fare is Grace’s loss of her dog and her meds, either one of which could happen to any of us, and a fall through thin ice, whose figurative importance is obvious.
However, filmmakers Fiala and Franz keep the tension high because we already suspect that the principals have been traumatized for a lifetime by mom’s suicide. The introduction of a gun in the early sequences promises a deadly return of the prop.
Although I don’t exactly know why I’m moved by this underplayed thriller, the effects of extreme trauma and extreme religiosity are there to be enjoyed by horror buffs and fallen-down Catholics, as well as the majority of un-affiliated movie geeks. Think of It Comes at night and the influential Shining if you want to have your mind stimulated and horrified.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JohnDeSando62@gmail.com.
