The Lodge

This film was pretty amazing cautionary tale of messing with the wrong person. I can't believe so many bad reviews? I find that younger viewers don't enjoy horror films that make you feel dread or build dark sense of mood. To do that In a film takes time to get to know characters and developing a story. It's definitely not for anyone with a short attention span that needs a jump scare every 5 mins to keep your attention. I feel films like The Lodge and Midsommar are the new school of horror films that keep you thinking long after the credits roll. It's a style that's definitely not for everyone. In a way these horror films are all grown up and not like anything else out there. It's about time horror went in a new direction.

I attended the east coast premiere of "The Lodge" a few weeks ago and can say it will most likely be 2020's most polarizing and divisive horror release.

If you've seen Franz & Fiala's last film, "Goodnight Mommy," you'll have an idea of what to expect in terms of tone and themes. The cinematography is breathtaking, and Riley Keough's performance is unbelievable. Like "Mommy" the central characters are two siblings who are up against some sort of unknown/unstable maternal presence while existing in isolation. Instead of a vast, lonely European farm, "The Lodge" features exactly what the title suggests -- a mountain lodge in the middle of nowhere. It's so well done that you can almost feel the icy frost in the theater as the film progresses.

Franz & Fiala take a lot of cues from Ari Aster, ESPECIALLY "Midsommar," in depicting sudden tragedy and brutal, existential grief that consistently drips off the screen. Additionally, there are underlying themes of mental illness and psychosis that are done really well and tactfully -- although I might add it may not seem so at first. Sorry if that's cryptic, I just don't want to give any spoilers. The ending will knock you on your ass. I couldn't move after the screening, I was frozen for half the credit roll, and couldn't stop thinking about it for days.

I highly recommend "The Lodge" for fans of Aster's work, or if you liked "Goodnight Mommy" and want more of the same slow-burn insanity.

I'll get the major cons out of the way first. This movie suffers from the usual problem Hollywood film always seem to have -- no money to afford electricity. Most of the movie is shot entirely in the dark, so goodness knows what happened in those scenes. Also, one or two key bits of dialogue that explain what's really happening are totally lost to mumbling.

However, overall, this film really did improve on second watching. Once you know what the story is, you spot all sorts of little bits of detail that make the whole thing make sense. But more than this, my empathy with Grace, the protagonist and victim, grew exponentially during this second watch. She comes over as an almost wholly sympathetic character. Little things like the carefully wrapped presents she brings and hides make her rather loveable. Her love for her dog and what he represents to her is very moving. She's a very damaged person, but unfortunately for her, she gets entangled with other very damaged people and hell hath no wrath like grieving children.

There's only one jump scare in this movie, but it's a good one. The rest of the film is a more slow psychological horror about the power of grief and early childhood trauma. And human fragility.

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes their horror thought-provoking and real rather than shock-horror jump scares. This clearly borrows from Hereditary: almost shamelessly copies much of the atmostphere of that film with the dark house, the dolls' house, the cult, the dolls, the camera work inside the dolls' house distorting our perceptions.

Pretty good movie with strong performances all round.

It is meant to be a suspenseful horror film, but the story turns out not scary In fact, the story makes me really angry. It is very cruel, and I have no sympathy for the people who have caused this pain.

I've given this a six because we were both effectively creeped out and very impressed with cinematography and the film's immediacy for the front half. The key plot point of why the Dad left his kids in the situation he did wasn't credible but I was willing to go with the premise...up to a point.

I lost confidence in the film's direction when the "mystery" began to be explained. It felt as though the writers decided there HAD to be a violent resolution to the story (and somewhat of a nod to the morbid religiosity that had been pointed to.)

We were a little disgusted with a pat ending after such early promise of something different. I also get tired of films where someone takes it out on an innocent animal to create fear and foreshadow things are going to get really bad for the humans.