The Lodge: Accidentally Timely
The Lodge speaks to our collective exhaustion. As Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) sang in Blazing Saddles: “I’m tired… Tired of playing the game… Ain’t it a crying shame… I’m…so…tired.” The characters in this film are also at their wits’ end.
The world we inhabit is one where many things have been streamlined from their earliest incarnations (why drive yourself to the grocery store when you can use an app to have your list delivered?). But in that rush to simplify, we never asked whether we were losing crucial elements of the human experience – indeed, our connection to humanity as an overarching concept – in the process.
The Lodge is accidentally timely. I made a 45-minute pilgrimage to view it at Lancaster’s Zoetropolis Theatre on March 12, right around the time concern over COVID-19 was accelerating Stateside. It’s the last movie I saw before Governor Wolf mandated a shutdown of all non-essential businesses.
A Disagreeable Tangle
The film is one of isolation, but interweaves other themes (growing pains, the loss of a parent/spouse) into a disagreeable tangle. If most movies favor tidy resolutions, the ending of The Lodge, while chillingly appropriate, resembles a dubious-looking glob of Modern Art (and to clarify, that’s a huge compliment). Co-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz don’t make it easy on the characters, and witnessing their downward spiral – exacerbated by the titular setting during a nasty snowstorm – makes it similarly difficult for the viewer.
So, in addition to our collective exhaustion, The Lodge speaks to a sense of helplessness, especially when humanity is faced with factors beyond its control (natural disasters; COVID-19). And it’s when we’re at our most vulnerable that our own unsettled demons come out to play.
Fiala and Franz’s previous feature, Goodnight Mommy, was a solid exercise in stylish thriller dynamics. I anticipated its ending, but respected it overall. There are similar moments of anticipation in The Lodge, but I didn’t mind all that much. The building of tension is palpable, and where other horror movies pull back to allow the viewer a cathartic exhale, this tips the scale into genuine terror.
Chilling Emphasis
Put simply, The Lodge frightened me in a way few horrors have.
Perhaps it’s the presentation of the disturbing religious-cult upbringing that haunts Grace (Riley Keough); maybe it’s the aloof nature of children Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh), driven by selfish motives because a moral compass has yet to manifest; maybe, still, it’s the utter cluelessness of patriarch Richard (Richard Armitage), who is well-read and financially successful, but oblivious to the suffering of those surrounding him.
The Lodge intertwines its characters in interesting ways. It captures the longing of a perceived “outsider” wanting to be accepted by “normal” society, and how this effort becomes strained under extenuating circumstances. Keough is excellent as the haunted victim being courted by Richard, and her efforts to ingratiate herself to Aidan and Mia are rife with awkward desperation. The children have already resigned themselves to disliking the interloper in their midst, and their icy detachment mirrors the snowbound landscape with chilling emphasis.
Demons at the Door
The Lodge is something of a guessing game, carrying over certain thriller elements that made Goodnight Mommy satisfying (if unspectacular). The difference here lies in the execution and thematic resonance. Fiala and Franz exploit the desperate setting with as much efficiency as Oz Perkins’ similarly masterful The Blackcoat’s Daughter. By not spelling out its psychological underpinnings with arch dialog, they create an ambiguity that’s soul-shaking. The “cult survivor” trope is extremely overused these days, but filtering it through Keough’s fractured POV lends it a highly unsettling power.
In addition to Perkins, the filmmakers evoke the otherworldly interactions found in Yorgos Lanthimos’ filmography. The presence of Alicia Silverstone had me recalling The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which presented a well-off family’s struggle to stay intact within a fantastic scenario. The circumstances here are presented with similar mythological force – the residue of belief can build into something horrifying if the right conditions allow it a foothold.
The use of dioramas – and the plot’s focus on family – seems referential of Ari Aster’s work (Hereditary in particular). But I think there’s a bit of snark underlying this device. Whereas Aster is unable to transfigure his symbolism into something fluid with his themes, Fiala and Franz use this imagery as a bit of foreshadowing…and misdirection.
The Lodge impacted me in unexpected ways. Its notion of villainy shifts throughout, but raises the question of whether any character is acting against their nature. Therefore, are there really any villains here, save for the figurative demons we keep precariously barricaded on the other side of the door?
4.5 out of 5 stars
The Plot Sickens: Don’t miss Jonny Numb’s review of 3 From Hell!
Crash Analysis Support Team
Jonny Numb
Jonny Numb (aka Jonathan Weidler) has been in hibernation since the first goddamn week of winter, but still co-hosts The Last Knock horror podcast with Billy Crash. His writing can also be found at 1428 Elm.
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(The Lodge movie still from Hammer Films.)