The Lodge (2020)
There are spoilers — even for Goodnight Mommy. Go see both.
Expectations
I went into this movie with a lot of anticipation. The directors, Franz and Fiala, gave us Goodnight Mommy, a quality film in this sub-genre of horror. They have mastered the slow-burn, dreadful feeling (honoring my favorite horror director, Alfred Hitchcock, but taking it up a notch in the psychological horror sub-genre). Ari Aster definitely brought in a lot of non-horror people into horror this way in the past few years, so I imagine we’ll see more of the same in the next decade.
Reality
I absolutely enjoyed this movie. From beginning to end, you’re thinking “wow I loved that shot/sound/etc.” It was not without fault, but overall: a solid film. And, with a hat-tip to The Thing, you gotta love it. I feel strongly that if I were to watch it again, I’d pick up on much more.
There was one aspect of the audio I did not enjoy but I have to admit I feel it was intentional. When the mom is walking around in her place or the fathers, the sound of the floor creaking with every step felt very film-student-ish. It was either an oversight or intentionally there to make us uncomfortable. I’m going to pretend it was on purpose! ;-)
I also never felt bad for the kids. That probably says more about me than the writing? But I just did not feel bad for the little brats that caused their fathers fiancé to have a psychotic break. The son was internet savvy and the plan was so meticulous it was hard to think, “oh they’re just kids there’s no way they would have known.” He knew the repercussions, and his sister let that poor little dog out. Do Franz and Fiala hate kids? They’re so good at writing evil children!
Aside from those little things, there were so many other things I loved:
The extremely loud organs.
The cult audio.
The fake cult “flashbacks.”
The flashlight lighting.
The nightmares. The nightmares!!
All perfect for a cabin fever psychological horror.
The Lodge was Goodnight Mommy with a splash of The Shining. Go see it.
