The Lodge (UK/USA, 2019)

I’d had The Lodge recommended to me a few times since I took up the October Horror Movie Challenge again in 2020, but it’s taken this long to hit any of the streaming services I subscribe to. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Goodnight Mummy/Ich seh, Ich seh, I did still think it was well made and was keen to see what Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala might do next. Their latest film, The Devil’s Bath, has also popped up on streaming platforms recently, so I may try to squeeze that in as well this month.

The Lodge is currently streaming on Prime Video in the UK.

Synopsis

When their mother dies unexpectedly, Aiden and Mia come into the custody of their father, Richard. Their parents had been separated for a while, and there were tensions over Richard’s new fiancée, Grace. The children find Grace creepy, as she was raised in a cult with a dark history. Everyone else in the cult died by suicide, leaving only Grace behind to tell their tale.

Some months later, Richard suggests they all spend Christmas at their lodge in rural Massachusetts, their first as a new family. He is unable to join them for a few days, due to work commitments, but hopes this will give the children a chance to bond with Grace.

Almost immediately, however, things start going wrong. Grace’s belongings disappear, including her psychiatric medication, and the generator in the lodge dies. A near-death incident with a paraffin heater further stokes everyone’s paranoia. Isolated by heavy snow and without any communications, Grace struggles to keep track of what is real, worrying that her past in the cult is finally catching up with her.

But is Grace really delusional? Is there a supernatural explanation for everything? And just why is she increasingly convinced that they’re all really dead?

General Thoughts

The child actors in The Lodge are remarkable. This film could have fallen apart completely if their performances had been weak, but they carry it perfectly. They balance the line nicely between being traumatised by everything they’ve been through and being absolutely believable brats, constantly making us wonder if they deserve our sympathy.

Mia’s love of dolls provides scene framing and foreshadowing, especially by means of her doll house. There are echoes of Hereditary in the way these scenes are presented. Her attachment to the doll representing her late mother is both poignant and creepy, telling us so much about her character without exposition.

The Lodge is another film where you might want to check the content warnings if you have specific triggers. While it’s not especially graphic, it still punches an awful lot of buttons. There is a particularly shocking scene in the first ten minutes, for example, that I’ve tried to avoid spoiling but may hit some viewers hard.

Verdict

The Lodge is more enjoyable to experience than to think about afterwards. While the big reveal strains credibility past breaking point, that still doesn’t stop the film as a whole being sinister and affecting. Watching Grace struggle with her circumstances and the trauma of her childhood is gripping. We’re never any more sure than she is about what is real. This approach can sometimes be exhausting, but here it works well, keeping us on edge and dreading the next nightmare from her past.

The very ending goes a long way towards making up for the improbability of what brought us to that point. It is bleak, as much tragedy as horror. Riley Keogh’s vulnerable performance as Grace turns what would be just another spiral into delusion into something far more painful. We feel for her predicament, and that of the children in her care, even as we wonder how much she might be responsible for it.

The flashbacks to Grace’s childhood in the cult also stop The Lodge from feeling generic. While none of the elements here are particularly novel, their combination is a fresh one. More importantly, they are used well, creating a growing sense of unease and dread. The pacing is languid at first, and barring a shocking moment in the first ten minutes, I did find myself wondering when the horror would begin. When it arrives, however, it escalates quickly.

I can’t see The Lodge making my top three this year, but it is a solid, creepy horror film. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoy atmosphere over plausibility.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

Heretic (USA, 2024)
The Sadness (Taiwan, 2021)
The Uninvited (USA, 1944)
The Lodge (UK/USA, 2019)
WolfCop (Canada, 2014)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czechoslovakia, 1970)
The Monkey (USA, 2025)
Sister Midnight (India/UK, 2024)
Roadgames (Australia, 1981)
Nightmare City (Italy, 1985)
Dangerous Animals (Australia, 2025)
Dead Talents Society (Taiwan, 2024)
Winterbeast (USA, 1992)
Byzantium (UK/Ireland, 2013)
The Ugly Stepsister (Norway, 2025)
A Page of Madness (Japan, 1926)
Heart Eyes (USA, 2025)
Grafted (New Zealand, 2024)
Arrebato (Spain, 1979)
Hatching (Finland, 2022)
Abigail (USA, 2024)
Ganja & Hess (USA, 1973)
The Devil’s Bath (Austria, 2025)
Pieces (Spain, 1982)
Infested (France, 2023)
Best Wishes to All (Japan, 2022)
A Cat in the Brain (Italy, 1990)
Enys Men (UK, 2022)
Creature From the Black Lagoon (USA, 1954)
Perewangan (Indonesia, 2024)
Bring Her Back (Australia, 2025)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.