The Lodge 2019

This one sorta falls under the Christmas horror blanket. What I'm about to say isn't so much a spoiler as it is the primary setup for the movie, but it begins with a family on the verge of a divorce. The wife is very upset about it, and then I started thinking, "Hey, I recognize that lady... it's Alicia Silverstone! I didn't know she was-" ... and then she blows her brains out. 😲 Wow! Okay then...

So our family's father has his two kids head out to "The Lodge" for Christmas to spend time getting acquainted with his new girlfriend. The one that he was cheating on the mom. Talk about uncomfortable, but she seems nice enough, played by Riley Keough. Her character has a briefly touched upon and bizarre backstory, and the kids don't want to give her a chance. For some reason I don't remember, dad ends up leaving them alone with her over the course of the movie, and things quickly take a turn for the worse, with bad weather keeping them stuck in a bad situation.

It's a slow-burn story about madness, repenting, and purgatory. I tend to like these bleak and artsy horror flicks so long as they have the balls to throw in some violent bits. It's borderline pretentious, but everyone puts in a decent effort and you want to know wtf happens in the end. But in that regard, the ending may seem a bit inconclusive. Not a groundbreaking mainstream horror movie, but it doesn't need to be. It's one of those character pieces focused on mood and made with what I can only assume is a lower budget. Nothing extravagant, but that's a good thing.

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