The Lodge - "We’re stuck in a house together. I didn't mean stuck. I meant we're in a house together."

This was an interesting thriller only for the end to spoil it almost completely. The story is about a couple who are on the brink of divorce, they have a teenage son and a younger kid daughter. In the first 10 minutes, we will already have encountered the first tragic event of the film.

Sometime after that, the father wants his children to get to know her new girlfriend. He plans to spend some Christmas days in a remote lodge deep in the woods, and even riskier, the plan is to leave his kids with his new woman all by themselves for a few days while he does some job back in the city. I don't think a normal parent would ever do something like this in real life, especially if the kids don't like the new person.

If you notice the poster above, the "t' looks like an upside-down cross, giving the impression this is a movie about satanic possessions and all of that stuff. This is not a movie about that, it is not even a horror movie in the first place. It is simply a psychological thriller/suspense movie that does have a religious touch. In the image below we can see the kids investigating something before going to the lodge.

The interesting parts start once the children and the woman begin their stay on their own, without the dad around. I cannot compare this movie with any other I have seen before because it would spoil the twist. It is a very original movie with a bit of a dark touch, what I can say about this part of the movie is that it could easily trick the viewer.

What I didn't like about the ending is because there is a particularly slow reaction from one of the characters that didn't fit the context. There is no explanation for not having reacted faster especially taking into account what was at stake, and that slow reaction conditions the whole ending. It could easily have had a better and even more impactful ending because it would have been more realistic.

An ending similar to the one that can found in the animated movie Perfect Blue would have been better in my opinion. Instead of doing this, the writer decided to try for something even more "crazy" but in my opinion, he screwed the narrative that was well-written up to that point.

If you enjoy a psychological thriller, this is a very good one no doubt about that, and if you see the movie let me know what you think about the slow reaction in that key moment that I just mentioned. I am pretty sure the creators wanted it to be shocking but this isn't the best way to describe this film, although it could have been shocking with different writing. The original idea and setting were very intriguing.

The best

• Enjoyable plot for the most part.

The worst

• I didn't like its ending. I wish it had alternative endings like the movie Get Out.

More information: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/474764-the-lodge
Review: AAA
In numbers: 6.5/10