HEAT VISION
How 'The Lodge' Dismantles Gender and Mental Illness Tropes
FEBRUARY 08, 2020 9:00AM by Kristen Lopez
The horror film is all about the ways women negate their own feelings in order to be considered pretty, suitable and normal.
'The Lodge' | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
The horror film is all about the ways women negate their own feelings in order to be considered pretty, suitable and normal.
[This story contains spoilers for The Lodge]

Directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s The Lodge is about mood, though not strictly relegated to cinematic atmosphere. The story of a woman (Riley Keogh) tasked with caring for her new boyfriend’s two children in a remote mountain lodge is all about the ways women negate their own feelings in order to be considered pretty, suitable, normal. Fiala and Franz tell a story about women’s mental health, wrapped up in an examination of religion, relationships, and motherhood that asks, at its heart, how far a woman will go to be seen as “normal.”



Depression hangs around the fringes of The Lodge from its first scene as we meet Laura (Alicia Silverstone). She stands in front of a mirror in her bathroom, looking upset and trying to keep her emotions in check as she prepares to drive her children, Aiden (Jaeden Martell) Mia (Lia McHugh) to visit their father. As she drives, she looks in the mirror, applying lipstick. Despite her estrangement from her ex, Richard (Richard Armitage), she wants to look attractive to him. Unfortunately, the reunion quickly turns sour as Laura discovers that Richard is going to marry Grace (Keogh), the woman he left Laura for. Richard looks for confirmation from Laura that she's accepting of this new situation, that she’s OK. Laura quickly flashes a smile, and then walks away.

Reminiscent of Gone Girl’s “cool girl” speech, The Lodge examines women’s own feelings of being labeled crazy. Throughout history, craziness and hysteria have been associated with women and to undo that stereotype women are willing to hide whatever they have to, even mental illness. Laura’s heart is broken, her already fragile mental state completely fractured, yet she still wants to present to her husband that she is the kind, obedient wife, giving him a smile and the facade that she’s accepting. Though Richard isn’t unkind in his revelation to Laura, he doesn’t give her feelings any consideration, openly lying to her about Grace not being in the house when Laura sees, later, that she is. Richard’s lies are effortless and simple; Laura has to sublimate her entire emotional core, despite knowing that she no longer has to. Laura eventually settles on killing herself. Her motivations are unclear, though it could be because she sees her inability to save her marriage as the ultimate failure.

Laura’s death transitions the story towards its other female protagonist, Grace comes into the film as a shape to bounce perceptions off of. Her back, walking away, is the audience's and Laura’s first introduction to her, while Aiden and Mia see her obscured by windows. The lone survivor of a suicidal religious cult, Grace is perceived as a prophet by her father’s religion, a “psychopath” by Laura (and, by proxy, Aiden and Mia), and as a fascinating character study by Richard, who wrote about her and the cult in one of his books. Grace is a totem for everyone else’s feelings with no one noticing, or caring, about her own. When Aiden and Mia finally meet her, as she turns toward them to say hello, she is a quiet, meek woman; her dog, Grady, the only one who understands her.

But like Laura, Grace also hides her own issues. She’s seen taking pills and while it’s unclear what they are for, it’s evident she both needs them and feels the need to hide them from Richard. The two women share a commonality in that they believe that Richard cannot, or will not, like them if they are dealing with their own struggles; that if he were to realize they weren’t perfect, the relationship would end. As Richard tells the kids, Grace wants to spend time with them while he is at work and the audience is unclear whether this is true or not. Grace certainly wants the kids to like her, particularly Aiden, because they will all be a family in the near future. But there’s also an element of testing, that Grace wants Richard to see she can handle children. Again, she hides her own feelings about kids like she hides the pills that allow her to cope.

Once Richard leaves, the film takes on an environment mimicking Grace’s mental state. The lodge feels confining, with its ceilings always shown. The blustery weather outside gives off a depressing vibe to complement Grace's state of mind. Grace, already struggling to deal with the children in her care, also finds herself drawn to Laura’s religious paraphernalia left inside the house. Not even the lodge itself allows Grace to be an individual, as Richard saw no problem with leaving photos of him and his wife, as well as other reminders of her inside.

Various religious objects conjure up images of Grace's past relationship with her father and the cult she grew up in. When her pills and personal belongings disappear in the night, along with everything else in the house, Grace is left to ponder what’s happening. Is Laura’s ghost asserting dominance over her last sanctuary and her children? Is Grace being persecuted for losing faith? Or, in the grand tradition of female narratives, is Grace simply going crazy?

By the film’s conclusion these questions are open to interpretation. It’s easy to think Grace has been driven mad by Aiden and Mia’s “joke,” having her believe they died and are stuck in purgatory. Or maybe Grace has finally become the prophet her father foresaw her to be, spreading his word again and getting right what she failed to do the first time. Or maybe Grace finally lets the facade of being OK drop and is being her authentic self. Her adherence to religion overtakes her. She uses it to situate herself as the woman she wants to be. Whether it is right or wrong is up to the audiences’ interpretation, but The Lodge questions how far a woman must be pushed before she finally unleashes what’s always been inside her.

‘The Lodge’: A snowy, scary horror movie with strong acting and a stylish look

A woman is stuck in an isolated cabin with her boyfriend’s kids — what could go wrong?

By Richard Roeper Feb 19, 2020, 4:36pm CST


We often talk about the mothers in horror movies and all the bad decisions they make, e.g., not ushering the kids and the dog out the door at the first sign their new fixer-upper home in the remote woods is haunted as hell, or navigating creaky steps to explore the mysterious sounds coming from the cellar and/or the attic when the logical move would be to RUN THE OTHER WAY.

Fine, but what about horror movie dads? They’re the worst! So many times, they’ve either rudely died before the film even starts, or they’re so consumed with work or the new trophy wife, they’re completely useless.


Richard Armitage’s Richard is the dad in the stylish and haunting and unnerving “The Lodge,” and he’s such a clueless, tone-deaf lout, this Richard wanted to reach right into the movie and shake some sense into that Richard.

But I suppose we should thank Richard, because his terrible decisions and horrible sense of timing set the table for this increasingly chilling gem from directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (“Goodnight Mommy”).

Without Richard’s stupidity, we wouldn’t get such a smart movie.

Richard is an investigative journalist who writes a book about a radical separatist religious cult, whose leader and 38 of his followers committed mass suicide. The only survivor was the cult leader’s then 12-year-old daughter, Grace, who videotaped the horrific aftermath, and is (understandably) still dealing with PTSD many years later.

Being an idiot, Richard falls in love with Grace (Riley Keough), who is now a young woman. He tells his estranged wife Laura (Alicia Silverstone) he wants to finalize their divorce so he can marry Grace.

Cut to six months later. Richard’s children — teenager Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and preschooler Mia (Lia McHugh) — have steadfastly resisted their father’s efforts to get them to spend time with Grace, but now they don’t have a choice. The four of them are headed to a remote and spacious family lodge tucked away deep in the snowy mountains to spend the holidays together, and that’s that.

“The Lodge” is filled with beautifully executed shots, as when Grace is first seen as a blurry figure viewed by the children through a frost-covered car window, like some ominous entity. (Later, the POV is reversed, and Grace is the one trying to figure out what’s going on behind frosty glass, and I’ll say no more about that scenario.)

Even before we get to the hideaway, there are strong signs this is going to be a disastrous outing. Little Mia has a weird obsession with a doll that looks like her mom. Grace’s prescription bottles are practically jumping out of her bag. Aiden is surgically attached to his headphones and his snarl. Richard is … oblivious.

After an ice-skating adventure gone spectacularly wrong, Richard has to head back for a few days, to do some work. He commandeers the only vehicle, leaving his fiancée and his two children to fend for themselves as the snow drifts pile up outside the lodge.

RICHARD! You’re a book author guy. What kind of work would demand your presence on Christmas, just as you’ve finally arranged for your cult-daughter fiancée and your deeply resentful children to spend some quality time together?

Oh well. Good riddance. Once Richard is out of the picture, “The Lodge” kicks into another gear.

Grace is plagued by nightmares and flashbacks, and at times she seems unhinged and dangerous, but in her moments of lucidity, she comes across as warm and sincere as she attempts to connect with Richard’s kids by offering to make Aiden a sandwich or encouraging Mia to bond with her dog.

As for Aiden and Mia: The sibling bond between these innocents has given them the strength to get through some unimaginably rough times, and now they might be facing the most challenging obstacle yet — or are they in reality a pair of little monsters, manipulating events and seriously effing with the vulnerable Grace to their own end?

Directors Franz and Fiala (along with their scriptwriting partner Sergio Casci) drop in a tribute to John Carpenter’s “The Thing” and appear to be fans of the aforementioned “The Shining” and “The Others,” among other horror classics, judging by certain plot elements and visual references. (The dollhouse diorama stuff has parallels to “Hereditary,” but “The Lodge” was actually in production prior to the 2018 release of that supernatural horror classic.) This is a scary movie that loves other scary movies.

Riley Keough’s performance as Grace is everything to this film. For much of the story arc, we’re not sure if Grace is the devil, or an angel, or something in between.

Keough’s work is so strong, so effective, that by the time we learn the ultimate fate of Grace, we would have bought into any of the possible options.


‘The Lodge’: 3.5 out of 4

Neon presents a film directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala and written by Franz, Fiala and Sergio Casci. Rated R (for disturbing violence, some bloody images, language and brief nudity). Running time: 108 minutes. Opens Thursday at local theaters.

The Ice Cold Horror of ‘The Lodge’

by Greg Carlson | Contact | Cinema | February 26th, 2020

“Goodnight Mommy” filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala continue to carve up chills, thrills, and nightmares in “The Lodge,” a Sundance 2019 favorite finally receiving the theatrical release it rightfully deserves. With an unrelentingly oppressive atmosphere in the claustrophobically framed location of the title, “The Lodge” is perfect slow-burn arthouse horror that never cheats and always rewards the patience and intelligence of the viewer. Accordingly, jump scares are mostly banished in favor of a psychological head trip that hides the dread in plain sight and lingers long after the lights come up. The less one knows about the film the better, and woe to the many reviewers who have already revealed too much.

Like Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” “The Lodge” explores familiar experiences of trauma through the lens of horror. In this case, the particular facet of grief is a painful divorce that unravels the children of Richard (Richard Armitage), a journalist who has, perhaps inadvisably, fallen in love with his subject Grace (Riley Keough), the sole survivor of a fanatic doomsday cult’s mass suicide. With that bloody red flag firmly planted, Richard’s kids Aiden (Jaeden Lieberher) and Mia (Lia McHugh) understandably want absolutely nothing to do with the strange intruder threatening to replace their mom Laura (Alicia Silverstone, making every moment count).

In a set-up worthy of Shirley Jackson or Rod Serling, a planned Christmas holiday at a remote cabin trades comfort for panic when Richard leaves Grace alone with the children for a few days. With all the necessary two-way animosities well-established, it is only a matter of time before the past comes calling on the present. The carefully constructed back-and-forth fuels the core of “The Lodge,” and Franz and Fiala improve on the themes they established in “Goodnight Mommy” by manipulating audience sympathies between the children and their stepmother-to-be, who take turns as antagonist and protagonist in seesaw balance.

The straightforward brilliance of the movie’s premise allows two equally plausible explanations for the unsettling occurrences unfolding before our eyes. The scenarios compete for logical primacy in the viewer’s mind. Grace’s sinister past, rendered via indications that she must work very hard to function with a degree of self-control and a sense of safety, provide her with a motivation equivalent to the expression of anger and frustration expressed by Aiden and Mia. All the performances are true, but Keough is especially riveting.

Franz and Fiala beautifully capture the film’s locations. Interiors are a set of rooms so deceptively simple that the prowling camera is all it takes for us to begin projecting our own visions on the chilly spaces. Winter’s icy presence can be felt outside as well as inside, and in both realms the compositions arrestingly juxtapose the long shot with the close-up, disorienting us in parallel to the mounting anxiety. “The Lodge” has already drawn comparisons to “The Shining,” which does share a preoccupation with eroding mental health via the metaphor of isolation and cabin fever. But Franz and Fiala scale down Kubrick’s more expansive vision, and the result offers its own kind of skin-crawling satisfaction.