I am starting to get the impression that Austrian directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz just don’t like kids. What other reason could you have for following up your 2014 classic, Goodnight Mommy, with the even darker, and more foreboding The Lodge.

The Lodge, like Goodnight Mommy, once again places two children in a terrifying situation that pits them against an intruding adult. In this case, the two children, Aiden (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) are asked by their father to spend a few days alone with their father’s new girlfriend, Grace (Riley Keough), in their mountain cabin before Christmas. To make matters worse, the children discover that their soon-to-be stepmother was also the sole survivor of a religious death cult when she was a girl. Obviously, you know exactly where a set up like this is going…right. Trust me, you don’t.

As emerging auteurs, Fiala and Franz have a particular style that makes their work amongst the most anticipated in the horror community. For one thing, they like to keep audiences guessing about the exact nature of the horror. When watching their films, it’s always difficult to pinpoint whether you are watching something supernatural or a terror that is more human in nature? They also like to create characters whose own actions or inactions result in the deteriorating situation. The hidden message to a Fiala and Franz film seems to be that most tragedies occur because of breakdowns in communicatation, especially between the different generations.

But those familiar with Goodnight Mommy do not have to worry that The Lodge is simply a rehash of Fiala and Franz’s previous film. For one thing, The Lodge is far bleaker. It opens on a horrific note and ends on an even more horrific note. Plus there is all that bad stuff in the middle. If you are looking for a fun horror romp set around the holidays, this is not that film. As a Christmas movie, it spectacularly fails on all levels. The film is suffocating.

The Lodge also intentionally shifts its focus away from the children, choosing to follow the point of view of Grace instead. In doing so, viewers are invited to empathize more with the plight of the adult this time which helps to reform our early perceptions of her as a typical evil step-mother stereotype, even though some of her rash actions seem to fall into that category. Riley Keough deserves a lot of credit for keeping Grace relatable as a character, especially as the world around her seems to implode. Considering all her flaws, Grace is an interesting choice of character to help audience’s interpret events. She is not comfortable with the winter climate and her background makes her anxious of religious paraphernalia, which is something the cottage seems to have in every corner. Grace comes across as trying to do good, even though the snow, those religious items and her past all continuously haunt her.  

Admittedly, The Lodge has been divisive amongst horror fans since its release. Its story is not quite as well executed as Goodnight Mommy, but Goodnight Mommy set an incredibly high bar. (It is one of my favourite movies.) The Lodge also requires a lot of patience to watch, which often turns off traditional horror fans. Still others have bothered by the film’s subversion of religion. But The Lodge is also a film that has struck a nerve with a lot of people who claim it has left a lingering, lasting impression. It is a nasty horror film that mixes religion with nihilism to great effect, ultimately producing a horror experience that has successfully rattled a lot of people on an emotional level. It also makes great use of an unreliable protagonist, which is something we don’t get to see to often in film. I feel it is well worth the watch.

Now, if you got children, go hug them. Then talk to them. But you probably should not watch The Lodge with them.