The lodge
Year of release : 2019
Run time : 1h49min
Genre : Horror / Psychological Thriller / Mystery
Cast : Riley Keough, Alicia Silverstone, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh
A mother is taking her two kids,boy and girl, to their father's place,as they are separated. There, the father tells the mother he is gonna move forward with the divorce,as he wants to marry his mistress.
Once home, the mother k!lls herself.
The children move in with their father, and the little girl is crying because their mother,believing in God, can't go to heaven due to the fact she k!lled herself.
The father tells the kids he wants them all to spend Christmas at the lodge,where they spent Christmas each year,with their mother,but this time with his mistress. He tells them, as they protest, that he is going to marry her,and their opinion doesn't matter.
The kids agree to spend the few days before Christmas in this secluded place,only with the mistress,as the father has to work. Pay attention to what the boy puts in his bags, those are clues to what is happening.
The kids research the mistress, and find out she is the daughter of a cult leader who brainwashed his followers into committing mass suicide,Grace being the sole survivor. The irony is, the father researched her for his book.
The kids are cold to the mistress, and once alone, the very next day, they wake up without any food or electricity,their belongings gone,and the boy says he had a dream in which they all died.
Grace tries to find a way to get help( she has nightmares about finding the dead cult members,and while having them she sleepwalks,so she needs her pills),as their phones died, and the nearest town or house is miles away. It's winter, and it's cold,snowing all the time.
The characters,because of their actions,aren't likeable,but we get to care for them in their moment of need.
Also,the kids have this mock-up house,a perfect replica of the lodge, and once again,if you pay attention, you realize what's going on.
The mistress doesn't appear until after 20 minutes of the movie,and until then, she is introduced very subtle, through frosted glass,phone conversations,etc..
About the sin and repent theme : they are all,sinners - the father,for cheating and leaving his wife for another woman, the wife for killing herself, the mistress for destroying a marriage,the kids SPOILERS for playing the sick game on Grace. They are all guilty and were all punished in one way or the other.
The actors were all great, especially Riley Keough, who is playing a woman who slowly descends into madness.
The music is beautiful,eerie and haunting.
The lodge is dark and seems haunted. There's this scary icon of the Virgin Mary,I think,that Grace keeps on taking off the wall,and puts back up.
The movie is streaming on Kanopy, Hulu, and is for rent or sale on Amazon, Apple, Google, Directv, Microsoft, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube.
Rating : It's so money !