Snowbound cabin-at-the-lake chiller The Lodge, first released in US cinemas back in 2019, is now finding a new, bigger audience and greater critical acclaim in the UK on Netflix. Although it carries the Hammer name, this slow-burn psychological terror offers none of the glorious operatic excesses of that studio’s heyday. It is, however, a completely compelling horror, which blends a disturbing ghost story with the devastating fallout from a family broken by personal tragedy.
Aidan and his young sister Mia are devastated by the suicide of their mother, Laura, following their parents’ separation. Their father, Richard, plans a lakeside Xmas break for the three of them and Grace, his new fiancée and the sole survivor of a doomsday cult. His hopes that this new family will connect over the holiday break are interrupted when he has to return to the city. Left alone together in the wilderness, Grace must try to win over two resentful children who are far from ready to see their mother replaced.
The film is delivered by an excellent small ensemble, but as recovering cult escapee Grace, Riley Keough delivers a standout performance as a woman pushed beyond the edge. The cinematography and sound design are both superb. The claustrophobic cabin interiors and the endless bleakness of the snowy wildernesses outside are both rendered with atmospheric precision. It’s an extraordinarily bleak and deeply unsettling foray into human beings’ reaction to profound loss or abuse – especially when that response loses all moral and mental tethering. The Lodge’s haunting final scene confirms that the filmmakers have no interest in teasing a sequel. With deserved confidence, this salutary tale takes its characters well beyond the point of no return.
THE LODGE is available in the UK now on Netflix
