You’ll want nothing so much as a woolly sweater when you see “The Lodge,” a film so wintry in tone and setting that no movie-theater thermostat will banish its chill. Even so, the directors, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (the Austrian pair who made “Goodnight Mommy” in 2015), have coaxed only a disappointingly timorous horrorscape from that marvelously glacial mood.
There’s no denying their competence — they have style to burn — and their cinematographer, Thimios Bakatakis, is a wonder at painting dark and dread-filled interiors and ominously snow-blanketed surroundings. Both distinguish the titular remote lodge where Richard (Richard Armitage) has dumped his two children, Aiden (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh), a few days before Christmas. While Richard, a successful nonfiction author, works in town, his recently traumatized kids must get to know their soon-to-be stepmother, Grace (Riley Keough) — who just happens to be the sole, pill-popping survivor of a religious cult that committed mass suicide.
More unsettling than terrifying, the story (by the directors and Sergio Casci) builds to a leisurely, irresolute and unsatisfying climax. As a snowstorm hems them in, the children watch Grace with unconcealed suspicion. Aiden, the older of the two, knows her history from reading one of his father’s books; but though Grace may be fraying from gruesome flashbacks and hideous dreams, it’s Aiden who’s by far the creepier.
Despite its visual flair and unrelentingly taut atmosphere, “The Lodge” is more successful in sustaining unease — like the eerie, unexplained shots of a spooky dollhouse — than in building a convincing narrative. Ultimately, its message seems to be: Just because you’re bonkers doesn’t mean the specters of your past aren’t out to get you.
The Lodge
Rated R for guns, ghosts and a little nudity. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
