The Lodge

Ultimately, the chilling new horror/thriller "The Lodge" is uncompromising story about trauma, and how people react to it in startlingly different ways. Whether this is your cup of tea or not is up to you, but the filmmaking here is meticulously crafted, which makes it a compelling watch.

From the directors of the French import "Goodnight Mommy" (Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz), "The Lodge" opens with shots of a cold, creaky lodge that we quickly discover is an elaborate dollhouse owned by a little girl named Mia (Lia McHugh). Her mom Laura (Alicia Silverstone) gathers Mia and her older brother Aidan (Jaeden Martell "It") and takes them to their father's apartment for the weekend. Dad Richard (Richard Armitage) has a younger girlfriend Grace (Riley Keough, no stranger to uncomfortable horror films, having been in "It Comes at Night" and "The House that Jack Built"). Richard plans on marrying Grace – once he can convince Laura to sign the divorce papers. This news doesn't please Laura, and soon tragedy strikes.

Six months later Aidan and Mia are told that their father is marrying Grace and the two kids aren't thrilled. When they are forced to spend Christmas with her in the family's isolated lodge on a lake, they would rather die; especially when their father has to work and won't be able to really join them until Christmas Day. The kids, meanwhile, have discovered some uncomfortable truths about Grace that put them on edge and alter their trust of the woman who will be taking care of them. Alone. In a cabin. During a snowstorm.

The less you know going into "The Lodge" the better, as the directors and co-writer Sergio Casci keep things vague and unsettling. Events begin to occur that are unnerving, and as an audience you start to not know who or what to believe. This is a slow burn, and the filmmakers are incredibly effective at keeping your eyes peeled to the screen looking for clues and things unnoticed in the shadows.

Keough (Lisa Presley and Danny Keough's daughter) really proves her mettle here in a powerful and complicated performance that keeps you on edge. Both child actors are also excellent, never slipping into "kid actor" shenanigans and allowing us to feel their overwhelming sadness and confusion at losing their mother and having to deal with her "replacement." The trio take center stage as this is essentially a three-character chamber drama and they all act the hell out of it.

As the film progresses, there are moments of repetition and it ultimately ends up so heartbreakingly sad and disturbing some audience members will be turned off. A happy movie this is not. But it's the journey there and the psychological underpinnings of the characters that keep us engaged. Movies don't always have to entertain us with sledge-hammer horror movie startles or obvious machinations bent on twisting us into a frenzy. This does it internally – with allegiances that we find ourselves shifting between. Who's the villain here? Is there a villain? And when good people do bad things, can we understand the events that led them there – and forgive them?

As stated, this is a film about trauma and the horror that it can snake like a virus throughout the lives of those involved. For Richard, he throws himself into his work to avoid the guilt for leaving his wife and wanting to be happy in a new relationship. The kids have to deal with losing a mother and then wanting to place blame. As for Grace, she has a traumatic history of her own; and while she tries to keep her own demons at bay, she can't control those around her, even when their behavior threatens to awaken those demons.

This is a fascinating ,meditative film that gets under your skin. The production design and deft directing show masterful craft that reminds one of Ari Aster's "Hereditary," but actually makes that film seem slightly silly in comparison. But it is a film that adds to the new wave of serious, moody horror like "The Babadook," "The VVitch," "It Comes at Night," and "Midsommar." For fans of those films, they will find much to appreciate here. For those looking for something a bit more crowd-pleasing, they will probably want to avoid staying at "The Lodge."