The Lodge is the latest entry in the trend of horror-dramas, like Hereditary, The Babadook, and It Follows, which are light on jump scares and more concerned with telling a compelling human-story that slowly builds up the tension to a powerful climax. However, unlike its predecessors, I think that The Lodge muddles the story that the horror is built around. The core concept is a solid, classic set-up: a group of characters with conflicting interests are trapped in an isolated place and pushed to the brink of their sanity until all hell breaks loose. But the film failed at sucking me in and getting me invested in the characters, which dulled the impact when the horrific events began happening. The biggest culprit is how the main character of Grace was written. Despite having a compelling backstory, I never felt like I knew what her wants, needs, and weaknesses were, which resulted in her coming off as a lifeless shell who the plot happened to, not because of. I think with stronger and clearer characterization, Grace would have made a very sympathetic protagonist that I wouldn't want bad things to happen to, allowing the horror to be more effective. Additionally, the dialogue in parts felt very clunky and unnatural, possibly stemming from being written by non-English speaking screenwriters. Ultimately, by the end of the movie, my suspension-of-disbelief was completely broken, so no matter how well-executed the horror was, I was disengaged and just waiting for the movie to end. Which is a real shame, because the movie does have some clever and impressive horror sequences that would really hit home if the writing had been on par. My advice would be to wait for this one to become available digitally and to skip it in theaters. It's worth a watch for horror die-hards but not at the full price of a ticket.
