The movie plays out more like a psychological thriller than a horror film, as the horror implied has more to do with Grace Marshall's (Riley Keough) nightmares and the revenge plan concocted by siblings Aiden (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) Hall. That revenge plan butts up against the guilt Grace perceives over the marital breakup between their father (Richard Armitage) and mother (Alicia Silverstone), and the mom's subsequent suicide. I have to say, the scene in which Laura Hall kills herself happened so quickly that one doesn't have time to prepare for it as the viewer. If you wanted to point to a jump scare in the picture, that would probably be the first and only one because it was very effectively done. The nagging question one is forced to focus on was why in the world Richard would have fallen into a relationship with the sole survivor of a suicide cult that left thirty eight people dead. You would have to know that there would remain lingering effects of such a horrific event that it would eventually stain the relationship, and in this case it led to utter destruction. I have my doubts whether a teenage boy and his younger sister could come up with such an elaborate plan as they did to drive their future mom crazy; the phony newspaper story showing they all died due to a faulty gas heater was icing on the cake. Had they known it would have ended in a finale where they had to repent for their sins, I think they might have been more accepting of their father's fiancée.
Review of The Lodge
