A movie that manages to tackle the terrifying idea of being trapped in both your mind and physically trapped within the confines of a home, The Lodge is a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire ride. Focusing on Grace (Riley Keough) and her past in a religious cult, the movie leaves her in charge of her fiancé’s children, Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh).
Talking with the directors, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, it is clear that their vision for this movie was all about the tension. Even in the silence, when no one is speaking, there is still that fear there that something is going to happen:
Yeah, I think for us, that’s the most important thing. We like to tell stories visually and cinematically and without words and without many people, so if there wasn’t this tension in the background, I think it would get boring pretty quickly because most people are used to movies where the characters are talking throughout, and if it’s like silent for a second, people are afraid it will be super boring, so we had to fill it with tension and dread underneath.
They went on to talk about how they wanted to make something they would enjoy watching, something that kept them on the edge of their seats:
Actually, you know, we always try to do something and create something that we, ourselves, would like to see in cinemas. So, I think, we like suspense and tension or just an atmosphere of unease, and we like that, so we wanted to create that.
When it comes to the kids and their importance in the movie, it shows just how much work was put into these characters to build that sort of tension.
I also spoke with Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh about their relationship in the movie. First, Martell talked to me about how The Lodge was different from his previous work in the genre with It: Chapter 1:
It’s not exactly a traditional horror film, and there’s no jump scares really. It’s just all very psychological, and it’s a super slow burn, and it definitely effects your mind more than your body. You’re not jumping up and down, but it just has the undertones of creepiness, so it was really interesting to understand these characters and who they were.
One of the most important aspects of the film is the relationship between the kids. So, Lia McHugh talked about building that relationship with Jaeden Martell and how the directors helped them create this dynamic that would aid that terrifying feel in the movie:
We really hit it off right from the start. We had a great time, and the directors really helped us out. They went ice skating with us, and we went rock climbing, and we had a lot of fun together. We did character-building exercises and stuff like that and just spent a lot of time together. I mean … it was really easy, actually.
The Lodge is in theaters now, and honestly? See this twisted tale. It’s worth the scares!
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