Editorials
‘The Lodge’ is a Dark and Guilt-Ridden Christmas Story [Formative Fears]
Formative Fears is a column that explores how horror scared us from an early age, or how the genre contextualizes youthful phobias and trauma. From memories of things that went bump in the night, to adolescent anxieties made real through the use of monsters and mayhem, this series expresses what it felt like to be a frightened child – and what still scares us well into adulthood.
The events of The Lodge have stayed with me since my first viewing. I remember my gasps becoming more and more audible as terrible things continued happening on screen, and by the end of the movie, I was absolutely drained. There is a lot to unwrap and examine when considering something like The Lodge – not everyone will connect with the cheerless script written by Sergio Casci and later revised by directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. And any chance of surface entertainment is impossible because the story sees no joy nor does it show a modicum of kindness towards its characters and their plight. After watching, viewers will hurry to shake off the movie’s misery and question what exactly was the purpose of it all. From my standpoint, though, the tragedy that befell the Hall family cuts to the heart so deeply, making me think of my own harmful history with self-blame.
The family at the core of The Lodge is carrying on with life as best they can after suffering a horrible loss; Richard Hall’s (Richard Armitage) son and daughter are still mourning their mother’s passing six months later. This year’s Christmas doesn’t feel worth celebrating, but the patriarch has already planned a winter getaway for him, his children, and his new love, Grace (Riley Keough). There’s some understandable pushback and the tension is obvious, but the father doesn’t give Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) much of a choice. Once at the family lodge, Richard leaves for a work obligation; he entrusts his kids in Grace’s care so they can get to know her better. It’s going as well as can be expected until they all wake up to a cold and empty house — everyone’s belongings, the food, Grace’s dog, and the decorations are all gone. The situation becomes even more dire when everyone questions whether or not something unearthly is behind all of this.
We tend to think there’s something wrong with us if we’re not happy around the holidays. In a season of inescapable mirth, you’re at risk of being labeled a “scrooge” if you feel anything but merry at Christmas. Yet for the Hall children, their despondency is justified. Mia fears her mother won’t make it into Heaven, and Aidan looks after his sister so much, he might be neglecting his own needs. While it is sad, this is all customary given the state of things. What isn’t normal is the father feigning cheer when there isn’t any for anyone other than himself; he’s resigned from feeling too upset about Laura’s (Alicia Silverstone) death because he moved on before their divorce was ever finalized.
Richard essentially imprisoning his children in a remote, snowbound house with Grace is what triggers the horrifying events to come. The vacation is not easy for Keough’s character either since the abundance of religious iconography in the lodge stirs up painful memories of her severe upbringing. In fact, that’s how she and Richard met — he was studying the extremist Christian cult that Grace once belonged to before the other members died from mass suicide. Although the children don’t hide their hostility towards her, Grace makes an effort; she wants to be there for them at such a sensitive time in their lives.
Grace is eventually left on her own to care for Aidan and Mia as if her maternal skills are being put to the test. She seems to be making progress with them when she wakes up to find all of her stuff gone — including her medication. The children, who claim they’re not playing a prank, insinuate there’s a greater force at work here. Grace soon succumbs to withdrawal symptoms and paranoia; she worries everything happening is divine retribution for her “sins.” This is where the movie takes an irrevocably dark turn that wasn’t in the original script; Franz and Fiala reach a point of no return. The crushing trauma Grace harbors inside of her starts to manifest as acts of self-harm, and in spite of what she’s told, she sincerely believes everything is her fault and only she can set things right. How exactly she does that is where The Lodge earns its divisive reactions.
Having grown up around shame, I identify with someone like Grace. Whether it was my physical appearance or my inability to smile through my depression, the people in my life were always sure to tell me what I was doing wrong rather than what I was doing right. While I didn’t have the obstacle of religion to contend with like Grace, I still felt secondhand guilt when I began to question my own identity at a later age. As with Grace, I temporarily escaped what ailed me; this was as close to normal as I had ever felt. Grace is ultimately pulled back into that darkness, and there’s no chance of retreating this time. She viscerally remembers the judgment that painted her childhood, and just as she was taught, Grace suspects she’s to blame for all that’s gone wrong. We know she’s been tricked into this mindset, but it’s difficult to undo that kind of learned self-condemnation.
Where Grace and I do differ is important. For she is certain she’s getting what she deserves, but I’m slowly accepting that I didn’t cause my family’s problems like I was led to believe; others are responsible for their own actions. Grace, unfortunately, is so arrested by her father’s harmful teachings and false truths that she can’t help but revert to that way of thinking when everything turns upside down. Putting the blame on herself is easier than Grace admitting her father is toxic and that the way she was raised is not right.
The Lodge is an agonizing and upsetting Christmas movie that people will have trouble watching, much less revisiting. Even so, we can at least acknowledge dark Christmas stories are as important as the feel-good ones. Particularly horror movies that have a strong grasp of the indifference and alienation that so many people feel around this unusual time of year.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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