Alexander Hancock

• Columnist: tess mcgeer
• Bio: like if jo march grew up to write lesbian pulp fiction
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The lodge at deadwood. Majority of the film I really enjoyed. But then it just became really stupid. It made no sense whatsoever! What the kids did to that poor woman was shocking! Basically it's a film where two kids push a woman into a psychotic break. That's not scary, it's annoying. I was happy with the very end. I cared more about the woman than the children. Which I really don't think was intended. And if it was, why. The lodge at vail. This was a film that was on my radar from early in the year. I knew that it was doing well at film festivals so it was one that I was waiting to get released. I lucked out when I saw that at the Nightmares Film Festival it was showing for its regional premiere. It was one that I knew I was going to see for sure. The synopsis is a soon-to-be stepmom is snowed in with her fiancé's two children at a remote holiday cabin. Just as relations begin to thaw between the trio, some strange and frightening events takes place. We start with a mother, Laura (Alicia Silverstone) at home with her two children. Her older son is Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and daughter Mia (Lia McHugh. She has a dollhouse which we learn is modeled after the cabin that they go during the winter. Laura calls her ex-husband, Richard (Richard Armitage) to bring the children over. She's making sure that his new girlfriend won't be there. She was told that Grace (Riley Keough) wouldn't be, but we see a glimpse of her in a window and then Laura sees her sneaking out the back gate. Through some subtle things, we know that Laura wants to get back together with Richard and is devastated to learn that he plays to ask Grace to marry him. This leads to a traumatic event that rocks this family to the core. Richard tries to get his children to come around to Grace, but they blame her for what happened. Through them snooping, we learn that Grace has a dark past as her father was the head of a cult and she is the only survivor. Richard tries to have her over for Thanksgiving, but the children lose their minds so he rethinks it. This all leads to his plan for them to go up to the cabin for Christmas. He still has to work so his plan is to take them up, get them acclimated and then go back, forcing the three to work it out in isolation. There's definitely some awkwardness as Laura decorated the place and there's still things that belonged to her there. They do seem to be making progress until one morning, they wake up to everything they brought is now missing. Now since this is still a film that hasn't been released just yet and still making the rounds, I wanted to give as much a recap without spoiling anything. I will say that this film definitely lived up to the hype for me. It is such a haunting tale that has a feel of something like Hereditary or Midsommar. There's an interesting family dynamics here. We have children who are living in broken homes after their parents divorced. They want them to get back together, which is exactly what Laura wants as well. Richard has moved on though. Grace is interesting as I feel like she's a little bit awkward due to her past. Being raised in a cult, she has lasting effects from it. That's what I really want to delve into next is the religious aspect here. The cult Grace was in was religious based. They took it to the extreme. When they get to the cabin, there's a creepy picture of a nun that looks stern as well as a giant cross. Grace is now at the least agnostic due to the trauma. As she descends into madness, her religious history flares up, which I find quite intriguing. This film also flirts with is what happening supernatural or is it really happening. I really dug this mystery if I'm going to be perfectly honest. The morning they wake up and everything was before they got there freaked me out. Then every time Grace looks at a certain clock that shows the date, it keeps going back to the same one. This is unnerving and makes her start to think they could have died and are in purgatory. Now this is I guess is a bit of spoiler, but there's a journey to figure out the truth. That takes me to the pacing of this one, which the runtime clocks in at 100 minutes. I heard the saying that 90 minutes and below are free, anything over that you really have to prove to me it needs to be there. I completely think this film needed that extra time. There was a couple times my jaw actually dropped in shock. I was sucked into this film and trying to figure out what happened. There were things I even missed that were shared with me later that made me like this one even more. With that said, I thought it was paced very well and I like how it ended as I'm down for bleak endings. Moving to the acting of the film, it is definitely on point. Keough was great as the lead here. I love how subdued she plays the character, but as things around her start to break down we see her descend into madness. She's mentally disturbed from her past and with the stress, we see her reverting. It had me hooked to see. Martell and McHugh did really well as the children also. Martell was made famous from the two It movies but I have to say I'm quite impressed with him for his age. Silverstone and Armitage are solid in support here as well. As for the effects of the film, we really don't need a lot of them as it isn't that type of film. To be honest though, the realism of them being stranded in this cabin felt real. We do get some practical things later on that looked good. If anything though, this film is shot very well and I was impressed by that for sure. Now with that aside, despite my high expectations, I felt that this one lived up to them. It is such a haunting film of loss and I really like how they incorporate that this could be supernatural or that it could not be. It is done in a way that doesn't feel like a cheat as well, as we see little hints along the way. The pacing works to build tension and I love how everything ended. The acting was great across the board, which can be tough sticking three characters alone for most of the film. There's not a lot in the way of effects, but it doesn't necessarily need them. It is shot well and the soundtrack fit for what was needed as well. Overall I'd say this is a really good movie and it stuck with me after checking out it. I would recommend this to horror and non-horror fans for sure.