The Lodge

What happens after death? When I die, will my consciousness, my soul, my spirit continue, or will my life on earth have been for nothing? Should I live lawlessly or by virtue? Our lives are plagued by uncertainty and fear of the beyond, the final unknown. Many turn to religion as a light of hope, grasping at the rules, tales, and morality that come with following a deity. Religion and horror are perfect companions. Scary movies are a jarring means of questioning, confronting, and discovering new facets, not only of death, the supernatural, and the spiritual, but our own beliefs. The characters in the lodge are repeatedly implored to repent. You never know when your time is coming. Hello, Sydney. It's your killer host! My name is Parker, your resident horror fanatic.

I'm Caroline, Scaredy Scream Queen. I'm Ian, Scary Movie Skeptic. And welcome to What's Your Favorite Scary Movie is a horror film podcast where we're on a journey to find our favorite scary movie one at a time. Whether you hate them or love them, join us and discover yours. Spoilers ahead, so plan your movie screening every weekend before the episode release. Just kidding, but this was a Christmas movie, and they delayed it from November to February. So I'm still pissed about that. I forgot about that. Yeah, remember last year I was like we have tickets reserved? No, we didn't have tickets reserved yet. But I went the week before to reserve them and then looked it up, and it was like coming out in February now.

So then if you go back and listen to one of our episodes from November, I'm like, who knows what we're watching next week because we were gonna watch The Lodge, but not anymore. But here we are, like four weeks, four weeks, four months later, we saw The Lodge in theaters. The Lodge, you know, what year is it from? Because it was supposed to come out in 2019, but here we are, 2020. It's played festivals last year. You know, it is it is a timeless, timeless piece, apparently. Uh The Lodge was written and directed by duo Severin Fiala and Veronica Franz. This is the Austrian aunt-nephew duo behind Goodnight Mommy from 2014. Another writer credited is Sergio Casci, and I could not find a specified role because I'm pretty sure that Fiala and Franz, like, this is their thing.

But um, so he could have maybe worked on the script, cleaned it up, not really sure what he did for it, but he is a writer nonetheless. Alright, we have Riley Keogh as the lead, Grace. Apparently, she's no stranger to horror, although I've never seen any of these movies. She was in It Comes at Night in 2017 and The House That Jack Built in 2018. I like how you said she's no stranger to horror, but I've never seen any of these. As if the whole point of this podcast isn't that you haven't watched a lot of horror movies. Yeah. Uh lovely performance though. I really liked her. I like um, well, I'm like half and half because I thought once things get going, like, yeah, hell yeah, she was great.

But before that, I was like, I guess more I just didn't like the character before because I was like, man, just such a wilting flower. Like, can you do anything? I could see like she has depth in the character she was playing. I was a little bored, but then at the end, I was like, okay, now this is a character. So maybe that's a I don't maybe that's a character thing, not an acting thing. I don't even know. I enjoyed the development. I think she played it very well. Yeah. Um, we also have Alicia Silverstone who plays Laura. Um, she's known as the cultural icon share in Clueless from 1995. Wow. Are you kidding me, Katie?

I didn't even recognize her. Um the mom. Yeah. And uh also Batgirl and Batman and Robin from 1997. Also iconic. Also, did you hear how beautiful Caroline and Myan's voices sound a moment ago when we said yeah at the same time? Yeah. It was kind of Yaa! Um Alright, we have Jaden Lieberher. He is billed in this movie as Jaden Lieberher. He is billed in it chapter one as Jaden Lieberher, and all of a sudden, it chapter two, his name's Jaden Martell. So what's the truth? Aiden is the role he plays. He is young Bill Den Brah in It in 2017 and It Chapter 2 in 2019, and he's in Knives Out. Also, Leah McHugh, who plays Mia.

She's cute. Yeah, I wrote big fan. She's she's cute. To me, honestly, she might have been my MVP. I thought she like if you need some emotion to latch on to, maybe she's like, maybe she's dialed up a little a little high, but like just go get one. I was into it. Yeah, drama queen. I'm sorry. Um, no, she was really cute, and also when she was crying about the dog, I was like, She cried like twenty times, and every time I was like, that's how you cry. The IMDB summary reads, Assume to be stepmom is snowed in with her fiance's two children at a remote holiday village. Just as relations begin to thaw between the trio, some strange and frightening events take place.

Which I think uh holiday village is maybe not the most accurate. Yeah. Holiday ice skating rank, that whole place was just launch. Yeah, with nearby gas station, apparently. That's five clips away. You know what this movie is? If I had to summarize it. Yeah. I don't know. What's a clip? Just a whip and a clip down the road. You know what? Okay, if I had to summarize this movie. Summarize it. It would be Parent Trap, but make it dark. Uh it's been a long time since I've seen Parent Trap, so I don't I can't speak to it. She woke up out on the ice and I was like, Where's the air mattress? Oh, I do remember that.

Yeah, that's pretty good. You know, they really just took it one step further from Parent Trap. Not like the clacking sticks in the woods and putting rocks on the backpack. They just took it to a whole new level. As of February 8th, 2020, the critic score is a 76%. The critic's consensus is quote, led by an impressive Riley Keogh performance, the lodge should prove a suitably unsettling destination for fans of darkly atmospheric horror. Ew. If you could see the face Ian just made while he did that, you would say it was well. Alright, well, so we saw this movie last night. We've had a whole night to brew on it. Brew. What would you uh what would you say you think of the lodge?

We've been waiting and waiting. Okay, well, first of all, we saw the trailer for this like a million years ago. I know. And I kept asking you, I was like, I don't know what this movie is, Parker. And you were like, you do, you saw the trailer. And then about it took me a good 30 minutes in to be like, oh, that movie. Uh there wasn't a lot in the trailer. There were some clips from the like found footage thing. There were the the image of her face at the end kind of burnt up, was there. And there was one scene where it like it zooms out from her at the window, and you see like the house and all the snow.

And then there's the weird uh like other lot of those that shaped like a cross that wasn't in the movie that was in the trailer. I don't think so. I haven't seen the trailer. I don't remember it, apparently. At first I was like, oh, this is a Christmas movie that you've put out in February, and then Christmas just was kind of there. But at first I was like pissed because I was like, oh, this would have been great in November. It still worked. Yes. Still worked. Um it's not like a Christmas movie. It's a movie that has Christmas. It just would have been just a little bit better around Christmas time. If Santa Claus had shown up halfway through and been like, oh no, getting out of here.

Oh no. Ho ho, repent. That guy does kind of look like Santa. Like scary. Like a dark Santa. Like Santa and Charles Manson, like fucking have a baby. That's a great way of describing it. Boy. Oh, boy, what a movie. Okay, first thoughts. Um wait, I have one more thing about the trailer. Um, so when I saw this trailer, when I saw the trailer, it literally shows like Riley Keo like out on the ice and like going around, and the kids are like, that's my mom's hat. And she's like, Whoa. And it also shows like a brief clip of Alicia Silverstone. I thought that it was Alicia Silverstone the whole time. Like I wrote her down when I wrote this this uh because I wrote the information for us last year.

I thought it was just Alicia Silverstone the whole movie, because that's how similar I think they look. That's how they look really similar. She's got a type. I thought I thought they were maybe like two-thirds of the way through the movie. I thought there might be some weird relation or like uh something really. I thought they looked so similar. I thought this was about her. And then this movie, I was like, well, she's gone. No. But that's the good thing about a good trailer, is if it's a good trailer, you're not going to remember important parts. Unlike the trailers that are going out now, where you feel like you don't even have to watch the movie because they give away like the invisible man, that trailer is ridiculous.

Well, it has been reported by the writer Lee Wan L of Saw that that trailer does not give everything away. Invisible man? Maybe I don't care. Maybe a new tactic, maybe a new tactic is to put your trailer out and stop showing it for four months, and then the movie's just on to something. Because like that, honestly, I had no idea, but I was like, I know I should be hyped about this, but I have no idea what it's about. Also, AMC just needs to shop stop doing 30 minutes of trailers before every movie. I've seen these trailers five billion times. Or we should start getting there 30 minutes later. Don't they think they should get like the picture that they have the unlimited AMC Stubbs thing now that people are gonna see these over and over.

Maybe mix it up a little bit. Yeah, like us. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, so Caroline, what what were you saying is your first reaction to this movie? Um rant over. I really had no idea where we were going, which was partly partly because of the trailer and lack of knowledge, but I feel like they kept it fresh, and the whole time I was like, I know this is creepy, but this could both go in so many different directions. So I was there for it, and then when it finally got to where it was going, I was like, wow, amazing. 10 out of 10, five stars. I love this so much. Totally unique, original. Original, yeah. Like it was like I was in it the entire time, paying attention, coming up with theories, like proving them wrong, and then like jumping around the whole time.

I I was in it. Okay, Ian. Yeah, there's so much stuff that I could talk about, just endless things to talk about. Wow. Well, we'll put that to the test. The but I was I was invested from frame one. It was wonderfully shot. I'm trying to I was trying to put words uh behind the it's it's because it has its own unique um lens in which you're watching the movie. It's a little bit different than like it's not like fully cinematic, it's more like um it looks like it was shot on film and and all that, but it kind of felt more personable and less like uh cinemat. I guess less cinematic, it was more like human.

So just a little more intimate, you felt yeah, more intimate, less of a wall, less filtered, and and that was really interesting to me. I think part of that has to do with the actors. Totally. Part of it that's a lot of people. I really yeah, I was the audio, the the way they made the audio seem more less, again, less like cinematic-y vibe. It was more just like raw. They had a great mix of like silence and then like just like the organ blaring. Yeah, there's a lot of time a lot of this movie I would say doesn't have music, so then when they use music, it's like really uh really intentional and really like you know, like there's one time before the organ thing, there's one where it's like a scare where it's like it's drifting through the dark house and you don't know where it is, and then all of a sudden there's like a like bah and I was like, I think I like jumped out of my seat on that one.

Yeah, you totally you jumped out hardcore. Was it that? I don't think it was something else. It was that one. Well, that happens twice. There's two organ Blair. The second time when it was the pretty organ didn't scare me as much. But the first you properly jumped. It was scary, yeah. Uh there was a guy on the other side of the aisle in front of us who was jumping through all the trailers, and I wish I could have seen him during the movie because you know I was focused like a professional on the There's also a guy that just like moved three times before the movie even began and it was creeping me out, and then he sat right next behind you.

Oh, I didn't even notice that. I was like, how do you not have an assigned seat just? I mean, I sat in a seat that wasn't assigned. Sometimes you gotta find the sweet spot. Annoying couple in front of us. Who I don't know what that I think it was like they had a little machine for subtitles. Yeah, they didn't speak English. The issue was they were speaking English to each other. I heard that. Yeah, they were. Oh, well they were texting. And then he was like, Oh, that's the girlfriend Midsummer. Yeah. English. I heard it. Anyway. Yeah, Ian finish out. But yeah, I uh not only from the way they decided to shoot this movie, but also the story, I was fully invested.

Um I know we talked about it briefly before we were recording. What? But um I think there was a lot of not that A24 defines what you're gonna be watching, but there's a lot of vibes in hereditary. Probably just because of the frickin' doll house. That's hereditary, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but I was the whole movie, I was like, is this gonna go supernatural? And if it is, then I'm done. And it didn't, and that's what I loved about it. That's what I was saying. Like the whole time I was like, where is it gonna go? And then it it ended back. Perfectly. See, now I like it less, knowing that I would have liked it better if it ended that way.

And y'all would have supernatural. Yeah, that would have been fun. That is what defines what you like. The end of hereditary is like, wow. We clearly have no, I just like to see things on not that I don't like a good drama, you know, and as a kid my favorite movie is The Hours, which is just like people dying from AIDS. Uh, but yeah, it's a sad movie. But one character has AIDS, the rest are just like sad. Um but just like sometimes I want to see just like something that you could never see in real life, and I think that's exciting. Uh, I didn't like this movie, but I didn't dislike this movie. I'm just like, yeah, like I saw it, it happened, it was fine.

I feel like pretty much the exact opposite that I felt about Gretel and Hansel, where this movie had a fine story, and then for me, just nothing else. I thought that it was just like not very interesting to look at. I felt like it had like outside of the twist, which y'all are going to like be like Parker, no you didn't, but I guessed really early on. Like, once twist being that the children were playing a prank. Oh, I knew that. Yeah. Once once you know that, like, what else is there? Like, it's uncomfortable. No, it's her reaction, though. It's how she follows through. And that's the thing, is there were a couple of scenes that had really incredible tension, and I was like heart pumping, sweating, like really uncomfortable watching it.

But it there's there just weren't enough to really interest me. Like the scene where you think maybe she's about to go shoot the children, and she's having like the visions of the found footage in her head, but you know that she's in the children's room, that was a really incredible sequence. The sequence where the dad, spoiler, gets shot was incredible. Um true. And then the very end I liked. But besides that, like I knew that the kids were playing a prank. And so I was just like, I'm just watching this and I'm bored. And I felt like they had like the scenes that they wanted, and then they're like, Well, what do we do? I guess we'll put in these like dollhouse scenes.

Like, to me, it felt very like college film project, just like, wow, we're so artsy, but like every other letter is capitalized, you know. That's what this movie kind of felt like to me. And like I said, I thought that Riley Keo was well, maybe her character. I don't want to blame her. I thought her character was pretty boring for the first half, and then once she started freaking out a little bit more, I thought it was more interesting. What I thought would have what I thought was gonna happen that would have been crazy because I like sitting and being really uncomfortable with something horrible having just happened. Like in Hereditary, when that, um, if you haven't seen it, skip ahead like 30 seconds, but when the daughter's head gets knocked off and he just has to sit with it, that is like the best because it's so uncomfortable and horror horrible, horrific, that I I love sitting there and feeling like I just want to die completely.

But this movie didn't really give me that because it was so much of just like alright, we're sitting, we're watching, we're watching, and then at the end I was like, okay, this is nice. I would I would have to just disagree because I feel like I feel like the mo I I honestly felt like I was sitting, quote, I'm doing air quotes right now, sitting with it. For some reason I was like, yeah, I can see you, idiot. The like the entire time. So I also felt like I was sitting the entire time. But like sitting with that emotion, the a similar emotion that like I had when not as vibrant, right? Because like a kid's head gets chopped off in a car.

Spoiler. Oh my god, Ian. That's pretty intense. But I feel like I I went to that place in my feelings for a better half majority of the movie. I guess what I'm saying is I don't want a supernatural movie like I said earlier, which would have been cool. But I just I wanted more because I felt like even just like sitting with them in their relationship, like not even that much was happening. Like because they were kind of starting to get along. And then so I was like, oh, like this is changing, and then it stopped all of a sudden. And then some of the way that especially um what was the son's name? Aiden. Some of the ways that Aiden started interacting with Grace, I was just like, oh, well, this is a sudden change.

Like, I don't know, I felt some inconsistencies. Uh but I I do think that Grace is the reason to watch this. Because I mean, those children, I mean, I'm not gonna say live on air in case you know the government's listening, but they deserved more than they got if you catch my drap. So I think let's go back to the plot. Yeah. Do we want to start at the beginning? Yes, yes. Well, I want to uh an overarching theme real quick. I think that theme my personal opinion is that the plot, the story was amazing, in my opinion. But one thing I do think that was lacking a little bit, and it's not just because I'm a a cult fiend, is the cult stuff.

I think that like cult fiend. I I think the only thing that confused me, but I I I can see why I wouldn't need the whole story, but I just I wasn't quite there on the backstory of the cult. Yeah, and maybe not even backstory, but kind of bearing the lead where it's like, hey, there's this really crazy, insane, cool cult that happened, but like we're not gonna show you any of that. I would have liked to have seen a little more. Because then we know that they all die, and this is feeding into the beginning of the movie, kind of where we can start hitting that. We know that the whole cult died except for Grace.

And they have footage of her walking through and showing the camera all of the people with the duct tape over their mouth that says sin. Does the duct tape mean that they're going to die? Like, should we assume, spoiler, that at the end of the movie she's about to kill the children? Or is that just kind of like some sort of repentance thing and they just happen to die that night? Like, I wish that I had a little bit more information on what was happening with the cult so that I could kind of make my own well, you know, process about what was going to happen afterwards instead of being like, I hope she kills them because they fucking deserved it, bastards.

They read that, the kids read that in the article where it says like the pastor like led them to another world. Yeah. Like repent from their sins and then follow the hymn into the next world. So they do that and then they kill themselves. So like everyone prepared together. This is what I gathered. No, yeah, I think yeah, you're right. They all prepared together to do this, and then they all killed themselves, and then she waited and hesitated and then decided not to. But is she going to like are they because the kids aren't gonna kill themselves. You know, I wish I wish that if they had set it up more, I would feel more ominous about what was going to happen after the credits.

What I'm more confused by is the why in which she didn't go through with it when she was younger. Right. Like, did was it actually her being a part of killing them, or is it her deciding not to go through with it herself? See, I want to know more about the cult. Yeah. What if the movie had started, no, more about like this the whole cult and l yeah. What if the movie had started and like the intro, like zinger, because you know horror movies are like draw us in title card, real movie. What if like the whole intro had been like a scene of that night of at the cult? I think that would have been cool.

Just so I you because to me it's not like a thing of like it's scary because we don't know. It's just like I just wish I knew more. Yeah. I'm already scary. I think if they would have done that though, it would have taken away from the most jarring scene, in my opinion, where they're to go down in history. Yeah. Um I closed my eyes and didn't look, but when the mom pulls out the gun and just kills herself right there. You don't have time to close your eyes. I did. Oh I saw the gun and I was like, nope. Yes, this beginning. This this is that was incredible. Chef's kiss, I was like, this is about to be a great movie because not only does it have that like shock that I'm I was looking for, but also that, like you were just saying, extreme discomfort.

Like when we watched Martyrs and She Kills That Family at the beginning, where it's just like, I don't want to watch this not because it's scary, but because it's just horrible and sad and terrible, and I don't want to think that things like this actually happened. You just see it coming. That scene was so jarring, but like beautiful. Like she drops off her kids, they have a fight. She know, like, we know that like she's divorced and sad and and everything. But then she's just like alone in her house, you hear the TV in the background, she's like doing mundane things, like sips a glass of wine, and then it's like boom, that's it. And I loved the things that came immediately after it.

The the funeral where the daughter tries to tie the doll to the balloon. Amazing, so sad, and then the daughter lying in bed, like she's going to hell, because this movie has such strong religious uh not undertone, not under real tone. There's so much religious content in the movie. It's toe-jam toe. Yeah, that uh what? It's under toe. Uh that like, yeah, that her like in bed, like crying and yelling like she's she's in hell, like she can't be saved. Like, I think that was really heartbreaking and sad. Um and then also I would like to point out that because we've kind of already glossed over the twist, uh, them saying that it's Grace's fault, so they want to punish her.

No, it's the dad's fault. I mean, it's it's nobody's fault. It's the dad's fault. It's it's Alicia Silverstone's fault that she decided to kill herself. But do you think it's the dad's fault because the dad well no, like if they don't love each other, you know, but the dad was not being sensitive to her. He knew that she was like upset, and then he's just like, hey, we're getting married, you need to back off. Do you think though, in a world there? Well, they cheated. Did they really? Yes. What when did they say that? Because as like I'm assuming it's a recent separation, which is why the mom is so upset. Yeah. And then the kids the whole time are asking, is she gonna be there?

Meaning Grace. I don't think that means she cheated. I assumed he just left her. Then at the end, when she's having that moment on the stairs with him, she's saying, What we did was sin and bad. Hmm. So I'm pretty sure that's the vibe that I got. No woman is ever that. Caroline always pulls us out. I was about to say, honestly, that's convincing. I'm convinced. You always have these nuggets. No woman would be that upset about some sort of separation and like so sensitive about another woman unless there was overlap. Well, or if she just loved him and didn't want to get divorced. Do you think Yeah, but the only reason for him to leave that loving family is getting on with another lady.

Yeah, but that's also the reason he would have not cheated and just left because he loved someone else. But they cheated. You know what I'm saying? I'm I'm I'm I'm on board with you. I'm just saying, like, I like this as like something that you've picked up, but I don't know. Trust me. Ian's conspiracy corner time. Do you think there's a world where the dad may be kind of like brainwashy cult into her? He's a journalist. Yeah, I was about to say he's he's nothing. And that's bottom of the total corner. Um he wrote a book on the cult. On the cult, yeah. So he knows a lot about the colours. Do you have a cult fetish?

Who doesn't? Ian does. True. He's a cult fiend. With some undertones. The whole thing that I was thinking of is like, how much older is this guy than this woman? Yeah, because she does seem a lot younger than his past wife on the piece that he was covering as a journalist. Oh, damn. That's even creepier. Or maybe he wrote the book later on like later on, but still there was some weird age. And they met when she was twelve. He must have been in his late twenties, wouldn't you think, to write a book? Maybe early twenties. I don't know. Nobody writes a book, early twenties. No, not in the movie when he met her. What I'm saying is maybe that happened, and then like ten years later, he came back and was like, I'm gonna write a book on this.

Oh yeah. I could imagine him being mid-40s and her being early thirties. She seemed like late twenties. Well, okay. Or roll the kitchen. She was getting into some. I would say maybe late 20s because of her um attitude. Mid-20s. Yeah, like her, like I feel like a 30-year-old woman would have been able to assert a little more authority over the children, but like in the you know, 20, she's a little more scared of the children. She doesn't know how to handle a child. She's Kimmy Schmidt. A mole woman. Um so cool house that the dad has. We can all agree there. Oh, that hideous one? No. That was weird. I was like, this is a cheap Ikea.

The kitchen was weird. And the doorway looked like they had like thawed it out. I thought that I was like, is this gonna go like weird because these rubber turkeys are hanging everything? I didn't know they're rubberized. Like, look at these turkeys hanging from the ceiling. They were cats. Yeah, I know, but like I was like, this is like either really bad effects or like fake turkeys on the table and they're eating lasagna on Thanksgiving. That was Thanksgiving? I would have never guessed because of that meal. While we're on the table. There are turkeys everywhere. Of course it was. Well, that's not what my Thanksgiving looks like. Exactly. They're eating lasagna. How do you guys feel about the intro of Grace in the very artistic way of not showing her face for the first time?

Well, because we wouldn't have thought we wouldn't have been able to tell her apart from Alicia Silverstones. I thought it was amazing. I thought it was too, it added like this layer of like suspicion about her, and then you're like, oh, this is like a basic 20-something-year-old lady. I know. When I did see her face, I was like, oh. And she has a freaking dog. I'm like, I would be mad if my dad was. I did really like the way that you see her face just because she looks over her shoulder and she's like, Hayden, hey Mia. And uh she it was just uncomfortable. I liked how it was awkward. I want to know what those pills were for.

Like, does she hallucinations or like what does she take them when she's feeling nervous, or is it like an everyday thing? Like I I wanted to know if the pills were like she needed them, or if it was like when she was feeling heightened emotions, she need to be like pill. It seemed like an everyday thing, in my opinion. The only reason that I don't think that is because she takes one hastily and then hides it. Oh yeah, because she hides it from him when the father she wanted him to leave because she wanted her shot with those little shits. She I think she's hiding them because she just doesn't want to seem weak or like seem weird.

I don't think she's hiding them because she shouldn't have them. I think she's hiding them because she doesn't want him to be like, oh, this is messed up. So the whole conceit of this trip, first of all, the father's like, hey, we need a moment with with Grace. I want you to give her a chance. I like that. That's good. Those children need to stop being little bastards. The thing that I don't like is that they're like, no, we're not comfortable with that. And he's like, well, you're gonna do it anyway. So that kind of sucks. But riddle me this. Riddled. In what world is it a good idea to be like, hey, this new woman you do not like, I'm going to truck you out to a lodge in the middle of nowhere, leave you alone with her for what?

It was like a week or something. It was a long time, and you have no car, and a lot of things could go wrong, and I'm gonna drive away. The no car thing is she used to be a part of a cult. That is the dumbest thing I have. Could she not have driven so they had two cars? I know. And I mean, it that would have even been easy to explain away in the story because the kids could have somehow screwed up the car or something. Like, it wouldn't have been that hard for them to give her a car. Instead, the whole time I was like, Well, this is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life.

What? They have so much food that they can just two weeks have plenty. Also in the middle of winter, like dumb, dumb, dumb. And clearly she doesn't know how to handle herself on skates. That was so weak. Oh my god. I know. She has like two giant sticks trying to walk herself out on the skates. Come on. That's what I'm talking about. Wilting flour. Like, do like have a little, you know, oomph. Ice skating is hard. It's not that hard, Carol. It's pretty hard. When was the last time you ice skated? I'm good at ice skating. Roll the tapes. Yeah. You see that, Carol? Triple two loop. Oh my nailed it. Wow. Wow, he is good at see, see.

You can find the rest of that tape on our Patreon if you contribute. So escalation, escalation. The dad's like, we can't, I can't leave. And she's like, no, you got it. I'm gonna hide my pills. Whatever. We're getting these dream sequences where it's like, is she walking around the house? Is she not? There's one scene where the dog starts growling, and you see, I'm assuming it's her back past, like barely past through. It was Aiden. Oh, blue sweater when they're having sex now right after that scene. That's the other thing. Is this dad is not being sensitive to these children? Backtrack. Hand on the thigh in the car, making sex. You just don't like PDA. No, it's not about that.

It's about he has these kids who are traumatized from their mom dying. They already don't like this. Why would you have your hand on her thigh in the car? Why would you let her be all giggly wiggly while you're trying to do it, knowing that these this lodge needs thicker walls? He doesn't give a fuck. That is why. Reinforcement, he was cheating on his wife. That's why his wife committed suicide because he was not treating her well even after he left and needed to be more sensitive to her emotions. Well, before that, Dad's a dick. Was that Aiden? Because that was one of the creepiest moments. It makes sense. It was right before the sex scene.

Or it was right after the sex scene. It was Aiden. It goes to the black hall and it's just like little blue. Just a little blue stripe. I remember now specifically it was blue. And that's when I was like, this is gonna get paranormal y. Well, I thought it was going to be the cult leader at first. Uh because especially later, it keeps going through the house and I kept being like, Can I see something? And I thought I saw his face in one of the shadows. And I that's You did. You may have heard me because I went, his face is in it. I saw his face somewhere in a shadow, but it was in a regular, like, because it panned through this house five thousand goddamn times.

Uh and it was just one time it just passed by and I went, it was in like a in the window though. Oh no, I saw it when it was meant to be. I saw it in a corner, like a shadow. I didn't catch that, but I know it was Aiden. Yeah the blue. No, yeah, yeah. I think you're right. Yep. Um so the dad was. Wait, does that mean he was watching them? You think that's what it was? I don't think that I don't think that scene was right after them having sex. I think it was before the shower. No, it was right after. I remember it vividly. I don't remember. Well, I I remember thinking like, oh, A.

Maybe that's what it was then. Maybe he was watching. Because that would make sense. I don't think he'd want to see his dad doing that. I think he wants to see Grace's titalones for sure. And I mean he does. Yeah. Because he walks in and sees her, or doesn't walk in, he's like watching her in the shower. She should have seen him sooner, too. She didn't see nothing. Wilting woman gets out of the shower and wraps a towel just around her waist like a man. I could not answer that question. No one where do you put your towel? Over your boobs. She's like a little bit more spirit. That's just a lot of water just going everywhere.

I know, but I was just like, that's a really like masculine thing to do. At first, anytime I see a naked woman in a horror movie, I'm like, oh, is this just to see naked woman, or what can I be picking up from us seeing a naked woman? And I do think a lot of intention in us seeing those titalones because then we feel the vulnerability of seeing him watch. If we didn't see her boobs, it would not have felt as violating when you see him watching her. Truth. And it had mom with a heart around it. Oh, I was like, what? On her boob? So I was like, he was in there. Yeah, he was in there watching her shower and did a little heart with mom.

Well, no, he probably did that before she got in the show. There's no way she would have noticed wouldn't have noticed if he would have walked. You close your eyes. No. I close my eyes in the shower. Well, we have a shower curtain that you can't see through. I'm in there all the time while you're in the shower. Me too. Oh my god, the cat the cat terrifies me sometimes. Um anyway, I think we've skipped through a lot of I mean, the moment that I knew this was no good was so she has no, no good is in like bad things happening with these little kids, these little Rastases. Is that the so she has a dream because they pull out the gas gas heater, which they probably should not have in the house.

Um and they go to sleep. I thought she was going to wake up and the children were going to be dead, and it was going to be the worst thing ever because she was going to be there like freaking out and having a downward spiral with these dead children. That's what I wanted. But she doesn't. But she wakes up, all the food's gone, all their stuff's gone, and then we're supposed to really think like she did this because she's crazy and she's walking around at night. But she says, Hey, can you go turn or let's go turn on the generator? And he's like, No, I'll I'll do it myself. And then he comes back and he's like, Oh, it won't start.

And I was like, Okay, right, you have me fooled. No, that's when I was like, Okay, idiot, I know what's going on here. Wait, before that? Before that, we see her walking around at night. And that's when the doll ends up in her suitcase underneath the bed. That was the part that I got really t turned up about. Like, I don't Turn up. No, no, that's the wrong one. Turned down. I was a little bit confused because I was like, we think that like she's like night walking or like Well yeah, because that one there's no clue that it wouldn't be her. And is that the first organ blair? Maybe. That really scared me. And they have the little Well, because it doesn't even make an organ sound.

It's like the loudest, screechiest noise you've ever heard in your life. And they have the little like seance thing with all the moms. I don't think that happened yet because I think the doll in the luggage was when the dad was still there. No, that was not while he was still there. It wasn't, and it wouldn't have happened afterwards because all their stuff is gone. Oh, you're right. Well, that's besides the point. We're just there you get all these little nightmares. Uh now the part that I really am just perplexed about because it's not that I didn't like it. It's just like, why is this here? It's when she decides she's gonna go and walk to the next town, which is like a dumb idea, but like I guess, like I could believe.

I get it. But like, yeah, like I get that she's going to do it. And also, the woman in the theater next to me kept being like, she was just talking out loud the whole time, but she kept being like, stupid, why would you do that? And I just wanted to lean over and be like, excuse me, it's because she's clearly having like a mental break and she does not have the presence of mind. No, not to that, so now you shut up. And crack open another beer. Because the thing is, is she is not like a character that we can rely on her having the presence of mind to make good choices. So it doesn't matter if she's making stupid choices because the you you just uh she's just doing it, you know?

I have a question. Well, no, because I'm not done. Yeah. Hand down. This is my classroom. Um, so she goes on this long walk, she finds a house that she can't get into, and it looks spooky, and then she walks back to their house. I just don't understand. It was a long it took a long time, it was like 10 minutes. And like what why? She didn't mean to walk back to the lodge. I know she didn't. She found her track, she thought it was someone else's, she made a big circle, but like why? Because she she was desperate, she knew the only thing she knew was that she had to get her pills. Yeah, I'm not asking about the character, I'm asking about the movie.

Why did that exist? Like, there's no that gave us no information. I have a question. Yeah. Do you think the house was real? I don't know, because that is when we see his face in the window. I don't I think the house was real. I don't think it's a little bit super weird house. It's like, yeah, like a Jesus house. I don't think it was real. I don't think the person was real. Well I don't think the house was real. I guess it would be hard to have the house real and the person not be real. I think she goes out and has a mental breakdown. What kind of house is shaped like that? No house.

It wasn't a real house. Yeah, maybe it's a fake house. It's easier to believe it's not a house. Then I just want like I don't know that was the point of the movie where I was like, okay, they're just trying to fill time. What's frustrating though is like don't throw the the image of the cult leader into that building if you want us to believe that the building was real. Then that just throws everything off because that's the only supernaturally. Well, she's she's imagining it. Yeah. But also I thought, What's see what I thought is show us you're showing us this house, it needs to have some sort of significance, and it doesn't. So I thought, like, at the end of the movie or something, it was going to be like her dragging the bodies to this like cross house, and maybe the cross house is like on fire or something.

Like that would have been really cool. Very midsummer. But um, like, I don't know, like they showed us the house and then it had no further significance. That's all I wanted, was it to just have some sort of impact, like, oh, this house is some sort of destination, or like an a representation of like her mind has officially made the journey to like insanity or something. I think her venturing out into the snowstorm and desperation. At this point, the kids are still playing along. And I think it's Which what kid would keep up with that charade that long? I know, but that's what I'm saying. These kid the this moment shows how like how much they don't really care about Grace, and they're like, okay, like please wander off into the blizzard, and they're they're not even like really trying to stop her.

Yeah, because that's if they did, they would have been like, This is a joke, don't go. Exactly. And it they they let it happen. Listen, just saying though, like, there is a weird manifestation. Of hatred towards incumbent relationships in that environment. So like I can empathize with why they're so annoyed and angry, especially since it's right after their mother died. But she comes back, they keep up with the shred, she finds the dead dog. Yeah, it's the dog and they decide to tell. Well, because they like the dog. Yeah, I mean, you don't want someone to die. Well, they basically were asking for that when she wandered out into the snowstorm with no coat. They didn't want her to go.

But they didn't actively try. They could have said like they did try. No, they didn't. They were okay with her dying. No, because they would have said, Don't go, this is a joke. They said that. No, they didn't think they didn't say it was a joke. All they said was they said it as a joke and she came back. They whispered from the front porch saying, Don't go, Grace. And that was it. She was already halfway out. They were like, no, don't, you'll never make it. And then she left. Them trying would have been saying, Don't, like, this isn't real. We can go turn on the generator. Yeah. But I think that moment is more so about the kids' character development rather than well, then we gotta watch her for 10 minutes.

I also don't think I also don't think that it's all on the kid, like it's all on the kid. No, because listen, like, I don't think they had they're obviously not aware. I mean, like, they're aware she was a part of a cult, but they're not aware of what they're dealing with from a like mental stability standpoint. That's true. Kids are scary because they're so stupid. Yeah, they didn't realize, like, okay, this person, if you push them hard enough, it's not gonna be good. Okay, they were not here about not pushing her. They had freaking recording saying repent, whispering at her, they were moving shit around. They knew exactly what they were doing here. I think there was a point where they they it would have kid fake hung himself.

Like, come on. Even the kids being stupid, because I think that's something real about children that's scary is they don't realize what power children have because you inherently trust children, but uh, and kids make stupid decisions like this. I thought that was perfectly believable. But what speaks to me about the negligence and the cruelty of the children is that there are certain points where it is clear that they have pushed it too far and they keep going. Like when she pushes down the daughter and she like hits her head and starts bleeding, like they even keep it up for a little bit longer after that. Yeah. And they shouldn't have. And it's after she starts getting scary, walking into their room with guns, that they're like, oh shit, maybe we better backtrack.

No, that's the same scene. Oh, oh yeah, that is. Do you think there's ever a point in time that maybe taking it beyond what we're watching on on the screen? But do you think there's ever a point in time that the kids were like worried that actually they took it too far and so they were afraid to actually come clean? Probably. I mean that I would I would guess that's the whole daughter's arc, and then that shit son is like, no, we got we gotta stick to it. We made a promise to each other. And then the dog dies, and they're like, Oh shit. Yeah, now things are from the very beginning when she shows up in their room with a revolver, I would be freaked out.

Yeah, I think that they figure, and that's where it goes, is they're like, shit, we've made a mistake. She's had a break because she's like kneeling on burning wood, coals, whatever those were. And uh, so then they backtrack, and this is where it gets good. No, they they told her it was fake before she started. Yeah, but that's when they realize that they've made a mistake, is because they they see that she is so messed up. Yeah, they tell her it's fake, she's not okay, and um, because they tell her when she's outside with the dog, and then she goes and kneels on the burning wood. And that's when they're like, shit, we need to, you know, hide from her because she's actually dangerous now, because we have removed her so far from like mental stability.

And what I like is that this is never about her being a dang because you know, it's always dangerous when you paint mental illness as dangerous, but it's never about her, it's about what they've done to her and how far they've removed her, where it's like if they had help, this wouldn't be an issue. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I like about this image of her, is that I think it really carefully and does it well how they picture the violence. Did you did you see it? Because when you think back to the movie when the kid is packing Aiden, you notice how he like it. Picture frame. There are like candles too.

Yeah. Did you guys at first reaction think like what why? I knew they were gonna play a joke on her, but then I forgot about it. And then when they did the generator thing, I was like, oh, they're playing a joke on her, and then when they pulled the picture out, I was like, oh yeah. This is it's pretty easy to connect the dots in this movie. That's what another thing that annoys me, it's like they're like, oh, we're so sneaky. Well, I you know But I don't think it was ever about like I don't think this movie I hope that people in the theater weren't like super surprised when they realized it was a prank.

I don't think that's the point of the movie. Oh, don't tell me that these people weren't sitting in a room, they're like, What should our next movie be? They're like, I've got it. These kids take this woman to a lodge and she's going insane and sleepwalking, but big twist. They were playing a prank the whole time. That's what happened. The the this movie was written for that twist. I Because like I said at the beginning, like I feel like there's nothing really of value that I'm latching on to outside of the twist. I'd like to see the the meeting minutes on that conversation. That took 30 seconds is the minutes. I mean, I I hadn't was kind of like playing along with like the whole we're dead thing one because it was an interesting thought.

When he said it the first time, I was like, huh. And then I was like, well, if that were true, they wouldn't have revealed it that way. She had so much depth to go there. Well, no, I I was like on board and I was like, okay, like maybe this is a thing, because as soon as they she fell asleep with the gas heater on, I was like, done, done so. But then when she finds the flowers in the picture frame that he had packed outside, I was like, oh, okay, fine. Well, it took me a while to get there. I think that the timing of the finale is really lovely, and that the dad is coming back, and you think that's what's happening, is that she's going to kill them just before the dad gets there.

She's gonna kill herself just before the dad gets there, they're gonna kill her just before the dad gets there, but then he gets there, and you're like, wait, uh that's not how movies work. And then she kills him. And that scene was like the most tense one of the more tense things I've ever seen. I have a question. Was there a blank when she went to kill herself? No, I think I think it's kind of like a roulette thing. I think she m took that as a sign. Yeah, I think it was like roulette, you know, she just kind of like clicked it in and was like, I can't die, and then she got lucky and was like, there you go, and then was like Gablamo.

I don't think she would have reacted differently had it been a blank. I thought you were gonna say if she killed herself as well. No, like if she pointed it at the dad and then it went and it was a blank, uh huh. I think she should she probably would have said the same thing, right? Like you see, we're already dead or something. Yeah. I think that's where she was in her mind. I know. I'm just I'm asking about the logistics of the blank. I bet it was like a Russian roulette thing where she just kind of like threw it in and was like, well, if it hits me, because I bet how many bullets fit in there, like six or something?

It wasn't. I bet there were like four or something, and she just got one of the lucky uh the empty ones. Oh um the other thing about this movie is that these kids could have taken her. Yeah. Yeah. Also, like I think with the dad, I she I would have I I would have hoped that he would have just like hit the gun out of her hand immediately rather than being like, oh, do you feel my hand? I I never like to think about that. It's uh I think it's like you gotta give the movie a chance. Well, you gotta give it a chance, and to be like, oh, well, she could have fought harder, oh she could have run away there.

I never like to think like that because no, that's just not what happened. But in this one, she was standing there pointing a gun at their father, and they just watched. I was like, no, like see that undermines to me their relationship with their father. Like, if you loved him that much, why wouldn't you try and like push her or something? I would have pushed her. Same thing at the end. He's his corpse is seated at the table. They don't have to sit with that corpse. They some they're for some reason have allowed her to sit that they could have easily gotten away from her at that point, you know? I think when whenever there's a gun in a situation though, people It's to equalize.

You like you tended it's just like be as still as possible. Like, don't make something. I know it's scary, and I don't know what I would do in that situation, but you know, for as many times of y'all y'all have been like, you know, she didn't have to run up the stairs. This is the first time I've truly been like, no, that's just not what would have happened. Something could have happened here. But one one other thought there is when they're at the a at the table and I found it really interesting as she was like saying her prayer or whatever she was saying. Singing. Singing. They like slowly start to chime chime in. What do you think that meant?

To me, I feel like that is them trying to appease her and get out of the situation. Okay. Well, also like I don't think they're joining. They do I think they know that they're not she's gonna kill him, or she's gonna kill them. And they do have a religious background and they're like, you know. One thing that I did love about the final scene is that the kids had the know-how to hop over their dad's body and get in the car, and I was like, yes, and you hear the car starting. But I think another one of those moments where like you're sitting in the horror of it is she is moving so slowly towards the car in the snow, and the kids are freaking the fuck out.

Which I would be. Yeah, but then it's it's like they tried so hard, and I was okay with that. I think maybe if Aiden was just a little bit younger, I would have been on board. Because the daughter, I totally understand. She can't do shit. But him, it's like he's a he's a like what 13, 14? I think he could have taken her. Anyway, so what would you say from this movie is the most memorable murder? You got two to pick from mom and dad. Mom. Oh my god. I'm gonna pick mom as well because I think that scene, that scene I would put on a list of like top scenes of all time. That is a heartbreaker.

Changes the game. Yeah. On a scary scale, one to five, how would you rate the lodge? A five. I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a four just because I wasn't like peeing my pants, but I was on edge the whole time. I'm gonna give it a three because I jumped like twice. But I think the main thing is that I think there there is danger in how uh disturbing this movie is, whereas if you were having similar issues and you watch this movie, you shouldn't. So I think a three in that, like, not everyone this is a movie not everyone should watch. Yeah, I mean, and watching so many scary movies nowadays. It's so easy. Like I remember right at the beginning of watching all these scary movies, things got to me a little bit more than they do now.

It takes a lot more what is that affecting the other. Well now you take a little more pleasure in it. It takes a lot more to get me hard. I had I had shivers. There were scenes where I had like full-on like goose shivers. And that takes a lot now, so it has to get a high rating from me. Well, in that case, would you give it a smash or a slash? Hard smash. The smashiest of smash, smash. Avocado. Avocado. Avocado. Smash. Avocado. I love a good avocado. Um, you know, guys, I think I gotta give this one a slash. I just don't think this movie worked for me. He does this on purpose. No, I seriously, I was watching this movie and I was like, Jesus, these they hate me that I've dragged them to this movie.

No, that is every movie was like that. So like disturbing in one part and then just boring. So yeah, I was I was there for every minute. I was V-bored during that movie. Uh, and finally, what's your favorite scary scary movie? The Lodge. Damn. Yeah, I mean this if you're a longtime listener of what's your favorite scary movie? Never heard of it. Um, you've heard a lot of our favorites, but honestly, like I had to say, even in Shh don't ruin it. Don't say season one. We're gonna have a battle of the favorites at some point. Alright, TBD, but for season two, upset. No longer rare exports. It is now The Lodge. Wow, and beautifully done.

I'm gonna stick with Gretel and Hansel. That movie was great. I saw it a second time, it slapped. Um, alright. Well, next time, you may be wondering what we're watching on what's your favorite scary movie. And I have to say, I'm so excited because confetti. It is our 50th episode. Wow. And so, in honor of 50 episodes, we are watching Scream 4. One of my favorite movies, literally, of all time. Thank God it's ending. And if you maybe not yet. The future may tell differently. That was not a sentence. Um, if you're wondering. Scream four? What? You covered Scream Scream 2. What about Scream 3? Yeah, where is that? Well, we gotta watch that. This past Friday, February 14th, happy Valentine's Day, we released Scream 3 on our Patreon.

So if you want to hear our thoughts on what may be the least loved Scream film of all time, then head over to patreon.com slash scary moviepod and you'll get all the deets. And while you're waiting for us to scream our thoughts on Scream 4, you can head over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a rating and a review. Do it. Um, five-star review from DuckTales Nerd right here who says, Love it. This podcast is amazing, love it so much. The hosts are awesome. Oh my god. And so are the movie talks. Five stars for you. Keep up the great work, and every time there's a new one, I am so excited. I'm so excited too.

It brings me joy every week to just Gab. Watch a scary movie and ruin some lives. So while you're or after you leave that five star review on Apple Podcasts, and if you're thinking maybe I'll give them less than five stars, then stop! I just slapped your hand off that keyboard. You can also go follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and slasher at Parker Delray. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter at Caro Manifesto. You can find me if you want to. And you can find all three of us on social media Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. I almost said LinkedIn for some reason. Or there too. You can't. At ScarymoviePod. You can also find all of our stuff, reviews, and calendar at Scarymoviepod.com.com.

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