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sbowjacobs
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Rökkur (2017)
A ghost story in a few senses of the phrase
This movie is definitely going to be divisive among audiences, if for no other reason than its purposeful ambiguity. The ending, which most reviewers have brought up, leaves a lot in the manner of interpretation, and for that reason I think a lot of horror fans may find the film lacking. I didn't find that to be the case at all, in any sense--the dialogue is wonderfully written (granted I watched the english subtitles), the scenery is breathtaking--and while one reviewer said that the film cannot be credited for this, I think that the shots deserve an immense amount of appreciation, even if the starkness of the Icelandic landscape is inherent in the shooting location. The acting is heartbreaking and beautiful; you can see the love--and disintegration of it--between the two leads.
The pacing is certainly slow up until the last 25 or so minutes, but in all honesty I was riveted nonetheless.
The Lodge (2019)
Sufficiently Scary
I'd been immensely excited to see "The Lodge" when it first cropped up on my radar in late 2019 under a list of most anticipated horror movies for the coming year. Billed loosely as a horror in the vein of "The Shining" and "Hereditary", "The Lodge" kept some cards close to its chest in revealing the plot via summaries and teaser trailers, and therefore provided a small handful of genuinely shocking moments for the audience that sat through to the visceral ending.
Since I haven't yet seen "Goodnight Mommy" I was a bit in the dark about expected themes, although I figured I had garnered enough about the expected tone through the shots provided in the trailer--snow drenched cabin in the middle of nowhere, dimly lit so as to provide ample opportunity to imagine just what could look in the darker corners.
A lot of reviews have compared "The Lodge" to "Hereditary", and the comparisons make sense, especially when you consider the usage of dollhouses/scale imitations and isolated scenery (granted, "The Lodge" clears amps up the social isolation). While both meditate on trauma, I think that the clear lines between the inherited trauma present in "Hereditary" and the singular emotional trauma inherent to Grace's character really place a divider between the two. Much more of a focus is put on faith and Christian guilt here, as well, which ties in very naturally to the trauma already present. Both also tackle mental illness with immense finesse, especially at the end (don't worry, I won't spoil it!).
If a slow-burn arthouse horror is what you're craving, give "The Lodge" a shot--but be prepared for the chill that it works into, and leaves, in your bones--even after the credits.