I understand that these days horror movies apparently must have a massive "twist", mandatory, must-have, got it. My issue is that the twist needs to be at least somewhat sold to me; you can't just throw one in there and not put any work into making it palatable, somewhat believable. To not do so is just lazy and insulting. The writers get to say, "they won't see THIS coming!", but I say well, of course we don't, because it is completely unbelievable. I understand the concept of suspension of belief in movies, but there must be a limit. The twist you are supposed to swallow without spitting it right back out is that basically this child, the son (I don't know how old he is supposed to be, he looks around 14 or so) is a psychological puppet master, capable of orchestrating an incredibly elaborate and complex premeditated act of psychological warfare on the "stepmother" who, as far as I understand he has never actually met. I cannot swallow this. Even if I could swallow THAT (which I cannot), if this child IS capable of Hannibal Lecter-calibre mind-manipulating genius, why would he risk putting his sister's life in danger as a consequence of such behaviour? If he is smart enough to carry out such a plan, surely he is smart enough to see the danger of driving a mentally unstable, grown woman insane in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter? And that is without breaking it down further; the levels of premeditation and planning required to take the movie to where it ultimately goes is just ludicrous. Having the kids sit whispering in front of the dollhouse while they move the dolls around and then packing some strange items in their bags pre-trip just doesn't cut it as adequate backstory to sell the twist. "Oh, but remember, they were planning out the different scenarios using the dollhouse - they had it all figured out. And don't forget, they packed some candles and a framed photograph, we laid the groundwork, the twist is justified". No. Nowhere near acceptable. Then you add in all the other contrivances. The father, despite being a trained psychiatrist/psychologist who actually TREATED the "stepmother", fully aware of her history, mental state and the medications she is on, decides that leaving her alone in an isolated cabin with his young children - who she has never met - at Christmas, 6 months after their mother blew her brains out all over the dining room wall is a good idea. Oh, and with access to a gun. That he shows her how to use, before realising she is in fact extremely competent with handguns, unloading the gun into a tree one-handed, Dirty Harry-style. Blatant, inexplicable misdirection slopped on to unnecessarily disguise a twist that nobody should be able to spot coming as it is absolutely ridiculous in nature, like the dog ominously growling at night, doors creaking open by themselves. Listing all the plot contrivances and the sheer intricacy of the children's plan is unnecessary, suffice it to say, the twist just isn't plausible on any level and as a result ruins the movie as soon as it is "revealed". The actual look of the movie was fine, well-shot, atmospheric, the acting was solid all round, but again, for me, all the good is spoiled by the ludicrous twist. It always surprises me how such behaviour doesn't bother so many people, many reviewers giving such movies 10 stars, completely ignoring the fact that they have been insulted in order for the writers to feel clever with their fancy "twists". At the other end of the spectrum, the 1 star reviews complain that the movie was trying to be "The Shining" or "Hereditary". This was not the issue, the issue was the indigestible twist. I spit this back in the writers' faces, not eating it, no thanks.
Review of The Lodge
