Lodgers (2017) Movie Review
Written By: FZ
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Brian O’Malley
Writer: David Turpin
Producer: Shaked Berenson , Patrick Ewald, Rory Gilmartin, Macdara Kelleher
Date Released: September 8, 2017
Cast:
Charlotte Vega as Rachel
Bill Milner as Edward
Eugene Simon as Sean
David Bradley as Bermingham
Deirdre O’Kane as Maura
Moe Dunford as Dessie
Roisin Murphy as Kay
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain spoilers***
Synopsis
The movie was set in 1920s, rural Ireland. Eighteen year-old twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner), born eleven-minutes apart, reside in a crumbling yet palatial estate where they are seemingly raising themselves. Here, they live under three strict rules: be in bed by the midnight’s bell each evening, never let a stranger through the front door, and never ever leave one another alone. Despite the peeling wallpaper, broken windows, and cracked facade, inside these walls the twins are protected from the madness of the outside world by a haunting family curse.
The outside world, however, is literally at war, the Irish War of Independence, in fact, and many of the soldiers returning home are not always accepted with open arms by locals. One of the casualties of this war is Sean who lost a leg in the war and has returned home to his mother (Deirdre O’Kane), who runs the family’s namesake, corner store. Sean is struggling to re-acclimate to civilian life when he spots a beautiful, young woman one morning and follows her into the woods.
In one of her weekly shopping trip, the pretty Rachel meets a handsome stranger and, almost at the same instant, discovers a bad turn of luck: the estate that has been in her family for two centuries now is in dire-straights, according to a letter sent by the estate’s manager. With a brother who is a recluse who won’t leave the house and their funds in the negative, Rachel will be forced to make some weighty decisions about her future. Although, eerily, no one knows if she and Edward even have the option to leave the home where their ghostly protectors lurk behind every wall. Who are these lodgers and can the twins break free of the walls that entrap them, or are they doomed to repeat the fates of their parents and all the generations that came before them?
Gore Factor
The movie does not have a lot of gore and bloodshed. It has however had a very disturbing premise. The story deals with incest theme where the two main characters (twins) are said to be descendants from their twin ancestors and it has been going so for the last two centuries. Their offspring are always the same; boy and girl twin, and it is implied that they must continue the legacy. It has a very dark atmosphere which created a dreadful environment.
The Grave Review
Lodgers (2017) is a very atmospheric movie which ultimately spells dread and misery from the beginning to end, after all it is 1920s and in the middle of the war. The political and social undertone is very imminent but not too obvious to audiences who are not too familiar with the Irish history. The moody setting is an old crumbling Wexford mansion in the Loftus Hall which local legends claims is haunted by the ghost of a young woman.
The pace is slow and deliberate. There is ample time to develop the characters in the movie. The story flows gradually while lightly touching the love story subplot.
Relative newcomer Charlotte Vega delivers a solid performance while rest of the film’s cast suffers from some less than convincing performances.
Some scenes are delightfully creepy. The cinematography and score create perfect combination in instilling mood of dreadfulness. It has very haunting scenery with almost monotone blues which reflects the era the film is set in.
Over-all it is an interesting movie to watch, a different take on what horror movie flicks are. The second half should have come much earlier as it projects the more interesting part.
Because of the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Lodgers (2017) two and a half graves out of five graves.
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