An Exercise In Nonsense

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Michael (Owen Szabo) and Julia (Elizabeth Kell) travel to the Rocky Mountains in order to spend a romantic few days alone together. A likable duo, their never-ending foreplay is nevertheless nauseating, and yet this is how directors Brad Helmink and John Rauschelbach feel they need to convey their feelings for each other.They meet proprietor Henry (Kevin McClatchy) amidst a carnage of general untidiness when they arrive. No hint of an apology forthcoming, Henry proves to be … a bit of a twit, really. Ignorant and arrogant yet formidable, he refers to the couples as 'kids', so it makes no sense when Michael subsequently tries to 'bond' with him by reminiscing about past sporting achievements and telling him how passionate a lover Julia is. As such, much of the couple's time together now becomes an awkward three-way thing.The well-being of the twosome isn't helped by the discovery of a dishevelled young girl Desi (Mandi Kreisher), seemingly kept prisoner in a locked room of the lodge. Why she hasn't made her presence known before now is made clear when her relationship with Henry – not his real name, by the way – is revealed.'The Lodge' is ultimately a well-made, nicely directed, convincingly acted horror thriller. There's a good slow build-up of menace aided immeasurably by the superbly hypnotic score by Yagmur Kaplan. Not the most original or ground-breaking story you'll ever know, but it makes no claims to be – although the DVD cover's proclamation 'The Shining meets Cabin in the Woods' is guilty of overselling its effectiveness.

About as far away from the shining and cabin in the woods as you could possibly get. Terrible acting, unbelievable story line and just poor start to finish. I'm still annoyed that they could compare these films to this rubbish, completely misleading and and an outright lie.The make up was so amateur it was laughable, I really do not understand how this rubbish can get produced and sell in a shop. I genuinely feel cheated and ripped off, there should be tighter controls on the information given on the DVD box. For instance rotten tomatoes gave it 9% so how could they then endorse it?Do not waste your time watching this film.

While staying at a remote countryside lodge, a man and his girlfriend's planned weekend of carefree sex is halted when they learn the mysterious handyman has more on his mind than fixing up the place and must escape from his murderous clutches.Predictable, barely worthwhile effort that has pretty much everything we've seen in these types of films before and nothing at all new or original to this. It plays out pretty much as we expect it to, the ignoring of the obvious signs to continue on partying, the failure to recognize when they're in danger, and most of all it takes about an hour before he snaps and turns psycho, so there's nothing at all that's going on for the majority of the movie before the ending, which instead of dealing out torture, revolves around chasing, beating and running away, leaving little blood and gore involved as well. Still, this could've been quite fine, with a fine setting and some sleaze that had the finale chasing around the compound been a bit more enjoyable. A major letdown in most regards.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity.

A couple, Julia and Micheal, have their getaway weekend at a mountain luxury cabin upset when Henry, the creepy caretaker, takes an unnatural interest in them in this tight well-acted little direct to DVD thriller. I had little to no idea or expectations for this movie when I first started watching it. But as the story unfolded I found myself pleasantly surprised. Not at the story, because that's fairly generic, more at the execution of it all, which I found to be fairly slick. The film starts off slow but does a great job of building up tension and that kept me interested until the end (which admittedly falters a tad). I wouldn't have a problem recommending this to anyone.Eye Candy: Liz Jones is topless in the pre-credits sequence My Grade: B-