The Lodge combines the evil stepmother trope (a la Brothers Grimm) with the snowy isolation of The Shining, the traumatic grief of Hereditary, and the chilling mystery of The Others to deliver a slow, atmospheric psychological thriller that gets in your head more than it makes you jump out of your seat. That said, labeling it “the next great horror film” is a bit of an overstatement — labeling it the year’s first good horror film would be more appropriate; it calls it what it is, while acknowledging that there’s room to grow, too. There’s no disputing that it’s well made, and its three central performances (namely Riley Keough’s) are very effective; however, The Lodge’s psychological warfare and icy ebbs and flows won’t work on just anyone.

Similar to Goodnight Mommy, the film centers around young siblings at odds with parental figures, and Franz & Fiala use this focal point to derive all of its mystery, suspense, and tension. It shares a lot more in common with Giallo than it does full-on horror, in the sense that the story is ripe with red herrings and vaguely whodunit by design (not in terms of a killer but more so the cause behind the film’s strange happening). Its setup is probably its biggest hurdle, and it really requires you to suspend your disbelief to buy into the rest of the story. If you don’t stop to question the story’s motivation (which may be a roadblock to many), you’ll have a higher likelihood of being taken on a ride that successfully gets under your skin. Due to its twisty and winding unfolding, there will likely be points where it will have you onboard and others where it loses you. You may find yourself satisfied with its initial direction, only to be let down by its reveal or twist (or you could be the exact inverse).