In the bonus track of the DVD of "The Lodgers," the filmmakers describe their aim to make a "Gothic ghost story." But the film was no more than a standard "haunted house" film with an unseamly and unpleasant premise.
A fraternal pair of twins reside in a large, dilapidated mansion. The film unfolds on the day of their eighteenth birthday. But instead of a celebration, the twins face a multi-generational curse as they have come of age. Their parents, grandparents, and ancestors are destined to be untied in incest, then die by drowning in a nearby lake. Lovely!
This bizarre and sordid drama is filled not with surprises and plot twists, but with an unending string of disgusting moments in the cursed relationship of David and Rachel, brother and sister.
The irony of the making of this film is that there was some obvious talent at work behind the camera. Especially in the exterior scenes in the forest and around the lake, the photography was stunning. There was also an able cast with the most interesting character a wounded World War I veteran, who is attracted to Rachel and seeks to rescue her from her physical and psychological imprisonment in the mansion.
An opportunity was missed to develop the theme that Sean, the soldier who lost a leg in The Great War, attempts at one moment to convey to Rachel: the horrors of the outside world during that cataclysm of World War I are much worse than the issues she is dealing with in her ghosts from the past.
It is most unfortunate that the filmmakers could not have worked closer to their goal of realizing a Gothic horror film. That genre often includes a tongue-in-cheek tone with a sly sense of humor. Even Jane Austen borrowed from the playful side of the Gothic stories in one of her novels. Instead, "The Lodgers" takes itself far too seriously. And the result is a nauseating experience for the viewer.
A fraternal pair of twins reside in a large, dilapidated mansion. The film unfolds on the day of their eighteenth birthday. But instead of a celebration, the twins face a multi-generational curse as they have come of age. Their parents, grandparents, and ancestors are destined to be untied in incest, then die by drowning in a nearby lake. Lovely!
This bizarre and sordid drama is filled not with surprises and plot twists, but with an unending string of disgusting moments in the cursed relationship of David and Rachel, brother and sister.
The irony of the making of this film is that there was some obvious talent at work behind the camera. Especially in the exterior scenes in the forest and around the lake, the photography was stunning. There was also an able cast with the most interesting character a wounded World War I veteran, who is attracted to Rachel and seeks to rescue her from her physical and psychological imprisonment in the mansion.
An opportunity was missed to develop the theme that Sean, the soldier who lost a leg in The Great War, attempts at one moment to convey to Rachel: the horrors of the outside world during that cataclysm of World War I are much worse than the issues she is dealing with in her ghosts from the past.
It is most unfortunate that the filmmakers could not have worked closer to their goal of realizing a Gothic horror film. That genre often includes a tongue-in-cheek tone with a sly sense of humor. Even Jane Austen borrowed from the playful side of the Gothic stories in one of her novels. Instead, "The Lodgers" takes itself far too seriously. And the result is a nauseating experience for the viewer.