The Lodge

THE GIST: A soon-to-be stepmom with a history of abuse finds herself snowed in at a remote mountain cabin with her psychiatrist/fiancé's two children. Just as their tense relationships seem to start easing up, dangerous and frightening events take place.

The Lodge is a movie that is built up very slowly, with a few flashbacks to establish the central character's origin story. This turns out to be very effective, aided in no small part by the acting chops of Riley Keough, but it might unnerve those moviegoers used to much faster pacing.

Particularly impressive is also the young and very promising Jaeden Martell, whom I've already admired in the new versions of It and, more recently, Knives Out.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you like horror movies that take their time to build up the suspense rather than relying on cheap thrills and lots of gore, then you should check this out. Be aware that there are some pretty graphic images here as well.

Grade: 7