‘The Lodge’ Directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala on Building Atmosphere and Referencing ‘Jack Frost’ [Interview]
Posted on Friday, February 14th, 2020 by Jack Giroux
Filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala know how to let a movie get under an audience’s skin. Even the simplest of their shots, such as Riley Keough scratching her knees, elicit discomfort. They maintain that mood of dread throughout the their newest film, The Lodge, their followup to Goodnight Mommy.
Their latest is a chilly head trip of a horror movie about bottled-up emotions exploding into fear, terror, and mystery. It’s an unsettling experience best seen blind. “This movie lingers long after the credits roll,” Chris Evangelista wrote in his review. “After the conclusion, I stumbled out of the dark theater into the sunlight, disoriented, excited, and, yes, a little scared. As long as more movies are like The Lodge, the horror genre will be in great shape.”
Franz and Fiala met when Fiala was babysitting Franz’s children. The two bonded over horror movies. Years later, that chance encounter has given the world The Lodge. Recently, we spoke to the duo about the horror movie in a mostly spoiler-free conversation about messages, telling a story without heroes and villains, and the Michael Keaton holiday “classic,” Jack Frost.
