Tales from the Lodge [DVD]

yes it might seem boring at first. but to me it triggered reminders of centuries of brilliant comedy writing.. including the tales of Poirot.it is setting the stage for hilarity and surprise i think. i really struggled to not laugh out loud hysterically on many occasions. muffled my mouth so much i hope they didn't think i was having a breakdown. -- trying not to wake my child (long term ill). trying so hard, but even watching downstairs with head phones, i worried i might wake them with my laughter lol. this feat rarely happens.the film really hit a perfect note for how life is for me (and i guess the planet) right now. it gets dark in the end. but so absurdly on point.and, the horror is only equal to the depravity of the former hard hitting 'normality' and story telling...and i love how it is a series of ghost /ghoul stories;. including 'oh yes its a true story (- ahem in 2043)'' = zombie apocalypse .Spoilers: !!!i am no expert on the gender twist, to my eyes, the film explained that and set the scene. it is a fiery cauldron brewing and bursting - a fire starter.in fact the film ends supposedly - with fire. -i think this is a universally fab laugh horror - yeh sure. dad of three saying: ' i would give up one of my babies so my friend could have a heart transplant' ... yurp. but other friend cheating on new wife on honeymoon is ok. hmm. yurp. when comedy makes you empathise both with victim and giver of hell. fab.very much in the cornetto trilogy / lesbian vampire killers arena. pitch perfect for the here and now.

It was alright

Ho-hum holiday accommodation in so-so countryside by a freshwater lake that is duller than it is sinister. A slightly artificial-feeling reunion of five disparate friends (plus tagger-along) convened to deposit the ashes of a 'friend' (hm, mebbe, one thinks), who had drowned in the lake. Workmanlike ghost/horror tales told in the unatmospheric sitting room, each story illustrating, of course, the teller's problems (will-he nill-he). Nothing supernatural happens; the natural being quite shocking enough. It doesn't know whether to take itself seriously, but personally I like that kind of genre-uncertainty: and everybody's only just-about more than trundling through their part - but I didn't mind that either, probably because it's got Jonny Vegas in it. For who seriously has ever recovered from the cancellation of 'Ideal'?!Worth a couple of viewings.

This film has some of my favourite performers and I was really looking forward to seeing how Johnny Vegas would be used in a horror setting. He's not just really funny, he's actually a really good actor. Sadly, the cast is wasted and I felt like the film couldn't decide what it wanted to be. On the one hand, there is the story of friends reuniting after the death of an old friend, but then the film turns into a series of short horror shorts, which is odd given that it's a reunion based around the death of a friend. But I was fine with that, given the setting, although the horror started to feel like a series of short sketches, rather than something that was there to create tension and suspense. Without giving too much away, there's a point where the film decides that it wants to be a horror and not a comedy.The tone of the movie is all over the place and that's just really disappointing, given the amount of talent on screen in this film.

I can’t remember ever seeing a film with such a thoroughly unlikable bunch of characters. Not so much moral degenerates, just moral flatliners. Too lazy to be courageous and too cowardly to challenge the underlying turpitude inherent within the group. It was actually a very good portrait of this type of behaviour, well-acted and well-directed. It was just unfortunate it was for completely the wrong film. Setting these characters inside a tongue-in-cheek jump fest was a massive misfire and as the film plays out this becomes increasingly and grindingly apparent. As for the horror elements, there will be little here to surprise fans of the genre. First time director Abigail Blackmore gives no indication through the telling of the story that she is a horror fan herself and it seems odd that her first film is this flat attempt at the genre given her obvious interest in the characters and the bristling dynamic between them. The film would have worked much better, in fact I think it would have been quite successful, stripped of the horror elements and left as a straight drama as Blackmore’s understanding of group dynamics was really rather good. The tension between the characters, which builds throughout the film, shows a deft directorial touch. What we want in a fun horror, however, is for this tension to be released via a few grizzly death scenes or even just some imaginative gore. Unfortunately, (spoiler) the audience are left unsatisfied. Blackmore needs to better understand her audience and consentrate on her strengths. If she plays it straight in her follow-up film and consentrates on her clear interest of character she has potential to be a competent, grounded director.

This was quite a good movie that entertained throughout without any boring slumps or slow downs.

I really had high hopes for this movie given the talent that was involved however whilst it started out well, setting up that it was a comedy horror anthology style - somewhere, somehow, it lost it's potential. I am not a writer or director and so can't really tell you where or why this happened, it was just a personal feeling based on my experience watching it.Yes, there were a few good scares; yes the mini horror stories were comic and entertaining (mostly); yes, there was a plotline with a twist to follow but ... it just didn't seem to gel into a cohesive work (for me).I mean, sure, watch it, just don't expect too much from it.