Postmodernity and elevated horror in The Lodge (2019)
Faculty Advisor
Date
2024
Keywords
elevated horror, horror films, history and criticism
Abstract (summary)
The Lodge (2019), directed by Austrian directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, explores dimensions of the disturbed psychological realm of its female protagonist, played by Riley Keough. The film's narrative establishes an unsettling atmospheric horror and is a play with elements of mental health, dysfunctional family, religious iconography, and superstitions. This chapter analyses the film through the notion of "elevated horror," a category of horror cinema that utilizes the artistic aspects of the horror genre to create a cinematic form that transgresses the archetypal jump-scare tropes of conventional horror. It argues that this form of horror relies more on obscure realities and fragmented states of the mind through symbolic and interpretive modes, thus defining postmodernity in horror cinema. This study examines the cinematic form, narrative style, and thematic concerns of The Lodge to analyse how it subverts the rational discourse of modernity and replaces it with a postmodern structure. It specifically investigates how the film's centralization of guilt and grief reflects psychological disorientation that disrupts normative social institutions like family and religion to disseminate a postmodern incredulity towards their many established metanarratives.
Publication Information
Raj, S. J. & Suresh, A. K. (2024). Postmodernity and elevated horror in The Lodge (2019). In F. G. P. Berns & M. Edwards (Eds.), Critical readings on Hammer horror films (pp. 175-187). Routledge.
DOI
Notes
Item Type
Book Chapter
Language
Rights
All Rights Reserved