Loftus
Hall has a bad track record when it comes to hosting company. According to
legend, it is haunted by the ghost of a girl who went mad there when she discovered
the handsome young houseguest who caught her eye was really Satan himself—but that
will have to keep for a different movie. This film shot on location in the
County Wexford manse is all about the supernatural entities below that control
the lives of the teenage residents. Twins Rachel and Edward (we dare not speak
their family name) are caught in a tragic cycle, paying for the depravities of
their sinful ancestors in Brian O’Malley’s The
Lodgers (trailer
here), which opens this Friday in select cities.
Rachel
and Edward’s parents committed suicide. Apparently, it runs in the family.
Unfortunately, they are not alone. A malevolent force comes out after midnight
to claim nocturnal dominion over the spooky mansion. The twins must abide by
their three rules: be tucked into bed by midnight, never allow a stranger to
cross the threshold, and never be gone for long. Obviously, this is bad for
their social development, but Rachel still manages to start a haltingly
flirtatious relationship with Sean, a decent lad who recently returned from WWI
with a relatively mild case of PTSD.
Rachel
meets Sean just as she starts to question whether she should obediently accept
her fate, like her badly stunted brother. To further destabilize matters, the
sleazy family solicitor Mr. Bermingham starts coming around, pestering Rachel
to allow him to sell the property, in order to get them out from under their
mounting debts. Plus, Dessie, the local bully constantly targets Rachel,
because she is vulnerable and Sean, because he fought with the British.
The Lodgers is a deliciously
atmospheric gothic yarn in the tradition of J. Sheridan Le Fanu, with some
luridness cribbed from V.C. Andrews thrown in for extra salaciousness. Loftus
Hall is definitely a sinister setting—it is hard to imagine anyone ever living
there comfortably. Location is half the battle in a film like this, but Charlotte
Vega is terrific as Rachel. There is also something surprisingly poignant about
the tentative romance percolating between her and Eugene Simon’s Sean, as two
underdog outsiders. Bill Milner is suitably creepy and clammy as the
soul-ravaged Edward, while David Bradley looks like he might have ambled in
from a Hammer Horror movie as dissipated old Bermingham.
