She’s medicated up, in control, and trying to start a new life - but dad’s two brats are having none of it, especially when circumstances throw them into a lodge in the middle of nowhere without their mum, determined to ensure that Grace knows they are not happy with the new situation. Dad is trying hard to get them to accept Grace of course, as he’s madly in love with her.
It’s a snowy lodge. There’s a storm. Dad has to go back to the city to work for a couple of days so leaves Grace and the two kids to try to get along together, get to know each other and find some common ground. Grace is played by Riley Keough (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Guilty) and clearly the majority of the budget is spent on her fee as the rest of it comes across as a pretty low-budget outing. The girl and boy do decent enough jobs, Jaeden Martell (It, Knives Out) and Lia McHugh, but the stage really belongs to Keough, who carries off the central role very well.
As the ice begins to melt between the three of them, some strange goings on start to happen and we enter a bit of an apparent eerie, spook-fest as everyone’s scrabbling around to try to make sense of it all. When Grace’s medication goes missing, a whole new line of strange starts as she begins to panic and lose control.
Director team Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz (Goodnight Mommy, The Devil’s Bath) spend much of their energy creating elongated periods of tense atmosphere, which is to a large degree successful - especially when (inevitably) the lights go off, power’s cut, phones don't work, house is creepy - you know the drill! Add into the mix Grace losing the plot and we have the makings for a half decent spooky thriller - with a few surprises in store and a finale worth the wait! It’s been around for a while and now streaming on various outlets. Well worth a watch.
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