[Film Review] Little Bone Lodge (2023)

Little Bone Lodge directed by Matthias Hoene centres itself around the fierce ferociousness of mothers as two sibling criminals invade the isolated farmhouse home of Mama (Joeley Richardson) after seeking refuge from a frantic storm. Once inside, the two brothers soon discover they aren’t the only ones harbouring dark and twisted secrets.

With a quote from The Crow (1994), the opening sequence alludes to the fact that what viewers are about to see is not going to be a typical straight forward home invasion. With the introduction of daughter Maisy (Sadie Soverall), the disabled Pa (Roger Ajogbe) and the softly spoken matriarch Mama, we are privy to a household, hidden away from society, yet self-sufficient and thriving. Mama is tender and warmly maternal, yet there is an unnerving aura that surrounds her.

LISTEN TO OUR HORROR PODCAST!

When two men arrive on her doorstep during a raging storm, one suffering from a deadly and bloody wound, Mama seems unphased, hesitantly yet calmly inviting them into her homestead where she sets to work sewing up the injured Jack (played by Neil Linpow who also wrote the film). As the action begins to unfold, we soon realise that small details revealed early on like a bone handled knife and Mama’s almost militant routine with her husband’s medication, are clues as to her true nature.  

Jack and Matty (Harry Cadby) are also carrying secretive burdens of their own, and despite being violent criminals on the run, their villainy isn’t quite black and white. Matty has learning difficulties, and although is played as a stereotypical soft natured character who doesn’t understand his own tendency to violence and is the psychological punching bag of his brother Jack, it is through Matty’s longing for a nurturing connection that we see just how far a mother will go to protect a child, whether that child be of blood family or a chosen family.  

With a nuanced performance by Joeley Richardson, Little Bone Lodge joins the recent spate of invasion movies like 2022’s The Price We Pay, where the lines between protagonist and antagonist are constantly blurring, where a homestead may not always be the safe space it initially seems. What begins as a seemingly normal home invasion turned wrong soon devolves into a film that is body horror mixed with sentiments of 1932’s The Old Dark House, and an atmosphere not unlike a Scandinavian crime drama. However, Little Bone Lodge drags in its running time, with  twist reveals losing their shock value thanks to over-extended scenes. Slightly echoing the New French Extremity film Inside (2007), Little Bone Lodge is a portrayal of the extremities a mother is willing to go to out of a need for vengeance when her family are in danger or hurt. 

RELATED ARTICLES

---