Tales from the Lodge

These are the kind of low budget UK horror comedies that seem to be filling up the schedules on UK Freeview channels. Its definitely its own genre. Better quality examples would be Dog House or Severance, this title is nowhere near as good.

Like many I was drawn in by the cast, however the actual movie doesn't really deserve the cast involved. I wondering how they managed to get in sort of TV level faces on such a weak script, until I saw the end credits... This is basically another horror anthology, however each of the cast writes/directs their own story segment. Mystery solved as to how they ended up in the film.

The problem is most if not all the actors do not seem to be great at writing or directing. The rest of the film is directed by someone with very few credits so far.

Aside from the very loud jump scares there is no tension or excitement. The jokes fail to land and its all quite pedestrian. Its not a satisfying watch, more something you may have on in the background while you do other things.

Unfortunately the ending doesn't really work and appears to be a set up for a sequel, which I cant see happening.

You may end up watching this based on the cast but you are unlikely to find it a rewarding experience.

A group of old friends gather at a remote lodge by a lake to scatter the ashes of their friend who drowned himself there 3 years earlier. They pass the time telling each other horror stories.

Oddly enough the 'big chill' element of old friends coming together is more enjoyable than the admittedly intended lighthearted horror tales, which are pretty weak. When away from this the cast aren't half bad and make good company pending the inevitable real horror which will follow - which, when it comes, is a bit of a stretch but not bad. I've seen a lot worse.

The cast are great including Kelly Wenham who I hadn't heard of before, as is the scene setting, but the stories they tell are absolute rubbish. The comedy element works well, it's just those stories..

Watched on Amazon Prime, and had real trouble hearing a lot of the dialogue, had to put headhones on as I had to turn it up to levels where the sound effects rocked the room just to hear the dialogue otherwise.

I wasn't expecting much when I stumbled across this title, but have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Quirky offbeat humour with a few laugh out loud moments and an absurdity that enhances, rather than detracts, from this mash up of camp-fire story telling, and comedy suspense. Definitely worth the watch and worthy of a better rating than it has on IMDB.

I watched the UK TV premiere of this but found it disappointing, both as a comedy and as a horror anthology. The only two actors that I had heard of is Mackenzie Crook and comedian Johnny Vegas. I find Crook's acting rather lacklustre, I wasn't impressed by his Worzel Gummidge either. Johnny Vegas, with his foul language and fart gags, is funny when doing TV sketches but his comedy doesn't work so well on the big screen. The short stories are rather lame, the best of a bad bunch has zombies and Vegas looking like Keifer Sujtherland from Lost Boys. The only thing that really made me laugh is when some ashes of a friend are thrown towards a lake but a sudden gust of wind blows them back and all over a group of mourners. Beware of fake reviews!