The Lodgers is a 2017 Irish gothic horror film written by David Turpin and directed by Brian O’Malley. The film stars Charlotte Vega, Bill Milner, and Eugene Simon.
It was shot on location at Loftus Hall in 2016 and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017.
Synopsis
1920, rural Ireland. Anglo-Irish twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner) share an isolated existence in their crumbling family estate. Each nighttime, the property becomes the domain of sinister watery presences (“the lodgers”) which enforce three rules upon the twins: they must be in bed by midnight; they may not permit an outsider past the threshold; if one attempts to escape, the life of the other is placed in jeopardy. They are reminded of these rules by way of a nursery rhyme: “Girl child, boy child, listen well. Be in bed by midnight’s bell. Never let a stranger through your door. Never leave each other all alone. Good sister, good brother be, follow well these cautions three. Long as your blood be ours alone, we’ll see you ever from below.” A curse lies upon their family—a “stain” that is passed on from one generation to the next: each generation bears incestuous twins, breeding the next generation before taking their own lives by drowning. When Rachel and Edward’s eighteenth birthday comes, Rachel wishes to leave with Edward, and in doing so hopefully leave the family curse behind. Edward, out of trauma due to his parents’ suicide and the legacy they left him and his sister, has become a recluse and refuses to leave. Tensions rise when troubled war veteran Sean (Eugene Simon) returns to the nearby village. He is immediately drawn to the mysterious Rachel, who in turn sees in Sean a chance for freedom and so begins to break the rules set out by the lodgers. The consequences pull Rachel into a deadly confrontation with her brother—and with the curse that haunts them.
Cast
Charlotte Vega as Rachel
David Bradley as Bermingham
Bill Milner as Edward
Eugene Simon as Sean
Moe Dunford as Dessie
Roisin Murphy as Kay
Deirdre O’Kane as Maura
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