The Lodgers takes place in Ireland in the early 1900s. A family curse holds orphaned twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner) hostage, sectioned off from the outside world as punishment for the mistakes of their long-deceased kin. The rules are simple: be in bed by midnight, allow no one past the gates, and if either of them attempts to escape, the other will be met with a vengeful retribution. There are spirits both within and surrounding the walls of their estate to ensure these rules are enforced at all times. When Rachel’s fate intertwines with Sean (Eugene Simon), a local war hero, she begins to believe it might just prove feasible to risk it all.

While Rachel and Edward’s plight is similarly horrific, they vary on the appropriate way to address it. Edward clings to his life, no matter how pointless it might seem, as Rachel grows stronger every day in the belief that it is a richer existence to taunt the prospect of death than to live solemnly on the outskirts of life. Vega’s performance perfectly captures a tortured soul on the cusp of maturity, dangerously on the precipice of rebellion. Milner’s character is much more desperate, losing his grasp on reality as he clings to his pitiful life of solitude and despair. Simon’s Sean spends most of his screen time both enraptured with Rachel, while bewildered at her conundrum.

Having the entirety of The Lodgers engulfed within a gothic atmosphere – bleak color aesthetic, tragic circumstances, ominous fog – affords director Brian O’Malley the opportunity to compliment his sleek visuals with meticulous audio cues that accent the dread carried within every frame. The film also bears the distinction of being partially filmed at Loftus Hall, an infamous “haunted house” in Ireland, whose natural look evokes feelings of paranoia both on screen and off.

For our exclusive interview, director Brian O’Malley discusses the complexities and inner workings of filming The Lodgers. He explains how writer David Turpin came to take part in scoring the film, deciding that Charlotte Vega and Bill Milner completed his fateful pair, and what it was like filming within the walls of a bona fide haunted house.

Take a listen to the interview below, and be sure to catch The Lodgers in select theaters and on VOD beginning February 23, 2018.

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