Making gothic horror in a more current time is difficult for creatives across the board. A lot of it is either outright misunderstood or maligned. It’s disheartening for lovers of the genre to see, and it’s seen more often than not. From CRIMSON PEAK to THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, we’ve seen the gothic raked over the metaphorical coals. Another gothic gem, a lesser known and notably Irish entry into the canon is Brian O’Malley’s 2017 film THE LODGERS. THE LODGERS can aptly be described as a twisted relative of CRIMSON PEAK and “The Turn of the Screw” with a distinctly Irish flare. It hits a lot of those good old fashioned gothic beats that keep us all coming back for more, while offering us something entirely new, allowing fans an easy entry into the Irish realm of the gothic. (Which does exist, and I would personally argue that Hozier’s musical work fits into.)
To fully understand THE LODGERS, you need a bit of a history and literature lesson all in one. You have to understand the phenomenon of the Anglo-Irish, as well as what’s known as the Big House novel. The Anglo-Irish were the landed class, prominent in the 17th century. They were the ruling class. English descendants, often with large imposing manor houses and estates, living in luxury while the Irish around them lived in squalor. As a whole they largely opposed Irish independence, and of course, owned a lot of the industry within the country and were notorious landlords. The Big House novel evolved out of this. They were often critical of the English and could be satirical in nature. One of the more famous examples of the Big House novel is Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent (1800). Edgeworth pokes fun at the English and their mismanagement of the estates they owned in Ireland. In the novel the English landowners eventually see their comeuppance after generations of profiting off the labor of Irish Catholics in the area. To make it all the more interesting, Edgeworth herself was Anglo-Irish. Not to mention, Irish poet (and man known for kicking Aleister Crowley down some stairs once) William Butler Yeats was a fan of Castle Rackrent. He considered it to be inspired and subsequently sang its praises.
Now, you may be wondering what the hell an Irish gothic film called THE LODGERS has to do with that. Well, THE LODGERS is, in many ways, a gothic take on the Big House novel. The film follows two Anglo-Irish twins living in their crumbling family estate, in deep debt and also deeply cursed with a familial scourge that is constantly almost literally breathing down their necks. Rachel (Charlotte Vega) the eldest twin dreams of a life where she’s not fated to copulate with her brother Edward (Bill Milner), bear another set of twin children, and eventually commit suicide, perpetuating a sickening generational curse that plagued her parents, her grandparents, and several past generations. The siblings have run out of money and are running out of time as the ghosts of their ancestors try to force the twins together. The ghosts never considered how strong-willed Rachel is and that she would catch the eye of a local Irish boy named Sean (Eugene Simon).
Rachel and Edward are isolated due to the family curse and their English heritage. Their family has been in Ireland for over two centuries now, but they have kept themselves apart from Irish society as a result of their curse and likely due to their English colonial ideals. The effect leaves Rachel lonely and unmoored. She doesn’t belong to the village not far from her home, and she doesn’t feel at home in her ancestral stomping grounds. Rachel is an anomaly, a sympathetic one. The people in the town have their issues with Rachel, and this is where the themes from the Big House novel come. Sean’s family has worked for Rachel’s family for centuries. Sean’s mother did the washing for Rachel’s mother. There’s a bit of animosity that is bred there because Rachel and Edward’s family at one point were extremely wealthy, while the Irish surrounding them had to work hard for little. Now, not unlike the characters in Castle Rackrent, mismanagement of the family estate due to the curse has led Rachel and Edward to become impoverished. Rachel is basically living off of Sean’s mother’s charity. They have no money, and they have no prospects for a brighter future. It’s all a bleak and gothic hybrid of Big House novel and gothic romantic tragedy.
Having a bit of a background in Irish literature and history makes THE LODGERS a richer watch. There’s a distinct history to this film, and again, knowing that creates a more affecting experience. Another facet that deeply changes the landscape of the movie, that highlights the push and pull between the English and the Irish is that it is set in the early 1920s and the crux of Sean’s character lies in his past as a war veteran. The Irish War of Independence or Cogadh na Saoirse took place between 1919 and 1920. So, the characters are in a freshly liberated Ireland and tensions are still reasonably high. It’s an interesting backdrop for the story due to Rachel’s character arc being largely about her attempting to break free from a centuries old curse. This could easily be read as an anti-colonialist narrative in this way. Rachel’s personal oppression mirrors the years of oppression that the Irish faced at the hands of the English.
I have a soft spot for THE LODGERS in my gothic horror and Irish literature loving heart. It’s a film that is mentally stimulating, endlessly fascinating to parse through analytically. Not everyone who saw it understood its deeper layers, and it’s sort of a forgotten gem at this point, despite being released in 2017. I haven’t seen much discussion surrounding the film, and that is a shame because the Irish gothic has been pivotal in the furthering of not only gothic horror but the horror genre as a whole. Consider the impact of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla on the horror landscape. The gothic extends far and wide beyond just England and widening our perception of the gothic culturally is crucial in the contemporary filmic and literary landscape. So, if you happen to be looking for a unique gothic horror film with a lot of historical nuance and a distinct Irish cultural background, THE LODGERS is definitely worth a watch.
Tags: Bill Milner, Bram Stoker, Brian O'Malley, Charlotte Vega, Columns, David Bradley, David Turpin, Deirdre O'Kane, Eugene Simon, Gothic Horror, History, Horror, Ireland, Jamie Alvey, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Kevin Murphy, Literature, Moe Dunford, Richard Kendrick, Roisin Murphy, Stephen Shannon, Tony Kearns
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