The Lodge ending explained: Were they in purgatory?

Starring Riley Keough and Richard Armitage as a recently engaged couple as well as Clueless legend Alicia Silverstone and Knives Out’s Jaeden Martell, the film deals with creepy cults, strange families, and the Biblical.

Directed by Austrian duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, The Lodge received positive reviews upon its premiere at Sundance Film Festival nearly five years ago, with Keough's performance earning particular praise.

If you've watched the film and need a breakdown of its chilling ending, read on to have The Lodge ending explained, but be warned – there are spoilers ahead.

The Lodge ending explained: Were they in purgatory?

The film opens with the suicide of Laura Hall (Silverstone), who takes her own life after ex-husband Richard (Armitage) informs her he will be marrying Grace (Keough), a woman he met while researching cults who once was the sole survivor of a mass suicide.

To recover from the ordeal, Richard, his two children with Laura, and Grace decide to spend Christmas in a remote cabin that comes with a very heavy dose of Catholic imagery – something that horror movie tropes dictate will not end well. Meanwhile, the children do not particularly warm to Grace and set about trying to find out more about their step mother.

Mysterious things also start occurring not long after Richard has to depart the lodge for a work matter and more or less everything vanishes overnight. Clothing, food, the dog, Grace’s medication – all basic necessities gone.

Grace’s first instinct is to believe the children were playing a cruel prank on her, but they insist otherwise and the three of them begin to believe something supernatural is occurring.

Richard’s son Aiden also begins saying he thinks they are in the afterlife and reveals that he had a dream about the the three of them dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Grace’s mental state soon begins to deteriorate, partly brought on by the conditions of the cabin and withdrawal from her medication, and she eventually begins having a nervous breakdown after being tortured by vivid dreams involving her mass-murdering father.

After going for a walk, she returns to the cabin to find the children praying over a newspaper article saying the family died of carbon monoxide poisoning shortly before Christmas, with Aiden imploring that they are all in purgatory.

To convince the other two, he hangs himself but appears to survive which prompts Grace to have a full breakdown, heading outside to the cold where it looks as if she might freeze to death.

As the children finally begin to worry about her, they finally admit that Grace’s initial instinct was, in fact, correct and they were playing a terrible prank and had orchestrated everything, having drugged her and hidden all of their possessions.

But Grace is too far gone from trauma to believe them and has become convinced they are actually in purgatory and says they need to work to get to heaven.

To continue the twist ending, Grace begins self-flagellating and declaring they must sacrifice for God, with Richard soon returning to find his new wife holding his gun.

Grace shoots and kills Richard and the children attempt to escape but are trapped by the terrible weather.

She then marches them back in the house and they sit around the dining table (complete with Richard’s corpse) as Grace sings a hymn.

After bounding and gagging the children, a gun rests on the dining table, their fate seemingly in Grace’s hands as the film cuts to black.

What is the meaning of The Lodge?

The Lodge mainly deals with the idea of trauma and how it can also be weaponised by those wishing to take advantage of somebody else, as Grace is particularly vulnerable to seemingly paranormal happenings and harsh Catholic iconography because of her cult upbringing.

The children attempt to take a sort of revenge on Grace for the death of their mother with their twisted game, only to realise too late that they have done irrevocable damage to her.

The ending of the film, with Grace committing murder and brutalising the children, also emphasises the cycle of abuse that often accompanies trauma.

The Lodge is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.