Click here to copy URL

The Little Stranger

2018

Lenny Abrahamson

Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling, Will Poulter ...

5.3

1,061

Mystery. Drama In post-WWII Britain, a doctor revisits a crumbling great house called Hundreds Halls where his mother once worked as a nurse maid. The owners are losing the house because they can't afford the taxes, even though they say the home is haunted by the malevolent ghost of their mother's first born daughter. The doctor becomes obsessed with marrying one of the owner's daughters, and bad things happen.

	Media	Author	Review
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Abrahamson crafts an elegiac mystery that’s much more than a typical ghost story (...) A hypnotic and haunting tale (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"
		A. O. Scott The New York Times	"The twisting and cracking of the British class system is always fascinating to observe (...) The final shots are potent and provocative"
		Alan Zilberman The Washington Post	"Coxon and Abrahamson have added several layers of meaning (...) It’s an approach that requires patience, on his part and ours, but the rewards are worth it (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"
		Keith Uhlich The Hollywood Reporter	"Abrahamson has certainly put the right kinds of performers within these decaying walls (...) The film ultimately collapses in a hollowed-out heap."
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Sarah Waters’ novel is brought to deliciously sinister life by Lenny Abrahamson (...) An elegant, sinister tale of the uncanny, with its own streak of pathos (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Guy Lodge Variety	"A fine, form-expanding follow-up to the Oscar-approved 'Room' (...) Coxon’s patient, literate screenplay astutely preserves the tart class politics of Waters’ novel"
		Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"Abrahamson assembles all the ingredients for 'Turn Of The Screw' suspense but never quite twists them with the dread that needs to seep through the halls of the central stately home."
		Eric Kohn IndieWire	"A bland ghost story (...) It’s the material itself that feels boxed in (...) It’s unfortunate when visionary directors stumble into banal material"
		Meagan Navarro Bloody Disgusting	"Those that want something that takes the familiar trappings of a classic ghost story and weaves it into something different will find themselves haunted (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Tomris Laffly rogerebert.com	"Those who submit themselves to the film’s unhurried pace and distancing coldness (aided by a splendid, ghostly production design by Simon Elliott) will be treated to a sophisticated yarn (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Geoffrey Macnab The Independent	"One of the most original British horror films of recent times (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Robbie Collin Telegraph	"A glowering gothic mystery that gets stranger by the minute (...) Its shivers are sophisticated, and not easily shrugged off (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard	"If you love strange little things, you’ll be smitten (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Jenny Desborough Mirror	"A subtle ghost story with class at its core (...) It is Gleeson's thoroughly subtle performance and his character's growing anxiety and eeriness which is at the heart of this film (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"It's not a Wes Craven style horror - it's a lot more subtle, stately and interesting (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Sinead Brennan RTÉ	"Gleeson is excellent as always, but Ruth Wilson steals the show (...) [It] is worth getting acquainted with (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Deirdre Molumby entertainment.ie	"The film looks magnificent and is beautifully photographed by Ole Bratt Birkeland (...) It’s a film you’ll want to start talking about and speculate over immediately after viewing (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.